Striving For One Hundred
by Dave Schummer
The weekend of September 20 & 21 saw student Campus Freethought Alliance leaders
converge upon the "Celebration of Freethought" seminar in Cincinnati, OH. They
had good news to report. The number of CFA affiliates has steadily grown since university
classes resumed in September and the number of freethought campus groups now stands at 42.
Even more promising than the growth of affiliated groups is the steady influx of inquiries
from students and faculty members interested in establishing new organizations at their
respective colleges.
The CFA averages 10-20 new inquiries per week. Many of these represent multiple
interests from a particular college. With over 200 students and 25 faculty members
interested in starting campus freethought organizations CFA is well positioned to meet and
exceed it's goal of 100 affiliates by the end of the '97-'98 academic year.
In addition to providing materials and support to future affiliates the CFA now has
ability to search it's databases when new inquiries arrive and bring people at the same
college together. It is very unlikely that these students know one another or, in most
cases, will even have the opportunity to meet for the duration of their college years
without our help. When multiple students from the same campus contact us here at the Center for Inquiry we have the makings
of a very strong freethought group. We can't expect all students to have the time
available or necessary leadership talents required to start a group on their own so this
part of CFA's work is critical.
By bringing freethinking students together, CFA is fostering lifelong friendships as
well as strengthening the future of the secular humanist movement. Our goal of 100 campus
groups by summer 1998 seemed incredibly ambitious when we set it in June. But now with
over 200 college campus contacts our goal of 100 groups looks like a strong possibility.
Dave Schummer is the Campus
Freethought Alliance Coordinator for the Council for
Secular Humanism.
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