AU's Distinguished Journalist-in-Residence Nick Clooney Monday night shared his thoughts on his and his son's (actor George Clooney) efforts in Sudan and how they plan to continue their efforts despite the many obstacles they have encountered.
The School of Communication Undergraduate Council, SOC Graduate School Council and STAND, a student-led initiative of the Genocide Intervention Network, kicked off SOC Week March 30 with the event, "Journey to Darfur with Nick Clooney." The event also featured the 2006 documentary "Journey to Darfur," about the 2006 trip Clooney and his son took to Sudan.
Sara Stahlberg, a sophomore in SOC and member of the SOC Undergraduate Council, said the SOC Week theme, "Media without Boundaries," largely influenced the idea of the event.
"Professor Clooney was a great resource to go to," she said. "His visit to the Darfur region of Sudan and subsequent documentary went well with our theme."
Clooney said he never planned on becoming an activist, but after what he felt was a continuous lack of press coverage about Darfur, he and his son decided to take action.
"I was talking with George in 2004 and 2005 and couldn't figure out why what was happening [in Sudan] wasn't more of a story in the news," he said. "If the information was right, why didn't anyone care?"
The pair journeyed to Sudan for nine days in 2006 in hopes George's celebrity status would draw attention to their cause.
"We believed that if people knew about it, they would start doing something," Clooney said.
Upon their return to the United States, they spoke at a massive Save Darfur rally in D.C., many other awareness events and testified in front of the U.N. Security Council with Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel, according to Clooney.
Despite the increased press coverage about Darfur, Clooney and other activists generated, their efforts overall have failed since such a problem still exists in Sudan three years later, Clooney said.
"We were flops," he said. "Nothing we have done has mattered, but that's not any reason to continue to try."
Students should continue to get involved in the crisis in Darfur, Clooney said.
"You can do what you've been asked to do countless times, but never done before," he said. "You can call your two senators, your representatives and the city editor of your local news station and tell them about the genocide. Be persistent about it."
It is important for AU students to get involved with Darfur activism but also mentioned the role the media plays in the effort, Stahlberg said.
"Of course, there is a political aspect to all of this, but speaking as a communications student, I believe it is also the role of the media to play a much larger part in ensuring Darfur is one of the important issues of our time," she said.
Victoria Bosselman, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs and president of AU's chapter of STAND, said she was happy with how the event came together as well as what it was trying to accomplish.
"I hope people showed up because they knew who Nick Clooney was but left caring more than they did before," she said.
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