When the unrest swelled again in Baltimore on Monday, April 27th, 2015, UMBC was in the midst of studying for final exams and preparing for the end of the semester. For many, the Uprising seemed well removed from our campus, as a perceived sense of distance from the city belies the significance of the ‘B’ in UMBC. Aside from periodically checking the local news updates or receiving a swell of calls and messages from concerned relatives on Facebook, studying and campus night life went on as usual. For some students, the reality of a Baltimore in chaos mere miles away didn’t sink in until they saw fires burning from the 7th floor of Albin O. Kuhn Library.

But for many others, those fires were burning our city—our home.

As members of the Critical Social Justice team unpacked the events that transpired in Baltimore, we struggled to find balance in the divide between the university and Baltimore. The divide, for example, between staying at home in the city to engage in a movement for Black lives or leaving the city for UMBC to create healing spaces, meet with students in need, and challenge those who had yet to understand the complexities and vast differences between riots and uprisings. The reality of an “us” and a “them” felt very real as we navigated back and forth on campus during those next few days. While on campus, it was easy to think through theory, strategize, and simply talk about Baltimore in the abstract; however, at night with the sounds of helicopters and sirens invading through our windows, we desperately needed our other UMBC community members to think beyond Hilltop Circle.

Baltimore City and the pervasive violence and injustice there can no longer be talked about in the abstract. Whether or not Baltimore is your home, Critical Social Justice calls each of us in this privileged community of higher education to think and engage critically about Baltimore. We cannot only think about the city when we see a fire from the library or when the Ravens win the Super Bowl. Much like Critical Social Justice is a year-long campaign, our critical thinking, action, and care for Baltimore must happen all 365 days a year.

This year’s Critical Social Justice initiative aims to create space and learning opportunities to consider the ways we can cultivate deep and lasting commitments to Baltimore City that are meaningful to us as individuals and as part of the UMBC community. By focusing on Baltimore, we aim to engage with local social justice issues and activism while framing our understanding within the context of larger national movements and ongoing struggles against systemic racism and injustice.

Our campus and our city are not as separate as they may seem at our quiet university—nor are they as readily connected as our proximity and names might lead people to believe. Critical Social Justice: Baltimore 365 knits the UMBC and Baltimore communities together in the hopes of growing into a better UMBC through a better Baltimore.

Critical Social Justice: Baltimore 365 will be held on October 19th through 23rd, 2015. Follow the CSJ blog, Facebook, and Twitter for updates on scheduled events and other news. For more information about the Critical Social Justice initiative, or if you’re organizing a related event that week that might be included on the CSJ calendar, please email womens.center@umbc.edu.

Thursday, April 16th was UMBC’s 3rd Annual Take Back The Night speak-out and march. We had an amazing turn out and we couldn’t have done it without everyone’s hard work and support!

We had signs that were made by community members, staff, student organizations, and Greek life!

Jess and Megan setting up our TBTN Banner!

Setting up T-shirts for the mini Clothesline Project Display

Right before the Speak-Out

Staff member, Yoo-Jin Kang and Peer Health Educator, Kayla Smith, were the student emcees and march leaders this year!

Community listening to the Speak-Out

The march made a huge impact on campus.         We were even invited to march through the dining hall!

After the Speak-out, the community was invited to hang out together, craft for a cause, and enjoy some lemonade and cookies before leaving the event.

What an awesome night!

Just a reminder for those who might not have been able to attend, there are many resources available to you, both on and off campus.

Here are some links: 

Voices Against Violence

UMBC Counseling Center

UMBC’s Relationship Violence Response and Prevention Program (RVAP)

UMBC’s Title IX Coordinator and Info

Women’s Center at UMBC

This reflection by Women’s Center Director, Jess Myers, was written for and originally shared on the ACPA’s Standing Committee for Women blog. It has been republished on our site with their permission. For more on ACPA SCW, check out their website.

When the Women’s Center at UMBC at celebrated its 20th anniversary, the staff wanted to make a commemorative quilt. Each student organization and department the Women’s Center partnered with over the years made a square that was patched together into a quilt that was unique to the history of the Women’s Center. We indulged in this practice to honor America’s rich history of quilting and patchwork. For centuries, quilts have told stories and were uniquely linked to their creators, who most often were women. The process of quilting encouraged women to share their stories and build community with other women. This felt like an appropriate nod at history as we celebrated our own. With this experience, I’ve especially enjoyed this year’s Women’s History Month theme of Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives.

As our country has evolved so has the medium for telling our narratives. We now rely on various social media platforms to share our stories as we Instagram brunch with friends, share the latest viral blog on Facebook, and tweet our experiences throughout the day. What was once threaded and woven is now tweeted, liked, and hashtagged. And, while there may not be a beautiful quilt at the end of the day, many student activists of today are nonetheless weaving together an important story that will impact the future of women’s history. This is the story of the campus sexual assault movement happening now on college campuses.

