How Well Did We "Get Out Her Vote?"

The midterm elections have flown right by and we are all settling down from the excitement that came along. Many students nationwide mobilized to get out the vote and encouraged their fellow peers to be active citizens by casting their votes on election day.

The Feminist Majority Foundation’s “Get Out Her Vote” campaign clearly laid out what was going to be at stake if young students didn’t go out to vote in this year’s midterm elections. GOHV focused on issues that really resonated with college students, especially with young women: reproductive rights, marriage equality, immigration, the environment, and access to higher education were going to be on the chopping block if we didn’t educate and mobilize ourselves on ballot measures and congressional representatives. With propositions on state ballots ranging from abortion restrictions (Prop. 62 in CO), to the possible elimination of environmental protection and green jobs (Prop. 23 in CA), it was imperative that young people organized and voted!

So did the midterm elections bring young voters out to the polls this year? The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) found that “an estimated 20.4 percent of young Americans under the age of 30 voted in Tuesday’s midterm elections, compared to 23.5 percent in the last midterm election (2006).” Almost nine million Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 voted and current research shows that youth participate when they are asked to do so. Even though the youth voter turnout decreased from the last midterm election, we still proved that our voting block should definitely not be underestimated! The more we encourage others to engage with the civil process of voting, the more we undoubtedly affect the outcomes of our respective elections, including the upcoming 2012 election which is right around the corner!

It is important to recognize the power that youth have in transforming our political landscape, but we also need to acknowledge that we need more women representing us on both state and federal levels. Women are more than half of the nation’s population and the 2010 election results say otherwise in regards to equal representation. The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) found that “the number of women in Congress has not dropped since 1979 and has not stayed level since 1987.” With at least 17 women serving in the U.S. Senate and 73 women serving in the U.S. House of Representatives* for the upcoming terms, our representation in Congress remains low and stagnate. I don’t know about you but I am getting deathly tired of knowing that the people who are creating policies regarding my reproductive health and rights have no idea what my lived daily lived experience is as a young woman.

Women win races at the same rates that men do. So why don’t we have more women in office? Simply not enough women run! So this is your call to action to get out there and run for office! We need more feminist in office looking out for equality for all people.

*Official numbers are not in yet because a few races have not been called as absentee ballots are still being counted.

This post is part of the November 2010 ezine. To subscribe to the monthly ezine, click here.

VOTE tomorrow! This is it!

Election Day is tomorrow! Exercise your hard-won civil rights and VOTE in the general election this Tuesday, November 2nd.

Thanks for all your dedication to the Get Out Her Vote campaign over the past few months. This is it, so remind everyone you know to vote and bring your friends, family, coworkers, roommates, and fellow feminists to the polls to vote, too!

Your state may allow you to register to vote on Election Day and then immediately cast a ballot, so find out if this is an option for you or someone you know.

Check for ID requirements or other voting requirements in your state by visiting our Get Out Her Vote website. We advise all voters to bring 2 forms of photo ID to the polls. If you arrive at the polls Tuesday and are not listed on the voter rolls, you have the right to vote at the polls with a provisional ballot. Know all of your voting rights by reviewing our printable voter checklist.

If you have any questions or problems voting, don’t hesitate to call our DC office at 703-522-2214 and ask to speak with a member of the Campus Team. See you at the polls this Tuesday!

Arizona, Vote NO on 107! Colorado, Vote NO on 62!

As young women across the country are eager to cast their vote in this year's election, they may be surprised to find some shocking measures on the ballot in Colorado and Arizona that are serious threats to women's rights. Ballot initiatives are common ways states can petition a public vote or a referendum on proposed constitutional amendments or statues. These measures are allowed in 24 states, two of which--Arizona and Colorado--have a history of taking up discriminative and anti-choice measures.

