Name: Sarah Miller
School & Year: BC ‘15
Majors: Human Rights and Anthropology
When and why did you get involved in Amnesty International?
I joined Columbia’s chapter of Amnesty International at the start of my freshman year. Coming to Barnard, I knew I wanted to study human rights and get involved in human rights groups on campus. I attended the first meeting of the semester and found that it had exactly what I was looking for – students of all years and majors sharing a common passion for activism and discussing and defending human rights.
What kinds of initiatives does Amnesty take to spread awareness of human rights on campus?
We take a two-pronged approach to our campaigns. The first is educational, for which we host film screenings, panels with professors, experts, and activists, teach-ins, and discussions. The other is the activism side, which is at the heart of Amnesty International as an organization. We have demonstrations, letter-writing campaigns, petition-signings, photo campaigns, and lobbying trips to name a few of the actions that we do on campus. Right now we are focusing on three priority campaigns: My Body My Rights, Stop Torture, and End Gun Violence. We have a range of educational events and actions for each campaign, which we organize at our meetings on Wednesdays at 8pm in the Dodge Room of Earl Hall. At every meeting we also discuss a human rights related current event, so I would encourage everyone with an interest in human rights to stop by our meetings to come discuss, plan, and eat double stuf oreos. We always welcome new members, no matter what time in the semester!
How has your study of human rights and work with Amnesty inspired you to make an impact after you graduate?
While I always knew I wanted to do something human rights related after college, I think I didn’t really know what that meant for me before getting involved as an activist on campus. One of the approaches that our chapter of Amnesty takes is framing each of our campaigns through both an international and local lens in order to relate the issues that we are working on to the role that we play and agency that we have as students. I think it is especially important to understand many of the issues that we see right on our own campus, in our own city, and in our own country as human rights issues. We need to not think of human rights only as needing protection on the other side of the world, though of course much of what we do is focused on international human rights as well.
My experience studying human rights and as an activist on campus in these ways has motivated me to continue to advocate for change and protect human rights and civil rights. I am currently on the search for a job in the world of public interest law and human rights, and am hoping to go to law school in a few years to become a public defender.
Favorite class you’ve taken?
Civil Rights & Civil Liberties with Paula Franzese. She is the most inspirational, thought-provoking, and passionate professor I have had at Barnard and Columbia. Everyone should take a class with her at some point!!
3 foods you can’t live without?
Ben & Jerry’s Milk and Cookies, mac & cheese, and popcorn shrimp