Oppression did not appear to be an important issue on campus Friday as an Anti-Oppression Teach-In drew a lackluster crowd to the SUB.
The event, sponsored by the Progressive Student Alliance of UNM, was designed to promote democracy on campus and educate students about issues around the world, said Cezanne Fink, the organization's president.
Fink said she expected around 75 to 125 people to attend throughout the day, but because of poor advertising and the short time she had to organize the event, very few people knew about it.
Abortion, women's rights, militarism and the oppression of indigenous people were among the topics discussed during the daylong event, which at its height had only 12 participants.
Fink said she organized the teach-in to help students better understand important community issues so they can take action against what they might think is wrong.
"I wanted to have an event that students and people in the community could attend that would educate people about anti-oppression," Fink said. "About how they could go out and act against it and learn ways to go out into the community and change things."
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Along with flyers and pamphlets relating to the individual issues, a number of guest speakers discussed a range of topics, from the U.S. government's war on drugs to a panel discussion on the importance of the media.
Lynn Ott, regional director of the Southwest region of Justice for All Inc., an organization opposing abortion, said she participated in the event to get the message of her organization out to the public. She also said it was important these events happen on college campuses because students are the future decision makers.
"I think as long as we are getting information out to people it has a certain level of success," Ott said of the small attendance at the event.
The UNM College Green Party, Peace Action New Mexico and Food Not Bombs were among the organizations that participated in the event.
Travis Roberts, a UNM senior, said it was important to have the event, and said it was successful despite the low turnout.
"I think that it's a shame that more people don't show up to these events," Roberts said. "I believe that these are very important issues, the most important issues in our world today."
