WAMM Activist: Jen Randolph Reise

by Marie Simpson, WAMM

Jen Randolph Reise began her new role as co-director of Women Against Military Madness in March. She joins WAMM's staff fresh from a successful campaign in Washington, D.C., where she spent the past year working for campaign finance reform with Common Cause. However, Jen is no stranger to Minnesota or WAMM.

While attending St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN), Jen organized letter writing and actions against the school's decision to destroy the paracollege program. For more than 30 years, the program taught students the skills necessary to assist them in living out their beliefs in justice and social change. On one memorable occasion during the effort to save the program, more than half the students and one-third of the faculty joined an action to protest the administration's decision. Although the battle to keep the paracollege program was ultimately unsuccessful, Jen and others learned valuable lessons in organizing for change.

Jen first met several wonderful WAMM women while still a student at St. Olaf. She was active in the Peace and Justice Resource Network on her campus. Early Wednesday mornings would find Jen transporting St. Olaf students to the Alliant Action vigil where many WAMM members participate in a weekly action against Alliant Techsystems, an Edina-based defense contractor. Jen worked to expose her colleagues to other WAMM initiatives, such as the Campaign to Lift Sanctions in Iraq. She recognized that young activists needed to learn to be peacemakers. She believed and continues to support the idea that new activists need to meet and know the women who have lived the struggle for peace and justice all their lives.

Asked where she thinks her deep belief in social justice came from, Jen quickly responds, "my mother." While working on local issues in Jen's hometown of Springfield, Missouri, Jen's mother modeled for her children a life of concern for the lives of others.

Since graduating from St. Olaf, Jen has worked in Washington, D.C., first with an organization called Peace Action. At Peace Action, she worked on issues including the campaign against the U.S. sanctions against Iraq, the devastating U.S. foreign policy in Colombia, and nuclear arms, including opposition to the funding and creation of "Star Wars" weapons systems. Later, Jen joined Common Cause, where she learned the benefits of building organizational credibility and using the media to communicate a progressive, humane point of view to a wide audience.

Jen now brings her vision, experience, and energy to WAMM, where as co-director she hopes to lead WAMM in some new and creative ways. Mindful of the effects that the events of September 11, 2001, have had on many people, Jen hopes to find innovative ways for WAMM to communicate a message of peace and hope, while continuing WAMM's role in providing education and maintaining a strong, visible presence against injustice.

In her first year with WAMM, Jen plans to concentrate on using the media to get WAMM's message out, and on expanding WAMM's base. She believes Bush's financial programs may provide opportunities to help people recognize how the issues that touch them personally are related to national and international policies.
At this time, when the world desperately needs WAMM's message of peace and justice, we are truly fortunate to have Jen's skills and courage to help us go forward with the struggle. Welcome, Jen, we look forward to joining together in the move toward a more peaceful, just planet.