You might remember during the 2008 general election, both Colorado's Amendment 46 (a ban on affirmative action in state and local agencies) and Amendment 48 (anti-abortion measure giving personhood to a fetus) was successfully defeated. With 73% of voters rejecting Amendment 48, you would think abortion rights in the state are successfully protected, right? WRONG!

Introducing another threat to a woman's choice--Amendment 62! Colorado voters will be met with, yet again, another anti-abortion measure that seeks to extend legal and constitutional rights to fertilized eggs on the November 2nd ballot. If this amendment is passed, it will have a detrimental affect on everything from property rights to inheritance laws. According to Andrew Toft of the Colorado Bar Association, "Almost every area of law would be impacted, including criminal law, family law, trusts and estates, real estate, elder law, tort law, juvenile law, health law and business law." To learn more about why you should vote NO! on 62, check out NO62 at www.protectfamiliesprotectchoices.org.

Colorado, you are not alone. After the passage of Arizona's controversial anti-immigration law, it's not surprising that an anti-affirmative action initiative, Proposition 107, will also appear on the November ballot. The 2008 election was not very favorable to LGBT communities with the state's enactment of a ban on same-sex marriage. It seems that the mounting support continues for discriminative policies as we are seeing now with Proposition 107. If Prop 107 is passed, it would put an end to equal opportunity programs for women and minorities. This will have a tremendous affect on university admissions for underrepresented students like women and minorities. Check out Protect Arizona's Freedom to learn more about why you should vote NO! on Prop 107.

If you are interested in mobilizing support against these inequitable, anti-choice initiatives, go to our Feminist Campus Get Out HER Vote campaign.

Learn how to organize feminists on your campus to vote for equality in November. Let's put an end to inequality in 2010!

This was post was featured in the September 2010 campus eZine. To join our mailing list, sign up here.

How to get out HER vote on YOUR campus!

With just a few weeks before voter registration deadlines end in many states and only six weeks before election day on November 2, the time to get out HER vote on campus is now!

The Feminist Majority Foundation's Get Out HER Vote (GOHV) campaign is the nation's only student-led voter education and registration initiative aimed at increasing young women's voter participation. It's not enough to register yourself and go to the polls this year -- we must register and inform every feminist on your campus! Feeling a little overwhelmed? To help you get started, utilize FMF's GOHV step-by-step guide to getting our HER vote on your campus today!


Step One: Prepare
1. Review the GOHV toolkit online and designate GOHV chairs to coordinate the campaign and volunteers on your campus.

2. Know the rules and don’t be intimidated! Do you know your state's deadlines to register to vote? Have you ever heard of a provisional ballot? Like with all of your activism on campus, you must educate yourself first before your can inform your campus community. Don't be fooled by the scare tactics and misinformation of others. Know your rights and cast your vote this year! Check out our GOHV website for information on your state’s rules.

3. Build your GOHV campaign around four political issues that will resonate with your group and campus. What are the issues that are most important to you? Do you have a pay equity bake sale each year to raise awareness about wage discrimination? Does your group focus on global women's rights and seek to ratify CEDAW? All of these issues and more can be influenced with your voice and your vote on November 2. For more ideas use the What’s at Stake in 2010? GOHV handout to develop your GOHV platform.

4. Contact your county registrar to obtain voter registration forms, train to become poll workers, and petition for voting machines on campus. Visit our GOHV website to contact your Secretary of State or County Registrar to find the nearest location to pick up a large supply of voter registration forms. Be sure to become familiar with your state's voter registration form, instructions, guidelines, and voter registration deadline.

Step Two: Register
1. Table in high-traffic areas with GOHV materials. Draw attention to your table with balloons, signs, and banners. Have lots of registration forms, voter pledge sheets, and a list of polling stations on hand. No materials other than the registration form should reference political parties or any candidate. Remember you can not deny anyone the right to register to vote based on party affiliation. Don’t just sit behind the table – engage everyone passing by, and ask them to sign the GOHV voter pledge. Encourage students to register to vote using their local address, and tell them you will call them to remind them to vote before Election Day. If your state offers early voting, encourage students to vote as early as possible!

