http://theword.hunter.cuny.edu/archive/vol41/news/sumnew4.html
The NYPIRG Staff at Hunter
By Elizabeth Zoiner
The Hunter chapter of the New York Public Interest Research Group held an open house this spring to encouraged Hunter students to get more involved in student activism.
NYPIRG staff Emily Nella, David Weinberg, and Alexis Jon-Keeton offerd pizza and soda after the meeting, but few students filled the seats in the auditorium on the sixth floor in the West building. NYPIRG members fight for environmental preservation, consumer protection, government reform and public health issues.
Nella, 23, a project coordinator, said she spends most of her time in the NYPIRG office located in Thomas Hunter room 314. Nella lives in Brooklyn and commutes to Hunter but is not a student. "I have been working full time with NYPIRG for seven months" she said. Her responsibilities include calling members, planning meetings, and recruiting new students.
Nella is working on a strategy that will amend the New York State bottle bill, and thwart Governor Pataki's proposed the tuition hikes at city and state university campuses as well as his budget cuts. She is also involved in efforts to close Indian Point.
The bottle bill became a law in 1980, and recently suspended glass and curbside recycling. "NYPIRG wants New York State to adopt the Bigger, Better Bottle Bill, to expand the bill currently in place because the majority of people back then drank soda. But now water and sports drinks are the main beverages, they need to be recycled too," she said.
She said that the bill has three parts. One, it would expand the bottle bill to cover non-carbonated beverages like Snapple, sports drinks and water. Two, it would require that unclaimed five-cent deposits go to the state rather then the beverage companies. Last, it would raise the deposit from 5 cents to 10 cents. She wants the $172 million in unclaimed deposits to go to New York, and Snapple should turn the money over to the state to support recycling and other critical environmental needs, she said.
Nella, wearing an interesting array of colors, such as a green shirt, black vest, orange pants and on her feet were green, purple and silver colored sneakers, is also working on a sweatshop campaign and wants Hunter to work with an organization like the Workers Rights Consortium which advocates for the rights of sweatshop workers. Last semester she went to rallies, protests and got Hunter's student government to endorse her plan to try to get Hunter to join the WRC. "Next, I am going to Dean Escott to see if he has any suggestions and maybe he can help me with outside contracts," she said. "I would like to see Hunter bookstore, the CUNY board members and president Rabb support NYPIRG on this campaign."
"I enjoy educating students opening up their minds to new ideas and wants students to see their power, and believe in it and seeing what it can accomplish," she said.
Her interest in political activism began in January, 2000, when she visited Israel. There she became interested in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.
David Weinberg, 25, also a project coordinator, moved to New York from Indiana, and now lives on the upper west side. "I went to Earlham Liberal Arts and got involved with PIRG which is in about 38 states," he said. He then moved to Washington D.C. for an internship and then came to Hunter. "My responsibilities include organizing meetings, training new members to be independent, and recruiting through outreach campaigns," he said. During the interview he seemed relaxed in blue jeans, a gray shirt and New Balance sneakers.
Weinberg said NYPIRG holds a chapter meeting in the spring and in the fall at a SUNY college like Binghamton for a weekend. "Members go to 30-40 workshops some of which will help them perfect their public speaking skills, working with the media, and how to write letters to the editors of newspapers like the New York Times," he said.
On March 25 NYPIRG sat up tables with phones so students could call the governor and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to state their opposition to the proposed tuition hike and TAP cuts. NYPIRG is also working on the Straphangers campaign that monitors subways and buses. Besides his work with NYPIRG he is interested in progressive journalism. "In the future I would like to write columns educating people on important political issues," Weinberg said.
Alexis Jon-Keeton, 20, an environmental leader, enrolled in the CUNY BA program that allows students to design their majors, chose Hunter to be her home school for her double major in media activism and social change. She lives in Brooklyn, and as a young girl got involved in a recycling program in her neighborhood. In her senior year she was attended the Educational Video Center and was invited to work on a documentary called Milleniumphobia, The Way The World Is. "I was also part of Youth Organizers TV, and received money to make a video about youth and the justice system in New York City," she said.
"The movie was screened in Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at Lincoln center," she said. After 9/11 Jon-Keeton went to a NYPIRG open house meeting and was impressed with the speakers and the organization. After the meeting she wentto their office and volunteered to put up posters for environmental causes. Soon after the group members asked her to become project leader of environmental projects," Jon-Keeton said. At the time of the interview she wore jeans, a striped yellow shirt, and purple sneakers.
She wants the state to close the Indian Point nuclear power station. "In my opinion, nuclear energy is terrible because it leaves a lot of waste that is left in big vats of water on cite, which puts nearby residents in danger if their was a nuclear meltdown," she said.
On March 20, NYPIRG organized an educational event about Indian Point. Several schools, like Queens and Brooklyn colleges and City Tech, participated in the event. "I like working on environmental campaigns, and after college I plan to work on documentaries involving social issues," Jon-Keeton said.
