Approximately 100 students will participate in a sleep-out on the academic quad tonight as part of a three-day event organized by Pangea focusing on the plight of refugees around the world.
According to senior and Pangea co-chair Shoshana Grossman-Crist, the program, entitled the Symbolic Refugee Camp, aims to "highlight the issue of refugees in general, [focusing on] some of the difficulties they face and some of the conflicts or other situations that have forced them to become refugees."
"We really just feel that the issue of refugees in general is something that's really underrepresented in the world, particularly in the news and around campus," she said.
Tonight's sleep-out is only the beginning of three days of speakers, films and other venues of educating Tufts students about refugees. "The tents will serve as a forum for the events that are happening in the next two days," Grossman-Crist said.
The volunteers sleeping on the quad are encouraged to participate in groups - be they sports teams, dorms or groups of friends - and to ask friends and family to sponsor them. Grossman-Crist emphasized that the goal is to symbolize, not simulate, a refugee camp.
Sophomore and Pangea treasurer Nicole Zeller said that all proceeds will be donated to Mapendo International. "We hope to raise at least $5,000," she said.
Mapendo International is an organization that "identifies, protects and cares for people fleeing war and violence whose lives are in imminent danger and who fall outside existing aid efforts," according to its Web site.
Volunteers will construct the camp on the academic quad outside of West Hall. Aided and supervised by volunteers from the Tufts Mountain Club, participants will set up 10 tents, each of which will hold eight to 10 people. These tents wills serve as symbols of the event throughout its duration, as well as eye-catching alternatives to traditional advertisements like posters.
Grossman-Crist said that the event stands out because of its very public location. "Most organizations have events in rooms on campus, and they advertise for them with posters," she said. "We wanted to make an event that is more accessible to all students."
Each day of the event focuses on a specific aspect of the plight of refugees around the world. New sandwich boards and posters will surround the tents each day, highlighting the different issues, Grossman-Crist said. Today Pangea's focus is the conflicts that are creating refugee situations around the world; tomorrow's focus is the reality of life on a refugee camp; the third and final day will emphasize resettlement and repatriation, highlighting Boston refugee communities in particular, she said.
Both the second and the third day feature various speakers, including local Ugandan refugees and executive director of Mapendo International Sasha Chanoff.
The program additionally aims to publicize the issues of internally displaced persons (IDPs), Grossman-Crist said. These are people who are also displaced from their homes, but "because they haven't left their own country, they are not eligible for United Nations assistance," she said.
Grossman-Crist said this issue is especially relevant because it hits close to home, since this status applies to many of the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
While there have been some criticisms of the symbolic refugee camp, Pangea Co-Chair and sophomore Sarah Bettigole said the campus-wide response has been "surprisingly positive."
Although the event will take place right outside of West Hall, many residents don't seem to mind. "I don't mind people sleeping outside in tents if they're raising money for a good cause," sophomore Chris Devereux said.
Lilly Riber contributed reporting to this article.