2. Contact the chairs of Women’s Studies and other departments on campus for permission to pass out voter registration forms at the beginning of class and explain how to fill out the form and the location of the nearest polling place. Be sure to collect completed forms at the end of your presentation and deliver them to the local registrar before the deadline!

3. Talk about the issues without endorsing candidates or political parties, and let students know how to sign up to get paid as a county poll worker. FMF's GOHV campaign is a non-partisan, issue-based campaign that does not oppose, support, or otherwise endorse any candidate for public office.

4. Deliver voter registration forms to the local county registrar before the registration deadline! **This is one of the most important steps!** If you don’t turn in the forms, you could be violating state law. Make several trips – county clerks offices often have small staffs, so it is important not to overwhelm them by delivering large stacks of forms all at once.

5. When you drop off completed registration forms, check the voter rolls for a random sample of names you previously submitted. This is a great way to verify the voters you register are getting onto the rolls.

Step Three: Mobilize
1. The month between your state’s voter registration deadline and November 2nd is the best time to mobilize registered students. Blanket campus with information about where and when students can vote. Leaflet with the GOHV FAQs handout to help students who may have questions. If your state offers early voting, publicize it widely.

2. Educate your campus through PSAs on campus radio, op-eds in your student newspaper and a panel discuss with coalition groups on campus about the issues at stake in this election.

3. On the day before Election Day, volunteers should set up a phone-bank to call students who signed voter pledges, remind them to vote, and let them know poll locations. If the main student polling location is off-campus, find out if the student needs a ride and organize a car pool.

4. Election Day – Organize voting rushes on Election Day to rally and lead hundreds of students to polling locations. Host an election watch party after the polls close to celebrate all your hard work!

Just in case you didn't already know: VOTE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd!

This was post was featured in the September 2010 campus eZine. To join our mailing list, sign up here.

Voting Is a Feminist Issue!

Elections are frequently won by tiny margins and the mobilization of students-especially young women-has the potential to change the political landscape drastically. Young people, especially young women, have important rights at stake in this 2010 midterm election. The stakes are high which means it is even more imperative that we exercise our right to vote! Voting is a feminist issue because we are disproportionately under-represented in all levels of government. Even though women are 51% of the population, they hold 17% of the seats in the U.S. Congress. Only 5% of U.S. House seats are held by women of color, and there are no women of color in the U.S. Senate. The picture in our state legislatures is better, but still dismal: women today hold only 24% of state legislative seats nationwide. At the current rate of gain for women in elective office, it will take over 200 years to achieve parity with men in Congress.

Not only is it necessary for us to go out and vote this coming November, but increasing voter participation among young women has the power to transform politics. Everything from abortion rights, the environment, educational loans, immigration reform and LGBTQ civil rights are going to be determined by who we elect into office. Women, between the ages of 18-24, have consistently voted less than any other age group: it’s time to change these numbers!

Your Vote Counts! Young women need to register, vote, and run for government in record numbers. Underrepresentation begins in student governments, so run for office on your campus and Get Out HER Vote this fall!

This was post was featured in the September 2010 campus eZine. To join our mailing list, sign up here.

Let's Get Out Her Vote in California!

There's so much at stake across the nation during the 2010 elections, but especially California. With important races and ballot initiatives to vote on this Fall, we must mobilize to get young people to the polls in the Golden State!

What's at stake you ask? Plenty!

• Abortion rights: Access to safe, legal abortions and affordable family planning services, including California’s Family PACT program which provides free reproductive health care to low-income women, are constantly under attack. Your vote will help determine whether reproductive health care and comprehensive sexual education are supported over failed abstinence-only programs.
  
  
• Education and loans: California is experiencing an education budget crisis, with a projected $18.9 billion deficit for the next fiscal year. Cuts across all levels of education make enrollment in classes increasingly difficult and limit access to quality public education.
  
