Anarchists, communists, socialists may finally agree on something.
A forum of students of these varied viewpoints convened for a second time Thursday night to discuss further development of a formal group on campus dedicated to advancing anti-capitalist ideals.
Still considering options for a name, the group is in the process of registering with the University.
In its fledgling state, the main focus of the group is gathering ideas from members to determine what kind of role they will take on.
As opponents of capitalism, most group members indicated they fall relatively far to the left on the political spectrum, while some espoused specific ideals such as Marxism or anarchy.
One of the group's intended functions is to educate students on different ideologies, said Charles Edmonds, a Rutgers College senior.
"All of our ideas are just the culmination of all other human invention and ideas," Edmonds said. "A lot of other groups try to be progressive and move past the old ideologies, and they end up backing down from the big fights, like against capitalism."
Rutgers College senior Chris Lennon further expounded on the importance of education.
"For me, political enlightenment didn't come all of a sudden from seeing a protest," he said. "It came mostly from reading and discovering different ideas in texts.
"Spreading information and ideas can be very powerful in conjunction with action," Lennon said.
To this end, the group plans to hold viewings of numerous documentary films, according to Evan Gold, a University College senior. Educational workshops, guest lecturers and a book swap program are also in the works.
Aside from educating, the group also hopes to take a large role in community service - both on and off campus.
An immediate effort is being made to initiate a coat swap program to provide warm winter clothing to needy New Brunswick residents. Further plans would seek to benefit students specifically.
Edmonds pointed out that there are multiple textbook swapping programs which exist at the University. The group hopes to facilitate coordination of all of these efforts in order to ease the financial burden on students of purchasing textbooks, ideally in time for the spring semester.
Another proposed student service is a free note-swapping system. Students would post notes from specific classes on a Web site, which would then be available free of charge to other students.
The service would be offered in contrast to businesses such as First Class Notes, which pays students to take notes and in turn sells them for $7 a lecture or $40 for an entire semester, Edmonds said.
"It's just sharing your notes, and people might feel inclined eventually to give back in the face of all this sharing," he said.
Group members view note-selling and textbook prices as instances where pervasive capitalism is directly harming students.
Lennon said the importance of maintaining the anti-capitalist message is these efforts that show beneficial things can get done even without money changing hands.
Rather than take on all these tasks unilaterally, the group hopes to act in most cases as a medium between existing groups on campus and in the community.
Students interested in participating can attend the group's weekly meetings Thursdays at 9 p.m. in Room 205 of Murray Hall on the College Avenue campus.
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