It's the calling of a generation

In anti war marches, Web logs and even performance art, college students, the pied pipers of peace, are pressuring their own generation to make a difference in the world. Knox College junior Graham Troyer-Joy is one of them. He is not alone.

Across the country, college students like Troyer-Joy are organizing an assault against the establishment not seen in more than 20 years. They will be the first to tell you that if you do not have the drive to do it yourself, it is not going to happen. Their whole lives have been a lesson in cooperation, understanding and racial and gender acceptance. These quintessential values are a part of their conscious, and they have turned activism into a social service organization.

Knox College's activist group, Alliance for Peaceful Action, fosters peaceful resolutions to conflicts, and stands against violence. The group believes in the importance of activism and opposition against those who create violence ? including their own government. APA's activist efforts range from fundraising campaigns for Safe Harbor Family Crisis Center to educating the Knox College community about the genocide in Darphor [Sudan]; from traveling to Minnesota to urge citizens to get out and vote, to attending an anti war protest during a summit of world economic leaders in Washington D.C. and a peace protest in New York.

Serving as president of APA, Troyer-Joy, who hails from Oak Park, Illinois, got involved with the group his first year at Knox. "After 9/11 and the war in Iraq, there was a need for something?an international understanding for peace," he says.

Armed with research and a portfolio of options, Troyer-Joy, an anthropology and sociology major, and the APA students are a powerful voice. "Knox is a learning community. We exposed the genocide in Darphor through information pamphlets that we distributed on campus. Students saw what is happening there, and we urged them to call their state representative to voice their concern about proposing a senate bill for a resolution to Darphor," Troyer-Joy says.

Last November, Troyer-Joy, who says he never thought he would be a part of a political campaign, was in contact with Megan Gamble '06. Gamble was working for the Democratic Party in Michigan and needed volunteers to motivate the citizens to vote. Troyer-Joy and a handful of Knox students made the trip to Michigan and knocked on doors persuading people to vote. "No matter the cause of people my age, or any age, it is worth getting involved. We wanted to better the national average of voter turnout," he says.

Troyer-Joy meets students from other colleges and universities at the protests he attends. "The youth activist movement is not just dreadlocks and hemp," he says. "The peace movement has spread to all types of people in the last couple of years. Right now you could say that it is partly due to the number of people not happy about the war in Iraq."

APA is not just about road trips and peace rallies. The group meets weekly, at 9 p.m. Tuesdays, at the Human Rights Center. They have movie night on Fridays and their road trips are not all rallies and protests. In April, the group will travel to Chicago to attend a taping of Comedy Central's The Daily Show. And, later this spring, APA is sponsoring the Fair Trade Fair at Knox College. The event is a week long event promoting fair trade, fair labor, environmentalism and community development.

"We want to make fair trade available on campus and managed to get fair trade coffee served here and want to add fair trade clothes to the bookstore," Troyer-Joy says. "Maybe a fashion show of U.S. made t-shirts in the Gizmo. We also want to see about getting fair trade rice in the cafeteria. We may be a small group, but we are very dedicated."

Evolution of campus activism
The civil rights, women's rights, and antiwar movements of the past were successful. So, an energized APA learns from their previous generation's successes and from its mistakes. "This isn't our parent's college activist group. It is more service oriented. It allows us to do something and to feel we are a part of something bigger than ourselves," Troyer-Joy says.

Being a part of the APA has been a learning process and a valuable experience that Troyer-Joy says he can take with him. In five years, he will be beating the drums for the next big event. "Activism will take a place in my future. I want to get involved in a non-profit campaign or an education campaign about aids in Africa. I want to change things."