ST. LOUIS (AP) - More than 1,000 college student leaders from across the nation and abroad will rub shoulders at Washington University this weekend with a former president, a TV satirist, the founder of Twitter, a Nobel laureate and activists from communities stretching from Gary, Ind., to Afghanistan.
The Clinton Global Initiative University is an outgrowth of former President Bill Clinton's New York-based philanthropic foundation. After previous sessions at George Washington University, the University of Texas in Austin and other nationally prominent campuses, the sixth annual event comes to St. Louis starting Friday night.
Featured speakers are to include Chelsea Clinton, the ex-president's daughter: television host Stephen Colbert; actress Jada Pinkett Smith; Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus; and Twitter creator Jack Dorsey, a St. Louis native.
Student participants are required to make "Commitments to Action" that involve community projects focusing on education, the environment, human rights, poverty and public health. The three-day conference includes a Sunday service project at Gateway STEM High School, a city magnet school that focuses on science, technology, engineering and math.
More than 200 of the participating students attend Washington University, with others coming from more than 300 other campuses and 75 countries. Some of those students will be able to tap a $400,000 seed fund through a 33-campus network. And the host university has agreed to spend $30 million over six years to reduce pollution on campus.