Weekend Conference To Advocate Service

More than 1,500 service-minded college students from across the country are expected to converge on Harvard for the 17th annual Campus Outreach and Opportunity League (COOL) conference, titled "The Path of Service Leads from Charity to Justice."

The conference kicks off today with morning panels on social justice and will run through Sunday afternoon, with more than 170 workshops and panel discussions, on issues from globalization to effective campus service.

A core group of about 50 Harvard students worked with COOL, founded by a Harvard graduate and based in Boston, to mobilize campus service leaders and coordinate Harvard's hosting effort.

"[The conference] is a chance for community service minded people to get together, share best practices and work on developing new programs," said Stephen N. Smith '02, the lead student organizer. "This is a chance to regroup all those thoughts and make sense of them"

More than 100 Harvard students have volunteered to host conference participants, some of whom are attending from Canada, the United Kingdom and Israel, and some undergraduates will lead workshops, Smith said.

COOL will also offer a summer opportunities fair for non-profit organizations today and tomorrow that will be open to the entire campus.

Returning to Cambridge this year represents a homecoming for COOL, which was founded by Wayne W. Meisel '82 in 1984.

"We picked Harvard because we recently relocated from Washington D.C., [and] we decided we needed to relocate to Boston because it's really the hub of college America," said Jason P. Wheeler, national COOL conference director.

Craig D. Kielburger, a 17-year-old founder of a non-profit children's advocacy group, will give the keynote address of the conference this evening.

"We'll address the idea of young people as a growing force in the service world," he told The Crimson. "[Speaking] is an incredible way to carry our message, we're just trying to challenge students."

"Very few groups bring together so many students," he added.

Other featured guests include Mel King, founder of the Rainbow Coalition, Ray Offenheiser, president of OXFAM America and other leaders in the non-profit world.

COOL is also presenting Robert Moses, a civil rights activist and educator, with the COOL lifetime achievement award--the first time such an award has been given.

Many students involved with the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) programming said they plan to attend.

"The opportunity to learn from each other is going to be wonderful," said Trevor S. Smith '01-'02, PBHA president.

The enrollment fee for the three-day conference is $175, but Harvard students can register for the reduced rate of $20 if they donate three hours of community service.