What can I do? Student activism on campus

Change starts small within any community. Students can make a difference, and there are plenty of options even here on campus.

The Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement, located in the Student Life Suite in the basement of Seegers Union offers 30 weekly programs ranging from visiting patients in hospitals to assisting in elementary schools to caring for animals. The Office also oversees clubs such as Best Buddies, where individuals with intellectual disabilities are paired with college students, Habitat for Humanity, which works to eliminate homelessness, and Adopt-a-Grandparent, which pairs elders from the Phoebe nursing home with Muhlenberg students. Those interested should contact Beth Halpern bhalpern@muhlenberg.edu for more details.

Students looking to get involved should also check out the Multicultural Center. It is home to 8 organizations, including International Student Association, Asian Student Association, Black Student Association, Communidad Latina, and Muslim Student Association, all of which work to bring understanding of their particular culture and heritage to campus. The MC center is also home to Muhlenberg Trans* Advocacy Coalition (MTAC), Students for Queer Advocacy (SQuAd) and Feminist Collective.

Muhlenberg Trans* Advocacy Coalition strives to create a more gender-inclusive and trans-friendly campus, and support all individuals under the umbrella term of trans and their allies, explained co- president Grace Wilkins ‘19.

“The Muhlenberg Trans* Advocacy Coalition (MTAC) is a multicultural organization that aims to support all individuals that identify on the trans spectrum on campus,” said Wilkins. “I hope that, through being a part of MTAC, members will gain a supportive community as well as learning more about trans identity and experience and making positive institutional change towards gender equality on campus.”

In the three years since MTAC formed, they have held seminars for faculty on understanding and respecting gender identity and pronouns, working to create more all gender bathrooms, gender accessible housing, and helping students change their names on college IDs and school systems. They also volunteer at the Bradbury Sulivan LGBT community Center. MTAC is most well known for their Transgender Day of remembrance, held at the end of November and open to members of the community as well as students. Students interested can e-mail muhlenbergtrans@gmail.com or check out their Facebook group.

MTAC will be working with SQuAd in hopes of bringing in a speaker for Queer Week in the Spring semester. Much like MTAC, SQuAd strives to create a safe space on campus for LGBTQ students on campus and advocate for their rights . According to their Facebook page, general interest meetings are held every Thursday from 5-6 p.m. in the Multicultural Center.

For students who would like to advocate for gender equality, there is Feminist Collective (Fem Co.). As explained by the eboard’s implementation coordinator committee: “Our ultimate goal is to provide a safe space for anyone on campus who wants to learn or talk about feminism, and do what we can as students to further move toward gender equality.”

Fem Co. is most well-known for Woman’s week, a week of fundraisers, documentaries, and Take Back the Night. They also work to raise money for Turning Point, a domestic violence shelter in Allentown. Interested students are encouraged to join Fem Co.’s Facebook group or email them at feminist.collective2400@gmail. com.

Feminist collective often joins forces with Students for Reproductive Justice (SRJ), the club which succeeded in bringing Plan B emergency contraception

to the health center last year. SRJ works closely with Planned Parenthood and the Allentown Community at large, explained SRJ President Hannah Busis ‘17. SRJ works to help pas pro-choice legislature, and work to ensure that women have access to the reproductive health services they need.

SRJ holds events including a celebration of the anniversary of Roe v Wade and the annual “It’s On Us Campaign,” the White House’s initiative to end sexual assault on campus. Last semester SRJ also brought a bus full of students to a national rally for reproductive rights in Washington, D.C. This past week, they sold Condomgrams--for one dollar, students could send a condom with a note to a friend’s mailbox, the proceeds for which benefited Planned Parenthood.

Interested students can e-mail muhlenbergsrj@ gmail.com, and join the Facebook group.

Last November, SRJ worked with Fem Co. and Inside and Out: The Body Positivity Group to bring nationally-renowned slam poet Olivia Gatwood to campus. Students interested in promoting positive physical and mental health can check out Inside and Out or Muhlenberg Active Minds’ Facebook pages, respectively.

The Environmental Action Club (EnAcT), won the President’s Award at Honors Convocation in Spring 2010. Working to promote environmental consciousness, the club created the Just Tap it campaign, which has reduced water bottle waste by 95 percent, and Watts Your Bergtricity competition in hopes of reducing energy consumption in dorms. For the last two years, EnAcT held Food Waste Awareness Day, in which club members make full meals out of wasted servings and display them in the dining hall. Anyone interested in joining them in their next project or starting their own can contact them on Facebook or visit their Slack at bergenact.slack.com.

For students who are interested in supporting our military, there’s Muhlenberg College Support Our Troops Club, which will be taken over in the Spring by Samuel Amon ‘19 as president.

“Our mission is primarily, through fundraising activities, to show the men and women of the United States Armed Forces our appreciation for their service to our country and for protecting our freedom,” said Amon. “We do this through care packages, charitable donations, and letters that our sent to troops on an ongoing basis. In the past, we have worked with several charities, including Veterans Support Organization, Adopt a Platoon, and A Million Thanks, just to name a few.”

Amon also hopes to work much closer with the Wescoe School and the veterans enrolled, as well as hold an event similar to Military Appreciation Week in the Spring Semester. Interested students can contact Amon or like the SOTC Facebook page.

For those interested in bringing global awareness to the Muhlenbubble, there’s The Muhlenberg International Relations Council, (MIRC), which organizes faculty panels, some of which are held in Moyer hall. The faculty panels are open to the whole campus and typically consist of three professors of different fields of studies discussing a current topic. One of the most recent panels featured a Poli Sci professor, a history professor and an international studies professor discussing their discipline’s take on ISIS.

With an upperclassmen exec board, MIRC is looking to recruit new students! Those interested should contact current president Chris Baumgartel ‘17.

The College’s chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy was founded this past fall by Hannah Bobker ‘17, and Rachel Davis ‘17, who are currently looking for students with an interest in educating the community on the social, political, and economic consequences of The War on Drugs on the country. Those interested can contact Rachel Davis.

Last year, Assistant Director of the Multicultural Center Mark Smiley created the program Doing Groundwork, which came out of a town hall forum in 2015. Students and faculty are trained to facilitate discussions and workshops on alliship, white privelige, grassroots organizing, anti-racism work and cross- culture understanding. Since the creation, topics have expanded to include gender and sexuality.

Doing Groundwork holds regular workshops throughout the semester. Student groups may invite facilitators to lead discussions with groups and classes. Those interested can contact Mark Smiley at msmiley@ muhlenberg.edu.