MASSPIRG at Westfield State College

Recent Update

MASSPIRG is a state wide student run organization working to solve real social problems from protecting the environment to making college more affordable to expanding public transit. We have had a lot of victories in our 25 years on campus. Just this month we passed a bill to secure $36 billion for the pell grant, the largest need based financial aid program in the country.

Check out the details at http://www.masspirgstudents.org/higher-ed/victory

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We do things - MASSPIRG

Here are a few of our accomplishments from this last year. 

New Voters Project:

•    3.4 million new young voters who turned out to vote on November 4th as compared to 2004
•    The young voters' share of the electorate also surpassed that of over 65 year olds
•    Here on campus we helped over 550 students register to vote
•    We also contacted close to 2000 students in the days before the election to remind them to vote through calls, emails and texts

Hunger and Homelessness:
•    We organized a Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week to educate the student body on local, national, and international poverty issues. We had three guest speakers including the director of the Samaritan Inn, a professor and a homeless man come to speak to students.  We also showed the film "It Was a Wonderful Life," which follows 6 homeless women.
•    We collected 6 large bags of clothing with Circle K to donate to Goodwill
•    We collected and delivered boxes of canned food and office supplies to the Samaritan Inn

•    We participated in the National Hunger Cleanup and raised over $250 for the Samaritan Inn and visited the shelter multiple times.
•    We also had a “$ Week” where we asked every student to donate one dollar to support the homeless.

Campus Climate Challenge/Global Warming Solutions:
•    We organized a victory party for the passing of the Global Warming Solutions Act that passed this past summer. Representative Don Humason attended and Professor Carsten Braun gave a presentation on Climate Change.  We also had computers set up where students could figure out what their carbon footprint is.
•    We educated students on climate change and how they can decrease their impact on National Campus Sustainability Day
•    We collected over 100 signatures on a valentine that we delivered to Congressman Olver thanking him for supporting more funding for public transportation in the Economic Stimulus Package.
•    We attended Power Shift, a national climate change conference and had the opportunity to lobby our congressman in the Capitol and participate in a protest.
•    We held a call-in table and had over 50 students call Congressman Olver and over 100 students sign a petition for Senator Kerry to ask them to support a strong Economic Stimulus Package.
•    We educated students on why Mountaintop removal is dangerous and harmful to our environment.

Zero Waste:
•    We collected close to 100 petition signatures to send to Commissioner Burt to encourage her to add better recycling practices in the Solid Waste Master Plan.
•    We took pictures of over 30 students with our “Recycling Monster” to send to our representative to show that students support better recycling in Massachusetts.
•    We educated students on how they can decrease their waste and recycle more.

To find out more about more about MASSPIRG's accomplishments since we were founded in 1972 check out http://www.masspirgstudents.org/accomplishments

Does this look like something you want to get involved with? Want to make a difference on your campus?  Want to work on issues that you care strongly about?

Fill out the Information Session Form on the right!