MASSPIRG at Bristol Community College

Spring 2008:

The BCC chapter is working on really exciting campaigns--everything from combatting global warming on campus and in the community, to fighting for affordable textbooks, aiding local hunger and homelessness efforts, and registering new voters!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Bag It Up: On Wednesday March 5 students from the Hunger and Homelessness group are heading to the Salvation Army to help bag up food. If you are interested meet us at 12pm by the MASSPIRG office.

Global Shoot Photo Contest: Like Taking Pictures? Care About the Environment? Then enter MASSPIRG's global warming photo contest! To enter, each participant must submit 2 pictures: one that shows the beauty of our environment and another picture that shows how our environment has been affected by global warming (or a picture of what is causing global warming). Pictures must be 8x11 and can be dropped of at the Student Life Office - please include your name, number and email on the back of each photo. The top 30 photos will be displayed in the G-building lobby from March 23-28. The winner will receive a $25 gift certificate and possibly be published in the Herald News. All photos must be submitted by March 14th.

Hunger Clean Up, April 5th: The Hunger Cleanup is a one-day service a-thon, where students volunteer in the community and get friends and family to sponsor them. Volunteers help local agencies meet their urgent needs, while also raising money to help them keep operating. Register now to volunteer with your local Hunger Cleanup. Look for the MASSPIRG team at BCC and help us meet our goal of raising $1000!

Massachusetts Power Shift, Aprill 11-14: Thousands of citizens from across Massachusetts and beyond are coming to Boston to demand action from their elected representatives and learn effective tools and strategies to utilize in their communities. Citizens will engage in a weekend full of activities, including workshops on climate organizing, city/town break-out sessions around Green Jobs, and Soul Purpose Live: an afternoon rally on the Boston Common complete with music, activism, and leadership. The weekend will culminate on Monday with a lobbying push at the State House to pass the Global Warming Solutions Act which would reduce Massachusetts' Greenhouse Gas Emissions 80% below 1990 levels by the year 2050, and 20% below 1990 levels by 2020.

PAST SUCCESSES

Food Drive: During Hunger and Homelessness week, we collected over 500 food items and donated them to the Salvation Army's Emergency Food Pantry!

Oxfam Hunger Banquet: Over 60 people attended the Hunger Banquet an interactive and eye-opening night about hunger and poverty. MASSPIRG and Rotaract raised over $800 for Oxfam International, a non-profit organization that works on international poverty.

Block Clean-Up: Thanks to those who came and helped clean up around Battleship Cove. We collected over ten bags of garbage! Check out the pictures at:
http://www.gfrpartners.com/07RotaractClean-up.html

City Council Candidate Forum: We had a great turnout - over 40 people came! The seven candidates talked about student issues ranging from the arts to crime in Fall River.

CAMPAIGN INFO

Stopping Global Warming Starts Here: MASSPIRG has introduced great legislation to make MA a nationwide leader in clean energy (15% by 2020). Here at BCC, we're working to educate our peers, faculty, administrators, the local community, and even local legislators on the problem of global warming and get them as excited about the bill as we are! We'll be holding awareness events on campus, like a petition drive and Solar Cider where we can use a solar panel to heat up cider.

Campus Climate Challenge: Just as we're trying to take action on a statewide level, BCC itself could use some greening! Faculty and administrators here are working on stellar initiatives like a solar collector, and we want to help them by showing student support for their action and even getting shorter term initiatives in place.

Make Textbooks Affordable: The average college student pays an insane $900 per year for books. We're working to stop publishers from taking advantage of BCC students. Through the efforts of MASSPIRG chapters across the state, we were able to bring a bill to the State House that, if passed, will solve part of the problem for students in Massachusetts. The bill requires sales reps from publishing companies to disclose the price of their books to faculty and to offer cheaper "unbundled" materials. Look out for new updates on the bill's progress.

Hunger and Homelessness: Last year, students raised over $200 for a local veterans' shelter and transition home. This semester, we'll be holding regular volunteer projects and working to hold a large-scale event in November.

Get Out The Vote Drive: City Elections are occuring all over Massachusetts on November 6th and we are recruiting students to exercise their right to vote. Registration and pledge drives will be occuring around campus. Make sure to sign up and vote!

The Truth About Credit Campaign: College students are graduating with too much credit card debt - close to $4000 on average! The credit card industry has always targeted students as valuable new customers. They rely on trinkets and teasers to convince students to apply. They have
increased "gotcha" fees, made it harder to pay on time and invented other reasons to jack up interest rates and pile on the debt to college students. We want to educate students about aggressive marketing and unfair practices that take advantage of students.

Want to get involved?

Come to one of our campaign meetings:

* Hunger and Homelessness - Wednesdays at 1 pm in the Upper Lounge

* Global Warming - Thursdays at 1 pm in the Upper Lounge.

Contact Kavitha for more info. Call 508-678-2811, x2557, e-mail kavitha@masspirgstudents.org, or stop by our office in the G building upper lounge!