Over the past year, I have been a part of a study with three other student affairs professionals exploring the strategies employed by activists involved in the movement to address sexual violence prevention and response on college campuses. Through observing online forums and the 23 interviews of both current students and recent graduates, a powerful story of activism unfolded. Our findings are rich and extend well beyond our original research question, but as I contemplate this year’s Women’s History Month theme, I am compelled to share the ways in which the participants used social media as a tool to weave together their stories and experiences as a medium to demand change on campuses and within our nation that support survivors of sexual assault and condemn sexual violence within our institutions of higher education. Participants in our study described using social media in several intentional ways, two of which I’ll explore here: to connect with other activists and as a tool for reducing power dynamics present in other spaces.

Sharing Their Stories with Others: Social Media as a Connection to Other Activists

Activists described the power of social media in helping them connect to other survivors and activists which supported a shift in momentum related to addressing sexual violence. By connecting with other activists, their story was no longer one of isolation but one that weaved into a greater context of support and validation. Several participants highlighted the power of solidarity when sexual violence related hashtags trended on Twitter such as Wagatwe Wanjuki’s #survivorprivilege which provided a forum to express their experiences. Moreover, one participant, Lynn*, captured the importance of this solidarity between and among activists from a variety of places. She said,

“There’s just a wonderful solidarity of knowing that you’re not alone… And when you see, as painful as it is to find other people who have been through what you’ve been through, there is an incredible level of empowerment that comes from knowing that somebody else has that experience, and that you’re not crazy.”

Creating New Spaces to Share Their Story: Social Media as a Tool for Reducing Power Dynamics

Closely related to the connection and solidarity activists felt from shared spaces online, some activists also identified the importance of online spaces as environments where power dynamics were reduced allowing their story to be told and heard. Some LGBTQ activists used online space because they did not have to out themselves in face-to-face settings. Other activists identified the importance of using social media as a forum where a variety of perspectives might be shared and validated, especially those that are historically marginalized. Vee, a participant who identifies as a queer woman of color, explained Twitter as community in which “I can breathe a sigh of relief, where I can get the validation I need.” When sexual assault stories highlighted by mainstream media often tell only the narrative of young, cisgnedered white women, the need for this counterspace online becomes even more important in ensuring all voices and stories are woven into the movement. Peter, another participant in our study, highlights this point:

“And if we’re talking about at risk communities, marginalized communities, communities that have been historically marginalized are not welcomed into the same spaces and so to a lot of people the only thing that they have access to and the only way that they are able to participate is through social media because of that anonymity that’s allowed that isn’t allowed for if you put your name to it.”

There is a power in hearing women’s stories. While remembering and recounting tales of our ancestors’ sacrifices and dedication is important, there is also great power in the stories being woven now. The story for these survivors and activists is still a work in progress, but during this Women’s History Month, I celebrate their efforts. Unlike a quilt which must be fully completed for the story to be told, social media is allowing me learn from activists across the country in real-time about their experiences, needs, and challenges. Their stories are already being woven into my practice as a student affairs professional and I am all the better professional for it. This will be a story not only tweeted, blogged, and hashtagged, but one that will be woven into the fabric of our national history.

*Although many survivors in the current campus sexual assault movement are choosing to publicly use their names and identities in their activist work and/or with media outlets our study uses pseudonyms to ensure confidentiality for all of our participants.

Critical Social Justice organizers Jess Myers, Zach Kosinski, and Jasmine Malhotra share a few of their thoughts on activism, their personal and professional experiences as activists, and social media’s role in activism.

JASMINE: I think about the feelings of social justice activism as being something that infuses within all parts of your life. Social justice activism involves how you interact with others, being able to actively listen and respect other options while sharing your knowledge and experience. It is about making any space into a brave space so individuals can be okay in having uncomfortable conversations in an effort to really understand each other’s opinion. Social activism can be expressed by people asking for change, protesting, or informing others. Social media can be one of the outlooks they use but there are many other ways they can practice their activism to cultivate change and make a true difference.

JESS: I agree with you, Jasmine, about the importance of both-and in activism.  Through my  research related to better understanding the strategies employed by activists involved in the movement to address sexual violence prevention and response on college campuses, I am learning that these activists are truly using the both-and approach. These local and national activists have repeated time and time again that social media is not their activism but that social media is a TOOL for their activism. They described using social media as a means to connect with other activists, as a tool for reducing power dynamics present in other spaces, and to increase awareness with populations who may not otherwise be reached. Consequently, I’ve become more critical with the discourse around “slacktivism.” Who gets to define what activism is and isn’t? Dynamics of power and privilege related to social identities influence who gets to “be” an activist and define themselves as activists. This year’s Critical Social Justice theme of Creating Brave Spaces resonates with me in so many ways but specifically because creating brave spaces online (and off-line) helps build counter-spaces and tells counter-narratives.

