The Issue
Colleges spend hundreds of thousands of dollars investing in new forms of technology each year and have influential partnerships with electronics companies. Many of the electronics that we use every day are made with minerals that are produced in conflict zones. Today, multiple armed groups use mutilation, mass rape, and murder to terrorize and control communities as they profit from the $180 million trade in Congo's conflict minerals.
Why Should My Campus Be Conflict-Free?
Because universities are such huge consumers of electronics, you and your campus have an important role to play in ending this crisis. Make Your Campus Conflict-Free is an initiative to utilize student influence and activism to encourage university officials and stakeholders to commit to buying conflict-free electronics from companies once they are made available. If students use their collective power to pressure companies to stop buying electronics components made with conflict minerals, rebel and militia groups will no longer have funds to terrorize the civilians of eastern Congo.
Raise Awareness
- Inform and educate your peers to make this issue a priority at your school. Host a "Congo on Campus" teach-in in order to spread the word about the history of the war and conflict minerals. Download the presentation (PDF)
- Bring the RAISE Hope for Congo Speakers' Tour to your school. Visit the Speakers' Tour page to learn more.
Take Action: Pass the Resolution
- After you gain a following, the next step is to take action and pressure your university's administration. Because schools spend a lot of money on electronics, companies will pay attention to the needs and desires of these valuable customers.
- Get your university to issue a declaration that it will endeavor to become a conflict-free campus and give preference to purchasing conflict-free products when they become available. Read the New York Times article about the progress of students at Stanford University.
- Download our Make Your Campus Conflict-Free resource kit (PDF) to learn how to create a Conflict-Free Resolution for your school.
Join the Make Your Campus Conflict-Free facebook page
