Student Leadership & Activism
Women & Gender Studies students are involved with organizations across the University of Delaware campus. Highlights of student organization activities are noted below.
V-Day at UD joins efforts with members of SAGE to bring a voice to feminist issues on the University of Delaware’s campus. In March, V-Day hosts the annual Vagina Monologues, co-sponsored by Haven, M@N, SAGE, VOX, and speQtrum. Written by V-Day’s founder Eve Ensler, the play brings together female identified students to perform women’s monologues on sexuality, love, strength and social justice, with proceeds going to support Natasha's Justice Project.
During the Fall semester, V-day holds one of their most popular sex-positive events, Big-O-Bingo, the proceeds going to support Natasha’s Justice Project. V-Day has also hosted the annual LMFAO (Laughing My Feminist A** Off), a feminist comedy night.
Sexual Offense Support (SOS) is an on-campus group that offers support and resources to survivors of sexual assault. In October, SOS hosts their annual 5K, Glow for Hope, at the University of Delaware Green. Volunteers and community members joined in a fun night, raising money and awareness for the issues of sexual assault and intimate partner violence.
Students Acting for Gender Equality (SAGE) hosts the annual “Take Back the Night” event in April. This event aims to shatter the silence around sexual assault, bringing students and survivors together for a march around campus and speak out. In November, SAGE partners with POW (Promoters of Wellness) for the annual “Love Your Body Day” event at the Little Bob. SAGE meetings provide a safe space for students to share their experiences with gender issues on and off campus.
Haven is the University of Delaware’s largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning (LGBTQ+) RSO, using the plus symbol to emphasize that identity is not limited to these six labels. Their meetings and events are geared towards members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies, all, including but not limited to students and faculty of the University of Delaware, are welcome. In Spring, they host the Second Chance Prom and Spring Drag Show.
PPGA (Planned Parenthood Generation Action): PPGA members volunteer their time in September at the Planned Parenthood Annual Chocolate and Champagne Festival and Silent Auction in Wilmington, DE. PPGA also has regular kiosks at the UD Trabant University Student Center, where they give out information about healthy sexuality. PPGA has co-sponsored V-Day’s event Big-O-Bingo and co-hosted Planned Parenthood for Men with M@N.
Men Active in Societal & Cultural Change (MASCC) strives, “to educate our community by bringing various programs to the UD campus, from reaching out to Greek life, to just having discussions as a group about the various ways we see and feel gender roles and violence.” Past President Harry Lewis and Advisor Jo Sampson attended the conference, “Sports Culture: Advancing Its Role in Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention,” in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they met Jennifer Seibel Newsom, the director of the documentary The Mask You Live In, which focused on the struggle of boys and young men to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity. MASCC has also hosted a panel on Masculinity in Politics and Pop Culture.
For more information on these and other Student Organizations, please visit UD's Student Central!
