The student-faculty committee administering the $200,000 Darfur Action and Education Fund held its first meeting March 1 to discuss the procedure for submitting project proposals.

The committee is composed of Keith Moffat, deputy provost for research; Susan Gzesh, director of the human rights program; and two students serving on an interim basis, economics graduate student Sally Sadoff and second-year Aliza Levine, the cochair of the U of C chapter of Students Take Action Now: Darfur (STAND).

Moffat said the meeting was meant “to encourage as many and as diverse proposals as possible to this committee for funding.” Proposals can be submitted by any student, staff, or faculty member at the U of C and must meet three criteria: an educational purpose, a link to issues involving Darfur, and submission by a student group or academic department.

First round proposals are due Monday, April 9, and second round proposals are due Monday, May 11.

The committee does not plan to deny any proposals; the application procedure encourages project leaders to resubmit proposals that are not initially funded. Third and fourth rounds will be added if the $200,000 fund is not entirely allocated during the first two rounds.

The fund was established by the University’s Board of Trustees to help students and faculty explore the conflict in Sudan and human rights in general. It was created in response to protests by STAND, which called on the U of C to divest from companies that do business in Sudan.