  
• The Environment: Voters can limit the harmful environmental impacts of big business by voting for cleaner energy measures which contributes to the creation of jobs, development of renewable energy sources and the reduction of California’s dependency on foreign oil.
  
  
• LGBTQ Rights and Marriage Equality: In California and across the nation LGBTQ civil rights issues, including marriage equality and the right to serve openly in the military, will be in the hands of our state and federal law makers.
  
  
• Immigration: Some state law makers support harsh immigration legislation that encourages racial profiling. If such measures were adopted, many families could be torn apart and children of immigrants could lose their path to citizenship. Your vote can determine what kind of legislation our state adopts on immigration policies.
  

Be sure to get involved in our "Get Out Her Vote" Campaign. We have California specific organizing materials to make sure you register, educate, and mobilize students to the polls.

Don't be intimidated! We have a step by step guide on how to get started:

1. Register students to vote! Form broad coalitions with other campus groups, and work with the student government for a massive voter registration efforts. Table everyday, have visibility events, recruit volunteers, and get people to sign the voter pledge!

2. Educate! Make sure people know why they should vote! Young people are the least registered, least voting demographic. Our voice needs to be heard! Flyer with information about what's at stake, use social media to get the word out, and get press coverage about the issues!

3. Mobilize to the polls! It's one thing to register, but it's another thing to get people to the polls on election day! Make sure your volunteers phone bank, chalk, flyer, and have visibility action to remind people to vote and where their polling locations are.

Don't forget to check out our FAQs on student voting, that answers questions like, "Can I vote where I go to school?" (answer: YES!) and "Will my financial aid be affected if I register at a different address than my parents' address?" (answer: NO!)

Get out there California!

Be sure to contact your campus organizers with any questions by email, jsun@feminist.org or mduran@feminist.org, or by phone 866-471-FMLA.

This was post was featured in the September 2010 campus eZine. To join our mailing list, sign up here.

Pay equity & CEDAW: How long must women wait?

FMF's Get Out Her Vote campaign encourages young feminists to vote around the issues we care about on Election Day, which is Tuesday, November 2nd. There are a number of reasons why it's important to vote in the mid-term elections, but I wanted to focus on two particularly timely issues: the gender wage gap and ratification of the UN CEDAW treaty.

Gender wage gap

Even though we have anti-discrimination laws, the gender wage gap begins immediately as young women enter the workforce and graduate from college, and it only widens over the course of their career. During her lifetime, a college-educated women will earn $1.2 million less than her male classmate will, just because she is a women. You know the stats.

So what can your feminist group do?

• Learn more. Read about the Paycheck Fairness Act currently before the US Senate, and get the latest wage gap data [PDF] from our friends at the Institute for Women's Policy Research. Discuss the wage gap at group meetings, and how you can take political action on this issue.
  
• Hold a pay equity bake sale on campus to illustrate the effects of the wage gap and raise some dough (ha!) for your feminist group.
• Work with your campus career center and progressive groups on campus to organize workshops on resumes, interviewing, salary negotiation, and feminist careers. A great off-campus resource is the WAGE Project, which conducts workshops specifically for college women. The WAGE workshop I attended as a student was excellent.
  

Moving right along to...

Ratification of CEDAW

The US is one of the last countries that has not signed the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (full text) human rights treaty. This treaty would serve as a full commitment to women's equality under the law, which we still do not have in this country (see also: Equal Rights Amendment).

Ratifying countries commit to:

● Take concrete measures to ensure women can enjoy basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.
● Establish judicial procedures to ensure the effective protection of the rights of women.
● Take appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by persons, organizations or enterprises.
● Submit national reports every four years on measures they have taken to comply with the treaty to protect and promote the rights of women in their country.

The Obama administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton support ratification. A vote of two-thirds of the US Senate (67 votes) is required for ratification, and no action is required by the House of Representatives.

