Getting students active

Those interested in learning how to become an activist will have an opportunity to do just that next week.

The Regina Public Interest Research Group (RPIRG) is hosting its seventh annual Apathy into Action Conference at the University of Regina (U of R).

“The idea of the conference is to motivate students, who are generally apathetic in the student body, into being more active members of the activist and city community,” said Devon Peters, RPIRG board member.

However, in his experience the U of R students have shown they are far from apathetic.

“It’s really heartening,” he said. “The changes I’ve seen just on the campus in terms of student engagement are pretty enormous.”

Peters said the U of R is catching the attention of other Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs).

“We have had PIRGs from Ontario and Vancouver looking into what we are doing and being super impressed,” he said. “We have one of the most active PIRGS in Canada in terms of funding that goes in and out the door and the number of events put on throughout the year and we are doing it on a much smaller budget.”

He said one way RPIRG helps students become more active is by providing funding for working groups or projects.

Last year, RPIRG gave out almost $20,000 to students to support events and projects around the campus.

There are four funding rounds each year — two each semester.

In addition to providing funding, RPIRG hosts its annual conference, which has proven to be very successful in getting people active.

“What happens and what we have seen is that students who attend these events gain skills and knowledge,” said Peters.

An example of one of the conference’s success stories is the student-led group called Real Food Regina.

“They heard about food sovereignty in Regina and about how local producers were struggling to compete and about how community gardens could help offset some of the problems with having to buy food that’s trucked in from far away,” said Peters. “They were really concerned and created this group of students that now works on those issues and does a lot of work around campus surrounding sustainability of our food sources on campus.”

Some of this year’s topics include the university bus campaign, renters’ rights, social justice and religious allies.

This year’s event is taking place Jan. 23 - 25 at the U of R. It is a free event open to students and community members. Registration is required for Saturday’s training session. People can register by emailing info@rpirg.org

Thursday’s and Friday’s sessions will be held in the Education Building (ED) room 114. Saturday’s anti-oppression training will be held in the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport (CK) room 187 and the creative fundraising training will be held in the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport (CK) room 185.