Drew Roosevelt Network, founded in 2020, supports student-led policy campaigns for accessibility and equality on campus as well as at local and state levels. DRN creates opportunities for aspiring policy makers, educators, researchers and social justice advocates.
In the past DRN has collaborated with Black Lives Matter Morristown and speakers such as Alex Vitale on “The End of Policing,” Dr. Julian Wamble on “The Identity Politics/Post-Racialization Paradox” and Dr. Shatema Threadcraft on “Black Death’s Public/Private Divide and Normative Black Feminine Embodiment.” Police defunding and I.C.E abolition are prominent issues the club brings to light for any student wanting to be involved.
On a local level, last November DRN issued an urgent call to action to demand I.C.E. release Partick Julney, a Bergen County detainee at the time. DRN joined the protest at the Bergen County Jail to demand release rather than transfers.
“Currently, DRN‘s overarching project is a campaign to defund the police in New Jersey. We research current legislation about police reform and try to propose alternatives such as decreasing the NJ police budget,” said DRN Co-President Jeehae Park (‘23).
Their most recent event was on Feb. 9 with speaker Khaled Zayed, PhD to learn about BDS: Boycott, Division, Sanctions.
DRN teaches skills through student interaction and speaker involvement such as doing budget research, drafting letters to government officials and other skills that could assist students in their field of law, education, politics, etc. “Our group is consistently working on the educational aspects of our projects, as well as the social impact our projects will have on law. Many of our projects were in collaboration with the Law, Justice, and Society program which helps our educational efforts for increasing awareness on a variety of topics,” said the DRN website.
“General members are free to hop in and out of our projects anytime. We like to create an environment that allows people to be policy oriented activists while also being students,” said Park. Students who want to get involved can reach out to drewrooseveltnetwork@drew.edu.