By Elizabeth Zoiner
The Hunter chapter of the New York Public Interest Research Group held an open house this spring to encouraged Hunter students to get more involved in student activism.
NYPIRG staff Emily Nella, David Weinberg, and Alexis Jon-Keeton offerd pizza and soda after the meeting, but few students filled the seats in the auditorium on the sixth floor in the West building. NYPIRG members fight for environmental preservation, consumer protection, government reform and public health issues.
Nella, 23, a project coordinator, said she spends most of her time in the NYPIRG office located in Thomas Hunter room 314. Nella lives in Brooklyn and commutes to Hunter but is not a student. "I have been working full time with NYPIRG for seven months" she said. Her responsibilities include calling members, planning meetings, and recruiting new students.
Nella is working on a strategy that will amend the New York State bottle bill, and thwart Governor Pataki's proposed the tuition hikes at city and state university campuses as well as his budget cuts. She is also involved in efforts to close Indian Point.
The bottle bill became a law in 1980, and recently suspended glass and curbside recycling. "NYPIRG wants New York State to adopt the Bigger, Better Bottle Bill, to expand the bill currently in place because the majority of people back then drank soda. But now water and sports drinks are the main beverages, they need to be recycled too," she said.
She said that the bill has three parts. One, it would expand the bottle bill to cover non-carbonated beverages like Snapple, sports drinks and water. Two, it would require that unclaimed five-cent deposits go to the state rather then the beverage companies. Last, it would raise the deposit from 5 cents to 10 cents. She wants the $172 million in unclaimed deposits to go to New York, and Snapple should turn the money over to the state to support recycling and other critical environmental needs, she said.
Nella, wearing an interesting array of colors, such as a green shirt, black vest, orange pants and on her feet were green, purple and silver colored sneakers, is also working on a sweatshop campaign and wants Hunter to work with an organization like the Workers Rights Consortium which advocates for the rights of sweatshop workers. Last semester she went to rallies, protests and got Hunter's student government to endorse her plan to try to get Hunter to join the WRC. "Next, I am going to Dean Escott to see if he has any suggestions and maybe he can help me with outside contracts," she said. "I would like to see Hunter bookstore, the CUNY board members and president Rabb support NYPIRG on this campaign."
"I enjoy educating students opening up their minds to new ideas and wants students to see their power, and believe in it and seeing what it can accomplish," she said.
Her interest in political activism began in January, 2000, when she visited Israel. There she became interested in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.
David Weinberg, 25, also a project coordinator, moved to New York from Indiana, and now lives on the upper west side. "I went to Earlham Liberal Arts and got involved with PIRG which is in about 38 states," he said. He then moved to Washington D.C. for an internship and then came to Hunter. "My responsibilities include organizing meetings, training new members to be independent, and recruiting through outreach campaigns," he said. During the interview he seemed relaxed in blue jeans, a gray shirt and New Balance sneakers.
Weinberg said NYPIRG holds a chapter meeting in the spring and in the fall at a SUNY college like Binghamton for a weekend. "Members go to 30-40 workshops some of which will help them perfect their public speaking skills, working with the media, and how to write letters to the editors of newspapers like the New York Times," he said.
On March 25 NYPIRG sat up tables with phones so students could call the governor and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to state their opposition to the proposed tuition hike and TAP cuts. NYPIRG is also working on the Straphangers campaign that monitors subways and buses. Besides his work with NYPIRG he is interested in progressive journalism. "In the future I would like to write columns educating people on important political issues," Weinberg said.
Alexis Jon-Keeton, 20, an environmental leader, enrolled in the CUNY BA program that allows students to design their majors, chose Hunter to be her home school for her double major in media activism and social change. She lives in Brooklyn, and as a young girl got involved in a recycling program in her neighborhood. In her senior year she was attended the Educational Video Center and was invited to work on a documentary called Milleniumphobia, The Way The World Is. "I was also part of Youth Organizers TV, and received money to make a video about youth and the justice system in New York City," she said.
"The movie was screened in Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at Lincoln center," she said. After 9/11 Jon-Keeton went to a NYPIRG open house meeting and was impressed with the speakers and the organization. After the meeting she wentto their office and volunteered to put up posters for environmental causes. Soon after the group members asked her to become project leader of environmental projects," Jon-Keeton said. At the time of the interview she wore jeans, a striped yellow shirt, and purple sneakers.
She wants the state to close the Indian Point nuclear power station. "In my opinion, nuclear energy is terrible because it leaves a lot of waste that is left in big vats of water on cite, which puts nearby residents in danger if their was a nuclear meltdown," she said.
On March 20, NYPIRG organized an educational event about Indian Point. Several schools, like Queens and Brooklyn colleges and City Tech, participated in the event. "I like working on environmental campaigns, and after college I plan to work on documentaries involving social issues," Jon-Keeton said.