In a little over a day and a half, almost one-thousand students have traveled to Columbia University to participate in the Students for Global Justice (SGJ) WEF counter-forum. The forum, entitled "Globalizing Justice" is being held at Columbia from January 31st through February 4th, and is meant to educate students "about the shortcomings of the WEF's one-sided agenda." The conference is divided into a series of over 50 workshops and two large scale plenary sessions. Workshop topics range from "Who is Mumia?" to "Training for Nonviolent Direct Action" to "WEF's Local Agenda: Fighting NYC Budget Cuts." Two plenary sessions discuss "Globalism, Militarism, the Neoliberal Agenda, and Their Discontents" and "Another World is Possible: Globalizing Justice and Solidarity." Contrary to the myth promoted by the mass media, which usually identifies college students as apathetic or greedy, antendees seemed both energized by the prospect of a day of meetings and resolutely opposed to the current structure of world-wide global capitalism. Molly, Grahm, and Adrien all traveled from North Carolina to participate in the conference. Students at UNC-Willmington, they are members of People Educating With An Active Commitment to Equality (PEACE). "I'm here to make my voice heard," said Grahm. He added "This is also my first visit to the big city." That sentiment was echoed by John, a student at the University of Oregon in Eugene. "This is my first time in New York," he said, I'm kind of overwhelmed." Kylie, who traveled from Eugene with John, remarked that the Forum was a "once in a lifetime chance." She added that a lot of students at Oregon seemed unconvinced about the importance of the trip. "A lot of them looked over at me and said: 'that's a lot of money to spend on a protest'...it's really sad. I think that the media doesn't cover the justice work that a lot of students are doing." The morning workshops ran from 10am until 12 noon, and were followed up by a group lunch. One workshop, "Why McDonald's Needs McDonell Douglas: Globalization and the Drive to War," attracted overflow crowds that forced it to move into a larger space. Meredith Kolodner, of the International Socialist Organization, sought to draw the connection between what she called "the drive for war in Afghanistan and the corporate drive for profit." In order for multi-national corporations (MNC's) to successfully impose a neoliberal economic agenda on a developing nation, Kolodner argued, that nation must first have a certain level of so-called internal stability. That stability is usually defined by big business and is often enforced via the United States military. Because of this connection, Kolodner concluded, "anti-war activism has got to be at the center of the global justice movement." In a smaller but lively workshop, "Transforming Democracy: Global Justice and a Voter's Bill of Rights," Amy Quinn from the Institute For Policy Studies (IPS) used a drawing of the "sick tree of globalization" to discuss ways in which neo-liberal institutions (like the WEF and World Bank) really grew out of fundamental flaws in the U.S. democratic system. Drawing on Enron as an example of corporate corruption, Quinn argued that fundamental democratic reform, personified in a Voter's Bill of Rights, can help global justice movements take the first steps towards creating a more equitable world. Although they seemed primarily focused on the day ahead, students seemed well aware of the large-scale WEF-protests taking place this weekend. Kylie stated that she "hoped the protests were both peaceful and attention getting." Molly seemed confident that things would go smoothly. "I think all the talk about violence is a lot of hype," she said. As the day wore on and an ever growing group of new arrivals lined up to register, uniformed security personnel looked on passively and with a hint of curiosity Asked for some thoughts on the counter-summit, though, security quickly snapped to attention. "No comment," they replied.