ZACH: Over the past year, I’ve also experienced a shift in how I view my role as an activist and agent for social change. For years, I felt that engaging in social justice work required an “all in at all times” approach. Being more of a homebody outside of work and school, though, attending protests and rallies has never come naturally to me. For so long, I beat myself up for finding reasons not to march with my peers. Over the past few months, I’ve seen countless UMBC students I connect with on campus take a stand on social justice issues important to them. In discussions about their activism, time and time again, students have referenced articles I shared, speakers I helped bring to campus, and critical conversations we had that helped inform the activism they’re presently engaged in. Experiencing these students’ activism, I’ve seen how playing the roles of encourager, connector, resource, and supporter is not only meaningful but necessary to critical activist work. I may not be taking to the streets or expounding from the proverbial soapbox, but helping cultivate the student activists who will is just as essential.

JESS: Yes, Zach! As someone who identifies as an introvert, I sometimes feel conflicted about how to show up in social justice work and conversations. Over the past few years and through a lot of challenge by choice, I’ve learned what kind of activism allows me to challenge oppression and address social justice concerns in a way that authentic to me and my being. We all have an important role to play using our own strengths and passions. If I try to be someone I’m not in doing this work, I’ll most likely fail.

For more reflections from Critical Social Justice organizers, check out this blog post on self-care and social justice.

Critical Social Justice organizers Amelia Meman, Lisa Gray, and Megan Tagle Adams share a few of their thoughts about self-care in/as social justice work. 

AMELIA: Coming up on CSJ 2015, I’m thinking about generosity, compassion, and sustainability, especially in regard to how these connect with movement building and the self. I think about generosity in regard to the tough situations we get into (the difficult dialogues, you could say), and how I and others should be cognizant about the differences we are bringing into conversations and the mutual respect we all deserve; the generosity we extend is integral to building bridges and coalition. With our selves, in small conversations, in bigger conversations, between movements, I hope we can strive for generosity while continuing to work towards a more critical engagement. Compassion is directly related to how I try to deal with both myself, and others. I try to be aware of the needs of others, to listen and learn from them, to care and empower them, while also trying to know when I need to take care of myself—when I need compassion. This act of self-care and the generosity above are crucial to both my sustainability as a (critical) social justice warrior and to Critical Social Justice itself. As we work towards building a campus initiative that will continue into the years, I am focused on all three of the aspects—generosity, compassion, and sustainability—the cyclical nature between them, and the way they affect both our groups and the individuals in them.

LISA: Yes, Amelia. Your idea of of viewing social justice movement building through the lenses of generosity, compassion and sustainability resonates with me! Far too often, those of us who engage in what we hope is (critical) and reflective social justice work, here at UMBC and beyond, short change the “how” of the work as it relates to self care and community care. It’s hard to be generous with our energies, talents, and skills or have compassion for others when we don’t take the time to give it to ourselves first. And yes, as Audre Lorde so beautifully stated, “caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” As I think about both my personal role as well as the Student Life Mosaic Center’s role in actively supporting sustainability for CSJ in 2015 and beyond, I believe it can happen only by intentionally engaging in high levels of generosity and compassion as well as empathy and self-reflection. I believe that empathy will help us better relate to one another’s unique positionality as we move through the intersectional aspects of our shared work while self-reflection will keep us honest about how our privileged and underrepresented identities either help or hinder the impact of that work. This year’s theme of Creating Brave Spaces provides a great platform for us to use generosity, compassion, empathy and self-reflection to help our campus to learn and grow as educators, activists and (critical) social justice change agents in person or online.

MEGAN: Amelia and Lisa, that quote from Audre Lorde that you both reference has also been instrumental in shaping my own approach to self-care and sustainability in doing social justice work. While social media has made it much easier for me to constantly learn about various social justice issues and perspectives that I may not have otherwise encountered, I’m also trying to be mindful of the impact of this immersion. I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the (perhaps self-imposed) pressure to be all in at all times. When I feel intellectually and emotionally exhausted after a long day of engaging in these difficult dialogues, even scrolling through Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook doesn’t provide much of a respite since my feeds are about 90% feminism-related and 10% cat pictures. However, for me it’s been helpful to shift my understanding of what self-care looks like so that it doesn’t necessarily mean taking a break from social change work but rather re-framing my own commitment social justice as an act of self-preservation and self-care in itself.