Learn more :: Media Coverage :: Hammer event to merge art, politic

Hammer event merges art, politic
by Hoorig Santika October 27, 2003

Register, vote and represent. This was the message at Friday's event held at the UCLA Hammer Museum .

The program focused on promoting student voter participation by giving free admission to students who registered at the event or brought another eligible voter to register.

"As UCLA's museum, we are interested in providing programming that will not only be about art and culture but will engage people in social and political and critical dialogue," said Sarah Stifler, the head of public programming at the Hammer Museum.

The program was a part of the newly-established Hammer Forum, which focuses on engaging students with political issues.

"(The Hammer Forum) is really gearing up to do more of these in the course of the next year while gearing up for the 2004 election," Stifler said. "We are really continuously trying to bridge ourselves and the campus."

The event included a workshop session with Joseph Wilson, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, who discussed the U.S. occupation of Iraq and how student activism can affect political decisions.

Speakers also discussed the University of California's role in the production of weapons of mass destruction at the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories.

"The first obvious step is to educate yourself. Realize what it means for one of the best ... university systems in the world to include two nuclear weapons laboratories," said Michael Coffey, a member of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and a student at UC Santa Barbara.

Coffey encouraged students to vocalize their positions on the UC's labs at Board of Regents meetings.

Students also attended a screening of Robert Greenwald's film, "Unprecedented," which discusses problems with the 2000 presidential election.

Students who attended felt more knowledgeable about U.S. and international politics afterwards.

"The opportunity to see young people coming together with politicians and see the documentary about how the election was completely stolen was so eye-opening," said Angela Mazer a fourth-year international development studies student.

Musical performances by Dublab DJ's and Breakestra, among other bands, followed the workshop sessions.

Originally published by the Daily Bruin.

Learn more :: Media Coverage :: Hammer event to merge art, politic