Hundreds of college students, nonprofit groups and college administrators are gathering this weekend in New Orleans for the inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University -- the latest project of former President Clinton's William J. Clinton Foundation.

The project's goal is to push and help college students take on global problems with concrete steps and commitments, in much the same way the original Clinton Global Initiative has been working with leaders in government and business since it began in 2005.

CGI U is focusing on projects in four main areas: energy and climate change; human rights and peace; global health; and poverty alleviation.

Among the 700 or so students who have already committed to projects are a Swarthmore College student working on water quality in Venezuela; a University of Arkansas student creating soccer teams in for teenagers in Cameroon; and a University of Alabama student working with the campus bookstore to move from plastic to canvas and mesh bags.

Clinton spoke with The Associated Press on Thursday about the project and about student activism. His responses are excerpted here.

AP: College students have lots of energy and passion for service. What's the missing piece this initiative is trying to give them?

CLINTON: Number one, I want to convince as many colleges as possible that they ought to have a very organized effort to develop a non-governmental movement on their campuses, maybe even their own non-governmental organizations that brand a campus by its service, just like campuses are branded by academic excellence or their athletic teams. I want them to start thinking about that what kind of service they'll be known for.

Secondly, I hope this thing will grow and we'll have more and more colleges involved, and citizen service will be viewed as an integral part of college life, as something everybody just does, because it's an important part of being a citizen, it's an important part of learning.