Migration Category: Campus Old Site

Leadership Alliance activists from ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, EAST STROUDSBURG UNIVERSITY, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY and EMMANUEL COLLEGE gathered last month in New Haven, CT for the Connecticut College Leadership Alliance’s conference, “Mobilizing Towards Activism: A Conference About Race and Organizing Tactics.” The conference featured keynote speaker Reverend Barry S. Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and offered workshops on race and feminism. Congratulations to the Connecticut College FMLA for organizing such a successful conference and for strengthening the network of Leadership Alliances in the Northeast!

The Vagina Monologues opened to a sold out crowd of 18,000 at Madison Square Gardens on Feburary 18th. The event featured actors and musicians, including Jane Fonda, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, Rosie Perez, Claire Danes, and Queen Latifah. As part of the V-day festivities, Oprah Winfrey performed Ensler’s tribute to Afghan women, entitled Under the Burqa. Ensler wrote the piece after visiting Afghanistan 8 months ago. During the evening, thousands of people signed petitions for the Feminist Majority’s Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan.

Special thanks to the Leadership Alliance students and other activists from AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, SUNY STONY BROOK, RUTGERS, and the UNIVERSITY ILLINOIS CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, who volunteered with the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Congratulations to Angela Caswell and the U OF DELAWARE Leadership Alliance for being nominated in the V-Day Gathering Stop-Rape Contest. Their action plan involved the creation of a 24 Hour Stop-Rape Shuttle. Caswell presented the action plan during the V-Day Gathering in front of a large audience of leading politicians, media personnel, philanthropists, and policy makers! Great work!

On Valentine’s Day, Leadership Alliances across the nation held their own production of “The Vagina Monologues” on their campuses as part of the V-Day College Initiative to raise money and awareness to stop violence against women. Participating Leadership Alliances include groups at WESTERN WASHINGTON, EAST STROUDSBURG, IOWA STATE, TRUMAN STATE, U OF MARYLAND COLLEGE-PARK, U OF NORTH TEXAS, THE U OF DELAWARE, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY, SPELMAN COLLEGE, ST MARY’S, GEORGE WASHINGTON, U OF CHICAGO, MIAMI UNIVERSITY OF OHIO, and THE U OF CENTRAL FLORIDA. Great work! The Leadership Alliance at ST MARY’S celebrated V-day by selling and delivering “condomgrams,” flowers constructed out of condoms. They donated the proceeds their community women’s center that provides inexpensive legal assistance to victims of domestic violence. Good job!

During this critical time for reproductive rights, Leadership Alliances and feminists nationwide celebrated the 28th anniversary of Roe v Wade last week. Many groups utilized the power of pro-choice videos to educate students about the importance of choice. The Leadership Alliance at the UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO had a video showing of “Jane” and held a discussion on reproductive rights. The SWARTHMORE LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE organized a video screening of “Cider House Rules” and the IOWA STATE LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE showed “Fragile Promise of Choice.” Feminists at LEWIS AND CLARK had a video screening of “If These Walls Could Talk” and displayed coat hangers with pro-choice slogans.

Students from the CASE WESTERN LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE protested an anti-choice demonstration in their town and several students were interviewed by their local news. The UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS mobilized students to support reproductive rights and organized a large march from their State Building to their meeting place.

Feminists at the UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND celebrated Roe with a visibility campaign using our Celebrate Roe Action Kit Materials, the Pro-Choice Public Education Project Posters, and the NARAL flyers on the dangers of Crisis Pregancy Centers. They also distributed temporary tattoos and free condoms to promote contraception and sexual health on campus!

