About Us
The Amnesty International group at Yale University is a part of the worldwide human rights organization, Amnesty International, which as of this writing had over 2 million members. Amnesty International started as a campaign to free "prisoners of conscience," that is, people who are detained for the peaceful expression of their political or religious beliefs. It has since expanded its range to deal with other human rights issues. Amnesty is known for doing thorough research and effective advocacy. In over 40,000 cases, Amnesty activism has freed prisoners, stopped executions, or otherwise been effective.
The Yale group is officially the Yale University Student Group of Amnesty USA. We associate with other Connecticut groups, and we host Connecticut Amnesty State Meetings each autumn. We are also part of the Northeast Region of Amnesty USA; the Northeast Regional Office (NERO) is located in Boston.
Our History
Early Period
It is known with some certainty that the current Amnesty group at Yale has existed continuously since 2002. Materials have been found which suggest the presence of an Amnesty group at Yale as far back as 1996.
Known History
In 2005, Amnesty coordinators were Tiffany Wan and Svetlana Alkayeva, with contemporaries Jen James, Agata Kostecka, Katherine Jan, and Tinbet Tecle. In Spring 2006, coordinators were Tinbet Tecle and Edwin Everhart, with Katherine Jan and Nick Karzon. Weekly tabling was introduced in Spring 2006. In Spring 2005 and Spring 2006, the Amnesty club held "Rock for Rights" benefit concerts in Dwight Hall. In Fall 2006, membership and activity increased dramatically.
2007 coordinators were Nick Karzon and Katherine Jan, with notable contributions from Miguel Veloz, Carl Kubler, David Crockett, Sara Freiberg, and others. At this time we began to have some graduate student participation, notably with Stephen Baumgart. This period also saw the introduction of the tabling coordinator, which was a major step to increased division of labor and effectiveness.
2008 coordinators were Edwin Everhart and Miguel Veloz. Tabling co-coords were Stav Atir and Lily Yan. Bernie Kuan was treasurer. Carl Kubler was secretary. Bing Han was publicity coordinator. Other notable members included Samantha Broussard-Wilson, Pruittiporn Kerdchoochuen, David Colognori, Nora Jacobsen, and Sarika Arya. Graduate student and death penalty activist Ben Jones also participated. In Fall 2008, membership increased more than ever before. On Saturday, October 4, the Yale Amnesty group hosted the Connecticut State Meeting for the first time. The State Meeting had previously been hosted at Wesleyan. The 2008 Meeting had much more content and two to three times as much turnout as previous Meetings.
In 2009, Helen Jack and Stav Atir were elected coordinators for the Spring, and Nora Jacobsen and Stav Atir for the Fall. Helen Jack was designated primary organizer of the 2009 State Meeting.
A Note on the History of "Issue Groups"
The 2007-2008 academic year was characterized by "issue groups," that is, teams within the Amnesty club that were focused on specific topics and campaigns. Such campaigns included "Children's rights," "Human rights in Burma," "Human rights in China," "Death penalty abolition," etc. The issue groups had separate meetings and organized their events semi-independently from the main club. After two semesters, it was judged that these smaller groups were not especially effective, for several reasons. First, they made it hard for newcomers to understand what was happening in the club. Second, turnout at their independent meetings was terrible. The kind of events organized by these "issue groups" were centered on information (e.g. panel discussions, movie screenings) and advocacy (e.g. letter-writing).