All Entries Tagged With: "Ben Cohen"
College Students Respond to Obama’s Call for Change
Earlier this year, President Barack Obama challenged college students to go change the world. It’s a meaningful invitation in the wake of tuition hikes, budget cuts and a dismal post-graduation future, when inspiration can be a little difficult to find. Today, GlobalShift has selected three students to profile who are changing the world in their own right.
KU senior Ben Cohen strikes a pose for social change, which he believes comes from the sheer determination to make it happen.
1. Ben Cohen, The University of Kansas, senior in political science
When then-freshman Ben Cohen arrived at the University of Kansas in August of 2005, he had no idea that he’d spend the next four years establishing himself as an instigator of political and social change on the Jayhawks’ home turf.
“I badly desired the chance to be involved in politics and social causes, which I had a hard time finding the opportunity for growing up in Topeka,” he says. “Coming to college obviously provided me with a wide range of causes and organizations [to get involved with].”
Now 21, Cohen is involved in dozens of causes across campus with various roles and responsibilities, including President of Delta Force, KU Young Democrats Member-at-Large, and Parliamentarian for Young Democrats of American Jewish Caucus.
“Ultimately, I’ve found myself working on two main issues: sustainability and sexual health and safety,” Cohen said, referring to his advocacy work during KU’s Domestic Violence Awareness Week. “The general motivation to see things change. I think of myself as a very contrary person, that is, I always have something I feel like I have to oppose.”
Cohen also involved with the Student Senate, serving as the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Senator and Multicultural Affairs Committee Chair, as well as member for KU Amnesty International and Commission on the Status of Women. The ability to create change, he says, lies with the determination to do it.
