Members of the Student Alumni Association will leave for Oxford, Miss., for the Affiliated Student Advancement Programs District 3 conference today at 1 p.m.
The conference is centered on spreading ideas among different universities.
Starting last Wednesday, Matthew Cox, junior in accounting and SAA president, started collecting shirts on the Concourse with the help of his fellow SAA members in preparation for their appearance at the ASAP conference at Ole Miss.
Cox said the T-shirt drive is for the benefit of those affected by the earthquake in Haiti.
"Any kind of shirt will work at this point," said Wendy Norred, senior in health administration and SAA vice president of campus relations.
Norred said it did not even matter if the shirts were clean before they were donated.
"We are taking (the shirts) to a conference who will clean them all," Norred said.
All kinds of shirts were collected at the tent SAA set up on the Concourse.
"Long sleeved, short sleeved and even sleeveless," Norred said.
The SAA members had a plastic bin filled with various donated shirts.
SAA contacted news groups who spread the word of the shirt drive as far as Columbus, Ga., Cox said.
SAA has received help from the Auburn community, Cox said.
As of last Wednesday, the Auburn University Marching Band had collected around 300 shirts, Cox said.
All the shirts that were collected will be taken to the conference today.
The conference will include the University of Georgia, University of Florida, University of Tennessee, University of South Carolina and University of Mississippi.
ASAP evokes slight competition but the bottom line of the conference is to support Haiti and increase relations amongst
District 3 schools. "We want to bring the most T-shirts, but it is all for charity," said Mitchell Holston, sophomore in marketing and SAA executive vice president. Fifteen members of SAA are traveling to the ASAP convention at Ole Miss to represent Auburn University, Holston being one of them. SAA is the only Auburn organization representing Auburn at the ASAP conference.
"Last year was the first major year we went because we gave a presentation to about 200 people," Cox said.
The presentation was on SAA structure.
"This year we are presenting a new design," Norred said.
This year's presentation is "A Blueprint for Growth," which explains how to build a SAA like Auburn did in 1999.
SAA is the largest organization on campus with more than 3,700 members, Cox said.
The ASAP conference starts today and lasts until Sunday, Feb. 21.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
