The inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University, a project of the William J. Clinton Foundation, will take place this weekend in New Orleans as college students and administrators and nonprofit groups gather to encourage college students to take on global issues such as energy and climate change, human rights and peace, global health, and poverty.

The Associated Press reports that the project is similar to the original Clinton Global Initiative, which has worked with leaders in government and business since 2005.

President Clinton said the driving force behind the project was the belief that “the sheer mass of intelligence and energy and numbers of young people on our college campuses can make a real dent in the problems.”

CGI U has already received concrete project commitments from about 700 students including a Swarthmore College student working on water quality in Venezuela and a University of Arkansas student creating soccer teams for teenagers in Cameroon.

President Clinton says that he hopes to expand these efforts across the field of higher education so that ultimately “citizen service will be viewed as an integral part of college life.”

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