Just because we organize on a grassroots level doesn’t mean we can’t get active on-line! The University of NorthEastern Illinois has a great website that highlights their successful voter registration last year, check out theirs and newly constructed web sites! Interested in setting up a web site for your group? No problem! Contact the Campus Online Coordinator at Debbie@feminist.org

From California to New York, Feminist Majority Leadership Alliances and pro-choice community activists are gearing up for One Million Voices, the Feminist Majority Foundation’s week of reproductive rights activism to commemorate the 29th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in 1973. On January 22nd, the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, Leadership Alliance activists from AMERICAN UNIVERSITY and GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY celebrated the by participating in a National Organization for Women rally and candlelight vigil in front of the United States Supreme Court in Washington, DC. Hundreds of activists turned out for this event that featured speakers including NOW President Kim Gandy, FMF President Eleanor Smeal, and National Abortion Federation Outreach Program Director (and former FMF Campus Organizer) Silvia Henriquez. The Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance at the UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO screened the documentary “Jane: An Abortion Service.” The Leadership Alliances at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA and the UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN served up slices of anniversary cake, in addition to other pro-choice events planned throughout the week. Feminists from VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY participated in a pro-choice candlelight vigil with their local NOW chapter and Planned Parenthood clinic.

The UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA Leadership Alliance will conduct a Burma Shave using slogans like “Save Roe vs. Wade” and “Protect Choice.” The group also plans to hold a pro-choice film festival featuring “If These Walls Could Talk” and FMF’s “Never Go Back” video. The CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY Leadership Alliance is planning a pro-choice march on campus and a “Celebrate Roe” rally as part of their One Million Voices actions.

Leadership Alliances and affiliates at ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITYÑWEST, INDIANA UNIVERSITY AT BLOOMINGTON, MIAMI UNIVERSITY OF OHIO, NORTHEASTERN ILLIONIOS UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY, and LEWIS AND CLARK UNIVERSITY, plan to conduct pro-choice education campaigns on their campuses through tabling with One Million Voices materials and screening FMF’s “Never Go Back” video. The GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Leadership Alliance in Washington, D.C. will show FMF’s “Never Go Back” video, followed by a panel discussion with representatives from the Feminist Majority Foundation, the National Abortion Federation, and the Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force. The CERRITOS COLLEGE Leadership Alliance (CA) has worked with nearly a dozen feminist professors to arrange for their classes to attend the group’s “Never Go Back” video screening for extra credit.

The SPELMAN COLLEGE Leadership Alliance (GA) organized a week-long exhibition for One Million Voices, including a wire hanger display with facts about abortion access and a pro-choice film festival. Members of the SPELMAN FMLA will join OGELTHORPE UNIVERSITY Leadership Alliance activists in supporting reproductive rights by volunteering at the Feminist Woman’s Health Center “Stand Up For Choice” Awards in Atlanta. Feminist activists at BOSTON UNIVERSITY will also create a hanger display to educate their campus about the thousands of women who died from unsafe, illegal abortions before Roe vs. Wade. The MERCER UNIVERSITY Leadership Alliance (GA) will facilitate a discussion about reproductive rights access in central Georgia and will show FMF’s “Never Go Back” video to educate their campus about the impending threat to Roe vs. Wade.

The AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE affiliate group will use FMF’s “Never Go Back” video to educate their campus as part of a larger round table discussion about reproductive rights access with an abortion clinic worker from the Austin Women’s Health Center. Leadership Alliance activists at KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY (PA) and OCCIDENTAL UNIVERSITY (CA) are both organizing letter writing campaigns. Students will show their support for abortion rights through editorials submitted to their campus papers.

The ILLINOIS WELSEYAN UNIVERSITY Leadership Alliance is planning to educate their campuses by showing FMF’s “Never Go Back” video and conducting a “Did You Know” visibility campaign using facts about abortion and reproductive rights. The DEPAUW UNIVERSITY Leadership Alliance (IN) will conduct a workshop about Roe vs. Wade for an introductory co-curricular freshman class. Show your support for Roe vs. Wade during One Million Voices, and visit www.onemillionvoices.com to find an event taking place in your area.

