1971 marked a turning point in the history of student activism––it was the year the Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18. Student political action could finally have a real impact on government decisions. That is, with young people now armed with the power of the ballot, politicians had to listen to student concerns. Except … they didn't. Massachusetts students soon realized that the right to vote was not enough and that in order to see their political goals realized, they had to take matters into their own hands and get organized. In 1973, the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, commonly known as MASSPIRG, was born.

More than 30 years later, MASSPIRG is still alive––and still needed––as an enduring voice for public interest issues such as poverty relief, environmental policy, voter registration and higher education affordability. It is part of the network of over 40 state and provincial PIRGs to have been established in the United States and Canada since the 1970's, as well as one of the largest, with over 20 chapters at colleges around the state (along with a significant non-student membership). MASSPIRG provides students at these member campuses with unique opportunities for activism, volunteering, awareness and political action. As a nonpartisan organization, it answers to no political platform, but takes on problems that student members identify as "public interest" issues-those that affect the general public, and in particular, those about which students care most.

MASSPIRG's internal structure promotes the involvement of students in all levels of decision-making. Members of individual campus campaign groups make up the base of the organization, providing the labor needed to execute whatever measures are decided upon––community service trips, awareness projects, fundraising, political action, etc. Above individual volunteers, a campaign coordinator is responsible for each campaign, and a chapter chair oversees all campaigns on a campus. At the state level, decisions are made by the state board, from which an executive committee is elected to implement plans and coordinate with other state PIRGs. All member schools have voting representatives on the state board.

But while an advantage of the organization is that while much campaign research and strategy is conducted at a state level, individual campuses still decide which issues to focus on. Current campaigns at Amherst College are Water Watch, Global Warming, Hunger & Homelessness and Textbooks/Student Aid. Recent projects have included: leading student trips to clean up contaminated rivers; lobbying local legislators to vote for increased renewable energy standards in Massachusetts; working to get Amherst College to back a state bill addressing predatory textbook pricing; helping Amherst students volunteer to fight local poverty; raising money and collecting cans for local, national and international poverty relief; hosting speakers and organizing awareness events for all campaigns––the list goes on.

In addition, any student may start their own campaign and receive MASSPIRG resources and even propose the idea to the state board to become a statewide project. Indeed, while MASSPIRG makes a difference on individual schools, its impact is not limited to a local level because real change toward problems like poverty and global warming will not happen if action is confined to a 1,600-strong liberal arts college. Its large-scale focus is what makes MASSPIRG unique from most campus organizations and is why it has such an impressive track record. Since the 1970s, PIRG students have played key (and often exclusive) roles in passing legislation relating to generic drug laws, small claims courts, alternative energy, honesty in advertisement, money for bottle recycling, automobile insurance reform, reducing mercury emissions and much more. The current major legislative project is on working to pass a bill that will require Massachusetts to generate at least 14 percent of its energy from new, renewable sources by the year 2020.

Amherst College students have consistently voted to maintain a MASSPIRG chapter on campus since 1985, funded through a refundable fee (currently nine dollars) added to each student's semester tuition bill. The money is pooled with other campuses around the state, the bulk of it going to hire a staff of professional organizers and lobbyists whose job it is to train, organize and motivate student activists to effectively pursue their goals and to research issues and represent student interests on Beacon Hill. Money also goes to pay for campaign materials, event costs and rents. Without this funding structure, MASSPIRG as an organization would not function. But the fee system is quite democratic––not only can any student who would rather not pay the nine dollars have the opportunity to request a refund, but every two years the Amherst student body votes on whether or not to have a MASSPIRG chapter at all.

This vote will happen again on Tuesday, April 17, 2007. Voting will be administered by the AAS, and students will be notified via e-mail when the online ballot is up. The importance of this vote is that it lets Amherst's MASSPIRG activists know that the campus still supports their work and that the student body still considers the fee to be worth the professional help, resources, statewide activist support and other benefits that MASSPIRG provides. Now is not the time to stop fighting for change––vote to keep the Amherst campus at the forefront of student activism. On April 17, vote YES for MASSPIRG.

Channing Jones, a sophomore and an economics major, uses his spare time to hunt unicorns. E-mails: crjones09@amherst.edu.