What your group can do:

• FMF is part of a broad coalition working toward CEDAW ratification in the US. Learn more at http://www.cedaw2010.org/
• Host a film screening and discussion of FMF's short DVD "CEDAW: The Secret Treaty." Email us at campusteam (at) feminist (dot) org to get your free copy, and use this CEDAW handout to facilitate the conversation.
• Ask your women's studies and international relations professors to cover CEDAW in class.

Got more ideas for spreading the word on pay equity and CEDAW? Leave a comment or email us!

And remember, vote on Election Day Tuesday, November 2nd!

This was post was featured in the September 2010 campus eZine. To join our mailing list, sign up here.

Get out HER vote this fall!

Welcome back to campus feminist activists! This fall, we have so much at stake in the mid-term elections on November 2^nd – abortion rights and birth control access, the environment, immigrants’ rights, student loans and education access, marriage equality, and equal pay, so feminists like you must save the day! Mobilize your college to vote today using our Get Out Her Vote website and step-by-step toolkit, which will help you register and engage feminist voters for the general election.

Registration deadlines are fast approaching – the first round of registration deadlines for the November election starts in just 16 days, on Saturday, October 2. Get specific information for your state about voter drives, registration deadlines, and more at our GOHV website.

It’s going to be a very important election – and they are counting on us to be silent. We must prove them wrong and make sure our voices are heard loud and strong this November! Just a few hundred votes could make the difference so start your GOHV campaign today!

If you have questions or want to link up with GOHV campaigns at nearby campuses, call your FMF national campus organizers at 703-522-2214 or email campusteam@feminist.org. Best of luck this fall, and remember to vote on Tuesday, November 2nd!

Feminist activism abounds in Wisconsin

Hi all!

Val here - Emily and I have been roaming the state of Wisconsin for a little over a week now as a part of the Choices Campus Leadership Program Outreach for Get Out HER Vote. Check out our effort to blend in to the WI scenery on the right! --->

We have been having tons of fun -there are so many fantastic feminists at every campus we've visited! We've had the privilege of talking with them to see what kinds of fabulous activism they're doing, help them with Get Out HER Vote campaigns, and help out with events and programming across campus.

The ultra-engaged student populations we've met are really encouraging. It seems that a lot of folks on Wisconsin campuses are realizing the immense power that rests in the student voice and are organizing to make sure their peers get fired up and out to the polls!

The engagement of students not only on the level of national politics but with state and local initiatives has been fantastic as well - students are organizing around everything from paid sick leave to birth control access in an effort to make sure their needs are met on campus and in their communities.

We'll be posting more later (though we can't promise any better photos!), but we thought we'd drop in an update from the road. Remember, you can follow the campus team's updates on Twitter also at http://twitter.com/feministcampus!

Love from Perez! No on 4 & 8!

Now, I like to consider myself a somewhat "serious" feminist at times but every once and a while I do divulge in a little frivolity. Case in point: Perez Hilton. I was probably the last person to even know of the existence of his world of celebrity gossip and, like so many of you, visit more than I care to admit.

But shame no more! Why you ask? Because Perez just posted our video for "No on 8!" If passed, Proposition 8 would amend California's constitution to eliminate the right for same-sex couples to marry -- a fundamental human right that we all should have.

And that's not the only attack on the ballot this year. Californians must also vote on Proposition 4, an additional amendment to the constitution to ban abortions for women under the age of 18 without parental notification. Heard this one before? That's because California voters have already voted against two similar laws in the past.

But this year's amendment is even more deceptive and dangerous than those in the past. Requiring a 48-hour waiting period, involving the courts to prove your "maturity," making it a crime if you falsify documents, and require victims of rape or incest to officially report a crime or report your family before seeking an abortion.

It's imperative that California voters say "NO on 4" and "NO on 8" this election! Want to learn more? Visit our website to find out just how dangerous both of these amendments would be if passed. Share your knowledge with your friends and family -- especially those who live in CA -- so we can all be aware of the attacks on equality and choice this November.