Last Thursday, the UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Leadership Alliance organized a panel discussion with a diverse set of speakers who discussed their perspectives on feminism. The event was co-sponsored by several organizations, including the Samahan Filipino Student Organization, Women and Youth Supporting Each Other (WYSE), Delta Gamma, Queers and Associates (Q&A), and the SSA Feminist Student Association. The UC SAN DIEGO Leadership Alliance will host a Feminist Campus EXPO to establish a permanent feminist agenda on campus and to dispel stereotypes about feminism. The Expo will feature information sessions, an organizational fair with over a dozen local reproductive rights and feminist organizations, and a “Faces of Feminism” wall of photos featuring celebrities, faculty, staff and students who identify as feminists.

Current plans are already underway as Leadership Alliance activists return to school and prepare for the 28th Anniversary of Roe on January 22nd. The LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE at SHORELINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE will host a pro-choice film festival. The CONNECTICUT COLLEGE FMLA has organized a weeklong celebration of Roe that will include an abortion-rights lecture with speakers from Planned Parenthood and the Campus Women’s Health Center. The LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE at UCLA has created a large banner with reasons why abortion rights are so important and will use this banner to collect signatures of supporters and recruit for their group!

To celebrate the anniversary of Roe, Leadership Alliance members at GOUCHER UNIVERSITY, ST. MARY’S, U OF MARYLAND-COLLEGE PARK, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, HOOD COLLEGE, MARSHALL UNIVERSITY, and the U OF MARYLAND-BALTIMORE COUNTY will show their support for reproductive rights by rallying against the anti-choice “March for Life” in Washington D.C. THE U OF WISCONSIN, GREEN BAY LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE MAKES HEADLINES! Congratulations to the U OF WISCONSIN-GREEN BAY LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE for getting campus press coverage during their first semester as a chartered group! Students from the group used this forum to broadcast the goals and principles of the group as well as announce their meeting times! Great work!

Several student leaders who attended FMF’s Feminist Leadership Institute last July are now organizing an east coast conference at Connecticut College for the weekend of Feb 16-18, 2001. Visit the Conference Web site to print out registration forms and see the most current program schedule!

As we near the end of the semester and break for winter, the Campus Team would like to recognize the many new and recently chartered Feminist Majority Leadership Alliances and affiliates who have finished their first semester of pro-choice feminist activism on campus:

Bryn Mawr, Case Western Reserve, DePauw University, Eastern Tennessee State University, Evergreen Community College, Goucher College, Hamline, Marietta College, Marlboro University, Mills College, the University of Southern California, U of Wisconsin at Green Bay, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, University of Maryland at College Park, University of North Texas, Western Kentucky University, Western Washington University, and to affiliated campuses at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Syracuse University. Congratulations on all of your incredible work this semester!

The Pro-Choice Public Education Project (PEP) has created a series of innovative and eye-catching posters concerning women’s right to reproductive choice and access. Kicking off their first semester of pro-choice activism, the Leadership Alliance UCLA hung PEP Posters on hangers across campus to raise awareness about the importance of access to abortion and reproductive rights. Good work! Looking for ideas on how to get the pro-choice message visible on your campus? Order these posters free for your Leadership Alliance’s pro-choice education campaign!

The Leadership Alliance at Brown, Connecticut College, and the University of Maryland, College Park organized very successful Pay Equity Bake Sale fundraisers on their campus to not only raise money for their group but also raise awareness about discrimination and the Wage Gap against women. The average working woman in the United States now earns only 71.4 cents for every dollar earned by a man.

For more on organizing a Pay Equity Bake Sale and about the Wage Gap, check out Unit 9 of the Study and Action Manual

Last summer, at the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Feminist Leadership Institute, several key students leaders from universities nationwide participated in an intensive 4-day leadership and reproductive rights conference in Washington D.C. Inspired by their weekend in D.C., several of these leaders are now organizing a conference of their own where feminist activists can share ideas, network and host guest speakers.

The Northeast Regional Conference is scheduled for the weekend of Feb 16-18, 2001 and will be held at Connecticut College in New London, CT. The regional conference, “Mobilizing Towards Activism,” is co-sponsored by the Connecticut College Gender and Women’s Studies Department. The key note speaker for the conference is the Reverend Barry Lynn, who spoke about the radical rights during Expo 2000, and there will be a special performance by Ruth Behar and two other performers.

