Collegiate Times

On a worldwide scale, few people can take a stand ? this is what students in the International Relations Organization at Virginia Tech believe.

?I want to make a difference, and it starts with one individual with the desire to do so,? said Veronica Lee, Council of International Student Organizations representative and senior interdisciplinary studies major.

She continued, ?Some things just don?t reach the far side of the planet. Someone ought to spread the news a little better. Not only the news that sells, but the news that matters. Call it world awareness if you like.?

The purpose of IROVT is to spread awareness about issues of grave concern for the international community at Tech and surrounding areas, Lee said.

?Too many important global issues are put on the backburner or go completely unaddressed,? said Larissa Mihalisko, vice president finance member of IROVT and junior international studies major. She continued, ?My hopes in joining IROVT was to reverse feelings of apathy toward global issues at Virginia Tech and bring these issues to light in order to make a change.?

Each semester, events are hosted based on the issues chosen. This year Dafur, Sudan is the main topic due to millions of deaths caused by rebel groups ? a situation largely ignored by the western governments and media.

?Dafur is a modern day catastrophe, yet it is almost entirely ignored by the Western media,? said Mala Kumar, IROVT President and senior marketing management major. ?The crisis has been going on for years, and the attention it has received thus far is not nearly embraced well enough by the average person,? Kumar said.

Binioube Aleyao, who worked for the United Nations in Sudan, spoke yesterday at the IROVT general body meeting. During an interview, he talked about the situation in Dafur,

?I am not talking as an expert, I am talking as someone who has worked for organizations in Africa,? Aleyao said.

Aleyao said the problem was not just in Sudan but the network of many rebellions over different regions.

?It is a complex situation. We can?t solve the problem unless we have very high political involvement,? he said.

IROVT will hold a display on the Drillfield Oct.11 as well as host Simon Deng on Nov.8 ? a former Sudanese slave speaking about the need for U.S. aid in resolving the Sudanese conflict.

?We had the Rwanda Genocide, and the mass killing that happened in the East Timor ? the world was late. Everybody said I did not know it was on that scale. Now is the time to push on to save Dafur, ? said Oliver Badal, senior structural engineering major.

Badal said he joined the organization because he believed IROVT addresses issues that are important to him as well as the rest of the world.

?Everyone should have the right to exist,? Badal said