Taking action together

Shirtless and sweating, the man called Steps to Freedom sat before a table filled with pamphlets, bumper stickers and newsletters. Flashing peace signs to passersby and nibbling on pasta, he greeted fellow Monroe County Green Party members with slightly upturned lips and a nearly imperceptible nod of his head. \nHe'd been sweltering in the midafternoon sun since 11 a.m. -- for nearly five hours -- and the turnout for the first day of Disorientation 2001 wasn't as high as expected. But Steps -- that's what his friends call him -- didn't mind.\n"It's slow so far, but it's Labor Day," Steps said. "We came out to raise awareness of the Greens, and that's why I'm here."\nThe Green Party is one of over 20 groups involved in the first annual Disorientation 2001, an event joining community members, students and local businesses in a collaborative effort to raise awareness of a variety of social issues. \nThe brainchild of senior Jessica Williams, the coalition brings together such local organizations as Jobs with Justice, the Center for Sustainable Living, Secret Sailor Books and Straight Allys of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Community. Each define Williams\' goal to \"reach beyond campus" and inspire students who have never taken a role in activist efforts to learn about a myriad of advocacy groups. \nMembers of the coalition have met weekly since May to write the event\'s manual, plan and raise funds. Disorientation manuals, modeled after a similar pamphlet distributed at the University of Wisconsin, are available free at the event.\nMonday kicked off the event which runs all week. Despite a sparse crowd and high humidity, organizers remained unfazed.\n"It is Labor Day, after all, and a lot of people are out of town," said senior Allie Rosenblatt, a NoSweet! member. Rosenblatt joined the anti-sweatshop activist group after a summer globalization experience in Mexico. "It's only the first day; we're expecting more students to come out later in the week."\nBloomington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty member Christy Campoll, a senior, said her organization decided to participate in the event because "it's a good opportunity to get students out to see what kind of activist groups are out there."\nCampoll, who also serves as vice president of Indiana Citizens to Abolish Capital Punishment, delivered a speech entitled "What You Don't Know About the Death Penalty" earlier in the day. She feels students are often unsure how to initiate social change. Disorientation provides the opportunity to increase that awareness.\n"We need to show people that they can do something about the bad things that go on in the world," Campoll said. \nSenior Jennifer Koch, member of ALLYs, IU's Straight Allies to the Gay Community, agreed with Campoll.\n"A lot of my friends are gay, and this is definitely an issue that needs awareness," Koch said. "The voice of straight students backing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students definitely strengthens those individuals. It's not just gay students saying, 'Hey, we need gay rights,' -- it's other people as well."\nALLYs, along with Amnesty International, is petitioning to stop the arrests of homosexuals in Romania, where homosexuality is a crime. Petitions are available at the ALLYs table in Dunn Meadow each day this week.\nThe group is additionally sponsoring tours of the Kinsey Institute, IU's famed sexual research center. \nALLYs president Andrew Wilson approached Kinsey Institute Sexual Information Service for Students intern Emily Nagoski last spring with the request for facility tour times for students.\nKinsey was happy to oblige. \n"Since the Kinsey Institute is interested in opening its doors to the community and being a resource to the town and the University, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to introduce students to the resources available for them at Kinsey," Nagoski said. "At the same time, the tours meet Disorientation\'s goal of increasing student awareness of non-mainstream resources at IU"