Alfred Kilzi
SSDP Board Application
The Basics
School: University of Miami
Email: alfredkilzi@gmail.com
Major(s) / Minor(s) / Areas of study: Psychology major, Minors in Marketing, Arabic Studies, and Art.
Current year in school: Junior
Expected graduation year: Spring 2013
What are your tentative plans after college?:
Law school, or working for a drug policy/other social justice advocacy organization, depending on what opportunities present themselves at the right time.
Leadership Experience
Describe your advocacy skills and experience. Include work outside of SSDP.
I am active in a student organization at my school called STAND, which is advocating for the residents of Overtown, the poorest neighborhood in Miami, against a project by the University which would gentrify the area while using up over 100 million dollars of public financing. The University has tried to suppress the free speech rights of STAND by shutting us down for selectively enforced rules several times, but has been unsuccessful so far. I also participated in an internship over this past summer with the 1Miami campaign, a local grassroots campaign to empower the lower income neighborhoods of Miami to become more involved in local and national politics and to ensure that Jackson Hospital, our only public hospital in Miami, stays open. These two experiences exposed me to an entire half of my city, suffering heavily, that I had never seen before growing up in my middle class suburban neighborhood. I also participate in the NORML of Florida chapter as often as I can, and have been heavily involved with the effort to decriminalize Cannabis possession on Miami Beach through Eric Stevens and Shawn Heller. Other than these experiences, I started the SSDP chapter at my school and am currently trying to grow it from the ground up into something that will live beyond me and continue to thrive after I graduate. We are currently working on implementing a Good Samaritan Policy on campus, and have already begun the negotiation process with the Dean of Students office.
How do you plan on balancing a busy schedule as a student, an SSDP activist, and a board member?
I was lucky to be informed this year that I was actually 1 semester ahead of schedule to graduate. I want to stay for the entire 4 year college experience and continue to contribute to the chapter and to other student life related endeavors. Because of this, I decided instead to lighten my load and take 12, rather than 15, credits until I graduate at the 4 year mark in Spring 2013. With this slight decrease in academic obligations, I have more time to dedicate to extracurricular activities.
SSDP Chapter Experience
What formal positions have you held in your SSDP chapter? When?
Founded the chapter at the end of Spring 2011. Serving as President since then.
Describe your leadership style, particularly within your chapter.
With limited prior experience, but extreme passion, I set about starting the University of Miami chapter at my school. Since then, it has been a fun and amazing learning experience for me. One thing that I have tried to keep constant, however, is to always dream big. I keep realistic expectations, I am pragmatic in assessing what needs to be done and how to do it, but I never give up on envisioning the greatest possible victory. At one point, even getting a chapter started was but a dream to me, but now it is reality.
Describe one project that you led or are leading. What was/is your role? What has this project accomplished?
For the 40th anniversary of Nixon's declaration of the War on Drugs, I coordinated the candlelight vigil on Miami Beach. With the support of the DPA grant money that SSDP distributed to our chapter, and co-sponsorhip by NORML of Florida, CSMP, and the ACLU of Miami, we were able to successfully bring a gathering of people outside of the Miami Beach Police Station, with speeches by Shawn Heller, Norm Kent, and Jeanne Baker. I coordinated the event and used the funding to promote the event and obtain supplies for use during the event, including an amplified sound setup. The vigil was part of a larger, nationwide series of vigils that SSDP and DPA coordinated which brought press attention to the issue.
What fundraising or revenue building experience have you had in the past?
While fund raising is an area that I do not have much experience, we have been taking pre-orders and pre-payments for chapter shirts that will be coming in soon. The money generated from the shirts should raise a couple hundred dollars for the chapter!
The Board
Why do you want to serve on the SSDP board?
SSDP has brought me so many amazing experiences so far. I wish to give back and help the organization grow. I am a loud and proud supporter of drug policy reform. To become a critical part in the movement, especially the student movement, would be an incredible honor to me.
What do you believe are the board's most important functions?
The board helps to maintain a direction for SSDP to follow as a coordinated national movement while still reflecting the interests of the people it represents (the students) and not betraying its grassroots nature. The board decides which issues SSDP chapters can collectively tackle, and how to do so efficiently and effectively.
What are your goals for your board tenure (be as specific as possible)?
To make our goals as easy as possible for chapters to latch on to and contribute to. Having collections of relevant facts (with academic sources), pre-structured arguments, historical contexts, and news coverage for each and every one of our campaigns/issues, in order to increase their accessibility to the chapter leaders who need this information on the fly, will help boost each and every one of the efforts that we undertake, as well as the success of individual chapters. In addition to expanding the accessibility of such information, I would aim to make a push to reach out to professors at universities who are performing research which has implications for drug policy. Professors are aways looking to boost exposure of their projects, so building mutually beneficial connections with them and their efforts could lead to great possibilities.
If elected to the board, would you retain a leading role and/or formal position with your chapter?
Yes. I would serve out the remainder of my term as President at least until the end of Spring 2012. At that point, elections will be held. I would run to remain President, but would also love to see some dedicated and trustworthy members take control of the chapter it matured to that point by the end of the year.
