Students at Indiana University have always been involved in reform movements in some capacity said Carrie Schweir, an archivist for Public Services and Outreach.
Schweir said it was important for students to understand the trials past students at IU had gone through in order to help cause change in the world today.
IU is where undergraduates can take “baby steps on impacting the world,” Schweir said.
Schweir has recently pieced together the history of activism and reform movements of the students at IU in a new exhibit, “Here I Met My First True Radicals: Student Reform Movements” at Indiana University, with the help of graduate students Alessandro Meregaglia and Elizabeth Peters.
The exhibit is located in the Wells Library Archive on the fourth floor of the East Tower and will run through July 19.
This history of students engaging in various demonstrations of activism extends back to the very founding of the University. Refugees from World War II, racial tensions, the KKK, LGBT issues and AIDS awareness are just some of the many issues tackled by the students of IU at one time or another.
Schweir said her inspiration for this exhibit is two-fold. The exhibit was put together in part as recognition of the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr., and his march.
The second key piece to the exhibit is the letter written by IU student and World War II refugee Charlotte Lederer, Schweir said.
In the late 1930’s, Lederer was fleeing her home of Vienna during World War II as her family was targeted by German forces who moved into Vienna.
She traveled for some time through Geneva, Paris, London and eventually New York, searching for a place where she could finish her studies.
Her search in New York took her to filling out a scholarship application at the International Student Service there.
Lederer was accepted at Indiana University in Bloomington through that program that year.
Her fees to the school were waived due to her circumstances as a refugee, and a Student Refugee committee organized benefit dances and raffles to cover her room and board.
Schweir said the situation of the past with Lederer during WWII seemed to echo the Syrian refugee crisis.
“It’s still pretty relevant today,” Schweir said.
Lederer would go on with her education at IU and eventually seek U.S. citizenship.
Lederer said in a letter she wrote to the IU President and Board that she could not be more pleased to live in Indiana where she had experienced such a warm welcome from the community.
While these issues are difficult to discuss, Schweir said they are vital to an understanding of current issues.
“History is not always the warm and fuzzy history,” Schweir said.
