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"More than one-fourth of the citizens of St. Louis city live in poverty," read a cardboard sign on the first floor of the Millennium Student Center Thursday.
The sign, along with an informational table filled with flyers and stickers, was part of Social Justice Week at UM-St. Louis, sponsored by the Catholic Newman Center, Amnesty International and Pierre Laclede Honors College.
The week included speakers and information booths on the issues of the death penalty, homelessness, environmental awareness and fair trade, a shantytown to show solidarity with the homeless, all culminating on Friday in a total immersion Urban Plunge Retreat.
"We just hope this week, if nothing else, got people to think about some of the social injustices in our society," Bobby Wassel, campus minister at the Catholic Newman Center said. "We are hoping it inspires people to work for social change."
This year marked the first Social Justice Week at UM-St. Louis, though the last two years the Catholic Newman Center had been sponsoring Homelessness Awareness Week. Social Justice Week evolved out of a wish to make the message of Homelessness Awareness Week more broad.
"We decided to broaden the message, not just to focus on homelessness but on other important issues in our society, though homelessness is obviously very important." Wassel said.
Social Justice Week began on Saturday, April 9 with a Day of Interfaith Service for Collegians from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
On Monday, an informational table was available in the Nosh from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. and offered informational flyers, bumper stickers and fair trade chocolate bars for free.
On Tuesday, free food was on hand for Capital Punishment Day. At 7 p.m. Margaret Philips, UM-St. Louis professor and member of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, gave a talk on capital punishment followed by a screening of "Dead Man Walking" in the Pilot House.
"When executions first started again, it seemed to me to be barbaric and something to work against," Phillips said. "We believe when the state kills, it sends a message that killing is way to deal with problem people."
Phillips asked the crowd to get involved in projects that Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty are working on, specifically an execution scheduled for next week. For more information, go to www.moabolition.org.
Wednesday was Environmental Day, which featured an informational table in the Nosh and campus cleanup from 2-4 p.m.
On Thursday, an informational booth in the Nosh from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. was provided concerning homelessness. At 7 p.m. in the SGA Chambers, a caseworker and a former homeless individual from the St. Patrick Center, a homeless shelter in downtown St. Louis, spoke on homelessness and poverty in St. Louis.
Following the speakers and food, everyone was invited to spend a night in a shantytown outside by the Millennium Center Lakes. The shantytown featured a bonfire and music as the attendees bonded. The highlight of the event was when everyone got in their sleeping bags and went to sleep in cardboard boxes. The event was meant to expose students to homeless conditions and show solidarity with the homeless.
On Friday morning, students gathered for the Urban Plunge, in which they visited the city and lived in poverty as much as possible in St. Louis for twelve hours.
"It is meant to get students out of their comfort zones a little bit and expose them to inner-city poverty in St. Louis," Wassel said. "Sometimes the college students here lead a sheltered life. They don't realize the poverty that is around them on campus. People don't know because they drive in and they drive out."
People participating in the Urban Plunge took public transportation to their three different worksites, the St. Patrick Center, Genesis II and Food Outreach, a food pantry that gives food to people with HIV and AIDS. Students then met at the Harbor Light Salvation Army soup kitchen to work and interact with St. Louis homeless.
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