Luke Norris

One evening during his first year at Gettysburg, Luke Norris went to hear a talk on campus by Jonathan Schell, the peace and disarmament correspondent for The Nation.  Schell talked about the need to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, a subject Luke found to be particularly relevant in a time when the possibility of nuclear terrorism is all too real.  Schell also talked about apathy on college campuses, about the lack of engagement in social causes among college students today.  Luke decided he'd do something about both problems.

His response was to found Operation Nuclear Disappear, a partnership of college organizations dedicated to nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament.  College-student members of OND have petitioned Congress to stop nuclear weapons testing and to sign an anti-nuclear action agenda.  Gettysburg, nine other U.S. colleges, and two college-affiliated organizations in Argentina are now members, and many students on all of these campuses have become involved.  The College helped him set up the OND website and pull together an e-mail list, but mostly it gave him the space to do what he wanted to do.  "Gettysburg is very supportive of students who have ideas and want to effect change," he says.

Operation Nuclear Disappear is just one of a long list projects that Luke, a senior political science major, has taken on as a student in the name of social justice.  As a sophomore he went on a service-learning trip to Argentina, where he taught kids how to use computers and refurbished schools and an orphanage.  As part of a Spanish class he works with El Centro, an outreach program for Hispanic youth in the Gettysburg area.  One spring break, while students across the country headed for the beaches of Fort Lauderdale, Luke went north to New York City where he joined the AIDS Momentum Project, providing warm meals and other support to AIDS sufferers in five city boroughs.  His senior thesis, on the politics of school desegregation, is about to be published.

Projects such as these, he says, are typical of the way Gettysburg approaches education.  "Gettysburg is teaching me to be empathetic and think outside the box," he says.  "It's not just about reading books, but getting a taste of the real world.  It's challenged me to see beyond myself and understand the challenges others face.  And it's made me passionate to fix injustice in society." 
 
Today Luke is a card-carrying member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Organization for Women, and the local chapter of the YWCA, and it's safe to say that there are not many white, male college students who can make that claim.  But then, Luke Norris is not your everyday college student.  After all, in the fall he was selected as a Rhodes Scholar, and not many college students can make that claim, either. 

Related Links