Ways You Can Make an Impact On Campus

Here at Fairfield University, there are several clubs and opportunities to become engaged with along your activist journey. Read more ideas and specific ways below!

Now that you’ve most likely educated yourself throughout the reading of my previous blog posts (which if you haven’t already yet, I encourage you to do before continuing) it is time to look into what is perhaps the most important aspect for you to take away. How as a Fairfield University student or faculty member in particular can you create change and make an impact on campus?

Photo from Fairfield University Facebook

I have already previously gone through mechanisms of which you may pursue menstrual activism on your own, off campus. For instance, through donations to Malala Fund, conducting charity events with proceeds going towards organizations combating menstrual injustice, hosting your own period drive utilizing the instructions given by Alliance for Period Supplies, and creating social media pages such as Instagram and Twitter to advocate and educate your followers.

I have yet to go into in depth, however, the ways in which you as a Fairfield University student or faculty member can ignite your inner activist on campus, in ways specially available only to you. By learning about and engaging in Fairfield University organizations and educational opportunities, we are able to create effective relationships and menstrual activist opportunities unique to us.

As a Fairfield University student or faculty member, I encourage you to log onto our unique platform “Life@Fairfield,” where you can find a surplus of information on clubs, organizations, opportunities, and contact information of important individuals on campus. I have gone through already and drawn out what I feel as though will be most effective for your activist journey.

Pursuing a minor through the Black Studies Program offered at Fairfield University, run by Professor Kris Sealey, may be a good place to start; it is an excellent way of immersing yourself into better understanding and appreciation for those of African descent. The program is designed to enlighten students with a “comprehensive study of the origins and experiences” of African Americans, Afro Caribbeans, Afro Asians, Afro Latinos, and Afro Europeans. Learning about ways these individuals are structurally oppressed, as well as their history, may deepen your passion towards standing up against oppression against such individuals. Likewise, it will also most likely transcend into the feeding of your passion towards advocating for the girls still living in Africa who are being deprived of menstrual hygiene and a full quality education.

Organizations such as Center for Social Impact, Humanitarian Action Club, and Public Health Club offered on campus are all great clubs to not only join, but to introduce menstrual activism to yourself. Center for Social Impact works to create “high impact” educational experiences that address “local, national and global challenges,” developing beings “committed to creating a more just and equitable world.” This would be an exceptional organization for one to bring up the injustices surrounding girls’ lack of access to education in third world countries, encouraging a workshop or academic opportunity surrounded upon menstrual activism.

Similarly, Humanitarian Action Club is a student leadership team that focuses upon humanitarian global crises; currently, the team appears to focus upon refugees and protection of citizens from natural disasters, however one could expand the view of this club into further incorporating the crisis of girls’ lack of education and menstrual hygiene. Considering the club being made up of humanitarians, the welfare of these young girls would be quickly prioritized and of concern. Further, you introducing this injustice would allow for a whole new wave of compassion and empathy to flow out towards the cause and gain fellow help towards raising awareness. If one were to be interested, there is also a Humanitarian Action Minor offered at Fairfield University, with internships being offered at non-profit organizations. Perhaps, you could strive for gaining an internship working directly with Malala Fund or a nonprofit organization working towards girls’ education!

Public Health Club, the last of the ones previously mentioned, is a club that anyone can join at Fairfield and is focused upon promoting awareness “in all aspects of health, health inequity, and social injustice” to create a healthier community. Again, the injustices surrounding lack of menstrual hygiene in third world countries serving as a restrictor to girls’ education would be impactful to bring up if one were to join this club. It certainly falls under both “health inequity” and “social injustice,” and would raise awareness and increase wide scale efforts towards combating the issue. The club, with your guidance and knowledge, could host a meeting centered around the injustice, create posters to display around campus, or even host a virtual event for fellow students and faculty to engage in.

If you are looking for something more creative or involved, there are still more ways of spreading awareness and conducting charity work on campus. Become engaged with organizations that host student-led events for students, such as Fairfield University Student Association (FUSA) and Fairfield At Night. You can run for a position on either team, through Life@Fairfield, or simply email your event ideas to them at fusa@fairfield.edu or fairfieldatnight@gmail.com. A potential event you could host or encourage is a reusable sanitary pad event where students spend the night sewing and interacting. Once the night of fun is done, the reusable sanitary pads sewn by the students could be collected and donated to Connecticut Period, a branch of the national nonprofit PERIOD.

If you prefer a less creative and hands-on way, writing for The Mirror, our school newspaper, may serve as a beneficial way for you to pursue activism surrounding girls’ education and menstrual hygiene. You can write articles that are published for all of the Fairfield University community to read on whichever topics you choose; You could write on the myths and taboos surrounding menstruation, statistics of girls suffering from a lack of education in third-world countries, nonprofit organizations or opportunities for students to partake in in the area, and so on. This would be an excellent way to raise awareness and inspire individuals to take action!

These are just a few of the ways in which you can become involved on campus and raise awareness amongst our community. I highly encourage you to not stop here however, and explore Life@Fairfield on your own. Even joining just one club or writing one article has the potential of going an extremely long way in helping these young girls. Just imagine if every student were to take the initiative of speaking up for this cause, joining one of these organizations, or publishing a piece in our school newspaper; our whole focus as a community would shift!