Please contact Alex Fiorillo at adfio@conncoll.edu for more information on the conference.

Launched on Valentine’s Day in 1998 with a benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues, the Obie-award winning play by Eve Ensler, V-Day is a movement to stop violence against women. In early October, the V-Day Movement to end violence against women announced the launch of the STOP RAPE Contest, a worldwide initiative to stop rape.

The Feminist Majority Foundation, which is a key national co-sponsor of V-Day, invites all Choices members to participate in this contest by creating a plan of action in two pages or less with innovative strategies to stop rape and end violence against women. Sixty finalists will be invited to the February 10, 2001, V-Day Gathering to End Violence Against Women in New York. Winners will have the opportunity to see their action plans implemented in their countries, supported by grants from the V-Day Fund. For more information on the STOP-RAPE Contest, visit https://feminist.org/news/pr/pr092900.html. For entry forms, contact: Cherreka Montgomery, v-day@feminist.org .

Launched in mid-October to increase widespread participation among young women on college campuses in the upcoming elections, FMF’s non-partisan “Get Out HER Vote” campaign is in full swing! FMF campus organizers have traveled to over 50 campuses in 6 states recruiting teams of “Get Out HER Vote” Deputies. At the height of this crucial election period, Leadership Alliances nationwide continue to mobilize voters on campus and are educating their campuses about the importance of abortion rights, women’s rights in the elections as well as organizing email/phone reminders, voter escort services, carpools, and public transportation to the polls on Election Day.

To find out more, visit the “Get Out HER Vote” website and download “Get Out HER Vote” materials! Call our “Get Out HER Vote” Hotline (866-444-3652) for more info!

The Mills College Leadership Alliance is co-organizing their campus’ “Suffrage Shuttle” to take women voters to the polls. The Goucher Leadership Alliance planned a reproductive rights workshop and “Feminist Jeopardy” Competition before the elections and will collaborate with progressive groups on campus to shuttle students to the polls on Election Day. Campuses in over 40 states are participating in the “Get Out HER Vote” Campaign and include Leadership Alliances and feminist groups from: Case Western University, Marietta College, U of Maine Farmington, University of Pittsburgh, Western Kentucky University, American University, Shippensburg University, U of Maryland Baltimore County, Temple University, U of Texas- Austin, Goucher College, Cal State University of Sacramento, Western Washington University, University of Central Florida, U of Missouri-St. Louis and many more!

The University of North Texas Leadership Alliance organized a substantial pro-choice demonstration to counter the anti-choice Center for Bioethical Reform, which spent 3 days on campus with enormous graphic posters as part of their “Genocide Awareness Program.” The Leadership Alliance students collaborated with their campus Students for Choice and used the opportunity to rally support for choice on campus, register people to vote, distribute Get Out HER Vote campaign materials, and garnered local news coverage! For more info on strategies to protect women’s access to abortion services, check out our Study and Action Manual online.

The World March of Women 2000, taking place this Sunday October 15th in Washington, DC, is a worldwide action to improve women’s living conditions and demand an end to poverty and violence against women. Join more than 2800 groups from over 138 countries to rally for women’s rights at this important event! The FMF delegation will meet at 11am on the Ellipse.

Look for our bright “Feminists are the Majority” t-shirts and signs! Contact a member of the Campus Team TODAY at 1-866-444-FMLA to join our delegation.

Click here for the World March web site.

You’re interested in women’s health and concerned with the availability of accurate and relevant health care resources! The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, authors of Our Bodies, Ourselves, is conducting a survey to gather information about what women want from a women’s health resource and whether Our Bodies, Ourselves is meeting that need. Your input is extremely valuable.

Would you be willing to participate in a 15-20 minute Internet-based survey? This information will help shape the content and format of future editions of this publication. To participate, email a the Campus Team at campusteam@feminist.org with “survey” anywhere in the subject or body of the email.