Third times the charm?

Kudos, Bob Schieffer for putting reproductive choice on the presidential debate agenda! Finally, a question was asked about the role of Supreme Court nominations and Roe v. Wade. The next administration will potentially appoint up to three new justices to the court -- and it only takes one to strip women of their reproductive rights.

So why did it take so long to have this discussion? What did you think about last night's debate? Are the issues you care about being discussed?

Access to abortion and birth control are not the only things at stake in this election. Pay equity, affirmative action, marriage equality and much more are all on the ballot this year.

With only 19 days until Election day, it's time to take action now! Some of you don't have to wait until November 4 to vote with early voting beginning in many states. Organize your campus and march to the polls today to vote as if your life depends on it! And if you can't vote now, keep the debate going by educating your community about why their vote is so important this fall!

North Carolina here we come!

With Virginia in the books, it's onward to North Carolina as we continue to promote civic engagement through our Get Out HER Vote campaign and our upcoming Second Annual Women of Color conference at Bennett College -- right here in Greensboro, NC!

But first we must send a huge thank-you to George Mason University, Hollins University, Virginia Tech, University of Virgina, College of William and Mary, and Old Dominion University for welcoming us in to your campus, classrooms and groups during our trip. Being back on campus (or "grounds" for those of you at UVA), interacting with students, faculty and administration, brought us back to our time as activists on our campuses. Simply put, it is where we love to be and we couldn't have been happier to share our first travel experience with all of you.

Thanks for the memories!

What's a little rain?

Our visit to Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia was met with a little inclement weather. Well, maybe not so little. More like a nor'easter. But what's a little rain to a feminist? Did you honestly think we were going to let a few rain drops stop us? Ha!



Norfolk has been a hotbed of activity for voter registration this year but, unfortunately, not everything has gone as smoothly as we would like. Students at Old Dominion University (and those at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, as well) have been given inaccurate information from area election officials about their rights to register on campus. Ranging from threats of revoked financial aid to losing your eligibility to be claimed as a dependent on your parents' tax returns, students have been repeatedly discouraged from registering to vote.

With falsehoods such as these we knew that we had to come and set the record straight: yes, you can register to vote where you go to school; no, you will not lose your financial aid or dependent IRS status or receive any other penalty for registering. It's scary to think that there are still people who wish to use scare tactics and inaccurate information to suppress voter participation.

Not to be denied are the students of Vaughan Frederick's "Introduction to Women's Studies" class. Energized, informed and just a tad upset with the election officials, Vaughan's students are making sure their peers know their rights and register to vote on campus. In fact, of the three classes that Professor Frederick teaches, all 120 are registered to vote! After watching our DVD, "What's at Stake in '08" one student exclaimed, "I'm ready to vote!" Now that's what we like to hear!

Our trip was also featured in the school newspaper, Mace and Crown, and highlighted our Get Out HER Vote campaign and the importance of registration, education and mobilization among young women and people of color. We encouraged students to take action on their campus by joining FMLA and promoting feminist activism on campus. With strong support from the Women's Center, Women Studies Department, and professors like Vaughan Frederick, students at ODU are realizing their power, taking ownership of their voice and exercising it to raise the social conscience of their campus!

(William and) Mary's Enthusiastic Feminists

Was Queen Mary II a feminist? (Warning: I was never much of a history buff and came from the business school -- not the history department). I only ask because I'm curious how a school with the name of a Queen could produce so many amazing feminists and not be a feminist herself?!

Patrice and I met with the fabulous members of FMLA at College of William and Mary for a two-day visit to promote Get Out HER Vote on campus. FMLA hosted a voter registration drive to make sure every last student was registered and informed about the upcoming election. The response was great and, like so many students we've met with so far, most were already registered but eager to learn more about FMLA, pick up a copy of Ms. magazine or grab an absentee ballott application if they were planning to remain registered out of state.

