Hundreds of California College Students Using “Six Degrees” Concept and Online Social Networking to Make a Final Push for High-Speed Train Initiative
For More Information: Emily Rusch, CALPIRG Advocate – 415-622-0039 ex 307 or local contact on campuses (see below)
Starting at 10AM today, over 500 college students on 15 campuses from San Diego to Sacramento sent tens of thousands of emails, text messages and Facebook/MySpace messages to tell friends and family to vote yes for Prop 1A, the ballot measure to build high-speed rail in California. As of 5pm the students with CALPIRG (California Public Interest Research Group) had accomplished the following:
- 166,014 emails sent
- 47,384 people contacted via Facebook
- 5,871 text messages
- 3,529 face-to-face conversations during the day
Using the concept that everyone is connected within six degrees of each other, California students volunteering with CALPIRG are working to get their message out to so many people that even Kevin Bacon - the iconic figure commonly linked to the "six degrees" concept-is convinced to vote yes on Prop 1A.
"It is exciting" said Coreen Weintraub, junior at UCLA, "In just a few hours we educated tens of thousands of people about the proposed high-speed rail and why it is such an important investment in our future."
The day started at 10AM when over 400 students activated their peer-to-peer social networks with each student sending dozens of emails and contacting hundreds more via Facebook titled "Tell Kevin Bacon to Vote Yes on Prop 1A - High-Speed Rail". Embedded in the email and Facebook messages was a video that students made detailing why they are voting yes on Proposition 1A as well as campaign information. At 11AM 500 students at 15 campuses headed out onto their quads to speak face-to-face with hundreds more students generating additional text, emails and Facebook messages.
"I contacted everyone I know" said Anjali Gill, sophomore at USC, "My friends, my parents, my co-workers. I haven't gotten to Kevin Bacon yet but I'm educating thousands about the importance of high-speed rail and building support. It's working because I know people are forwarding the message so I will keep encouraging everyone I know to keep forwarding this on."
Proposition 1A would start the process of building the California High-Speed Rail line. This train would run from Sacramento to San Diego, taking passengers between northern and southern California way faster than driving. For example, travelers could get from LA to San Francisco in less than three hours. The train would create 450,000 jobs once finished. It would reduce our dependence on oil by 12.7 million barrels a year, eliminate 12 billion pounds of harmful greenhouse gasses, and reduce traffic congestion.
"We don't have the money to buy TV commercials to educate people about Prop 1A" said Gwen von Klan, freshman at UC Berkeley. "But as students, we do come from all different backgrounds and communities and can use peer-to-peer tactics to personally educate hundreds of thousand of Californians. If it reaches Kevin Bacon, then we can be pretty sure we've gotten the word out across the state!"
For specific numbers for other campuses, contact:
Sacramento State: Kevin Powers, 650-892-7435
UC Davis: Margaret Howe, 773-817-9009
UC Berkeley: Alex Lozanoff, 808-389-8714
San Francisco State: Alex Lozanoff, 808-389-8714
San Jose State: Mike McDonald, 717-360-9859
UC Santa Cruz: Dan Xie, 858-353-1452
Bakersfield students: Catherine Ngo, 603-305-8933
UC Santa Barbara: Nicole Pexton, 971-506-2669
Cal State LA: Erin Steva, 612-590-2174
University of Southern California: Virginia Benninghoff, 802-989-4156
UCLA: Coreen Weintraub, 510-206-3148
UC Riverside: Samantha Raymond, 207-632-8058
UC Irvine: Christine Dubois, 619-519-0492
UC San Diego: Nicole White, 951-500-6273
San Diego State: Kristi Horvath, 970-759-9935
