Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. On the morning of July 26th, two members of STAND and a U.S. Major entered Oklahoma Senator Inhofe’s office. I caught up with them after the meeting, and Jenn Polish’s adrenaline rush was vigorous, her energy infectious. “It’s interesting, honestly, because it was a really good exchange of views…people have to come to conclusions in their own time, their own space. That’s what social change is.”

Big news for the anti-genocide movement!

Yesterday afternoon, Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced a resolution calling for the development of an interagency genocide prevention strategy. The resolution is the result of extensive work by the anti-genocide community to develop a bipartisan consensus around genocide and mass atrocities prevention. Students have played an integral role in this process.

The Enough Project’s John Prendergast, and Sasha Lezhnev, of the Grassroots Reconciliation Group, have published an op-ed on CNN’s website lauding Congress’ recent progress on conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Prendergast and Lezhnev are optimistic about the impact of the conflict minerals legislation on the conflict resolution process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

Last week, STAND hosted over sixty chapter leaders from around the country at STAND Camp 2010. Over four days at a retreat center in Maryland, students heard from John Prendergast, Omekongo Dibinga, Carl Wilkens, and many other anti-genocide activists and policy specialists.

In a decision today, the International Criminal Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I issued a second arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The arrest warrant adds three counts of genocide to the previous warrant’s charges for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

In an editorial today, the San Francisco Chronicle applauded Stanford University’s recent approval of a proxy voting guideline that may cause electronics companies to become more transparent about the presence of minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in electronics products.

Becoming the first university to adjust its investment policy in light of the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Stanford’s Board of Trustees approved a proxy voting guideline that will require the university to vote "yes" on shareholder resolutions requiring companies to disclose the use of minerals from eastern Congo in electronics products.

The New York Times recently reported on Stanford STAND’s efforts to change its university’s investment strategies regarding electronics companies, which may use minerals extracted by armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in various electronics products. Stanford’s progress in this matter is particularly significant, as much of Stanford’s research and funding stems from Silicon Valley technology companies.

Anti-genocide partners John Prendergast and George Clooney recently penned an opinion piece in USA Today, calling for the United States to use both carrots and sticks to leverage Sudan towards peace in Darfur and throughout the country. Prendergast later wrote that the article is, in part, a response to Special Envoy Gen.