Check out what some of the FMLA members had to say about the voter reg drive:


Adding to the list of feminists on campus, is Sarah Rojas, a student blogger and member of William and Mary's Student Assembly. It was clear after speaking with Sarah for just five minutes that the Student Assembly had mastered voter registration on campus. After creating a simplified online voter registration form that converted into a PDF (that was then quickly printed out on their portable printers), the Student Assembly collaborated with multicultural groups and Greek life by hosting events (such as "Rush the Vote") and nightly tabling until midnight at the library. The result: so far they have registered 2,000 students!

By removing the hassle of wondering what your dormitory address is or risking the chance of letting the registration form getting lost in your book bag, their form offered a drop down menu of campus residences that automatically filled in the physical address and even delivered the form to the registrar for you! How easy is that! And to top it off they even provided an option for students to check if they were interested in becoming a poll worker!

Not to let all that hard work go to waste, the are making sure they mobilize students to the polls and plan to use cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses captured through the online form to remind students to go to the polls. Perfect grassroots organizing 101!

FMLA is planning to continue the discussion about women's informed voting through a panel discussion with ESSENCE: Women of Color and others later this fall. It's so important that we don't stop with simply getting students registered. We must make sure that they are informed about the issues and getting to the polls on Election Day.

And it doesn't stop there! We must continue this discussion and channel the energy that we have seen at colleges like William and Mary nationwide into action even after November 4. And what better way to do that then attend the Women of Color conference?! FMLA, ESSENCE, Sarah and so many others will join us on November 14 and 15 at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, NC to continue to organize and take action on the many issues addressed in this election. Whoever wins, whoever loses, it is still up to us to develop an action plan and make sure our voices are being heard on the local, state and national level. What are you waiting for? Register now!

So despite what the history books may say, Queen Mary II had to be a feminist, right? Just look at these amazing activists and leaders today! Besides, most history books were written by men anyways. ;)

Hollins Feminists Rock!

If only every feminist could attend Hollins University. This peaceful campus inspires you to discover your own voice, follow your passions and supports you with a community of faculty, staff and students every step of the way. The talented women of FMLA organized two days of brunches, lunches, meetings, and events to promote Get Out HER Vote and feminist activism across the beautifully nestled campus in Roanoke, Virginia.

After arriving in the wee hours of the morning, we started our day with a brunch with Hollins faculty and staff and a visit to a first year seminar, "Women Health and Power":

Our trip coincided with Shelby Knox's visit to Hollins to discuss her call to action as shown in the documentary, The Education of Shelby Knox. Shelby (a total feminist) joined Patrice, me and Professors Jill Webber and Jen Boyle for a Get Out HER Vote Panel around women's informed voting. The audience was primed after hearing Shelby's impassioned speech and their enthusiasm continued as we discussed the many issues at stake in this election and the importance that we become critics in demanding we talk more about issues and less about lipstick and cleavage.

Hear some of the reactions from the exciting panel discussion:

Kat Allee, FMLA Treasurer:

Courtney Chenette, FMLA President:

Men are feminists, too! Hear what James had to say about the forum:

Shelby Knox, author, activist and FEMINIST:

Our trip would not have been possible without the endless energy, commitment and organizing skills of FMLA President, Courtney Chenette. It was because of her hard work that we were able to speak with so many students, faculty and administrators. A special thanks to Kat, Paige, Chelsea and all of the many wonderful feminists of FMLA and their faculty advisor, LeeRay Costa, who made our visit so special. To the members of the Black Student Alliance, Global Interest Alliance, Professors Julie Pfieffer and Catherine Leonard and Dr. Jeannine Stewart, thank you for your support of FMLA and feminist ideals.

We were sad to say goodbye to the Hollins family (and the adorable little cottage) and thank you for making us feel like just that -- a part of your family. We look forward to seeing you all again at the Women of Color Conference this November and, in the mean time, will be listening closely to hear of your many accomplishments sure to come!

P.S. Our camera skills continue to amaze: