by

Student Awareness of the Office of Equity and Civil Rights

Our problem we seek to address is the multiple issues with UMBC’s Office of Equity and Civil Rights. The ECR is restricted by the institution they are a part of, preventing them from providing adequate victim support beyond the bare minimum of legality. While not the fault of individual staff members themselves, this leads to issues with student-administration relations such as conflicting views on equity, resolution of harm, and conflicts of interest. The lack of updated information and trust for the ECR leads to students not going to them when in need despite reforms being made. While it is outside the scope of our project to address wider reaching concerns, we hope to help in rebuilding trust with the student body. 

UMBC’s Equity and Civil Rights (ECR) Department is not adequately promoted, leading to vague understandings of what the department can now provide thanks to reforms. The lack of clear access to reporting forms and the ECR resources compound this issue further: Without clear communication, students are justifiably judging the ECR based on past mistakes. The goal of our project is to do as follows:

  • Raise awareness of the ECR and its resources it can provide
  • Spark dialogue and clear communication between the student body and administration
  • Ensure transparency from the ECR with clear updates and understanding

At the start of our project, we began by pushing for ECR reforms, but upon interviewing UMBC staff we learned that such reforms were already being made and soon to be advertised! From here, we looked into a student advocacy program involving various student organizations on campus, but logistical issues prevented us from going forward with this. Our final result focused on promotion of the ECR through flyers and informational documents, linked below:

We hope to keep this project alive as we move into future semesters. One of our primary future goals is to push for official student liaisons as checks in favor of the student body to ensure the ECR is being equitable and following through with cases. Another concern is in regards to how students have been tasked to hold the ECR accountable in light of recent changes, but what does this actually mean? Can we truly expect equity from the institution’s legal departments? What form would that equity take, and how do we push for it? For now, our role as activists is to keep asking these questions and staying informed of our rights as students.

by

Let’s Talk About Sex!

Our project addressed the lack of sexual education resources for students on campus for sexual education. Our project also was created to face the lack of resources for healthy communication on campus as well as in the general public. Our project goals were to create an event centered around sexual health, healthy communication, and sex positivity. We also wished to give students more opportunities to learn about the resources that exist on campus and create a safer campus environment. We spent time exploring what other campuses have to offer as well as understanding the resources available at UMBC. We realized that there are a lot of resources available for students, but the students don’t know about them, and there is a lack of resources for sex-based communication skills. We reached out to Planned Parenthood of Maryland to lead an event with us. Obstacles we faced included giveaway prizes not arriving on time, difficulty booking a centralized campus space, catering plans changed, the Office of Health Promotion backed out of running a game for the event at the last minute, limited time to advertise, and a last-minute date.

Several parts of our project were successful. The sexy trivia game we made last minute was successful, people loved the raffle prizes, the Planned Parenthood speaker was a good choice, snacks were popular, having campus centers attend the event spread awareness, and 33 people attended! We plan to hold this event next semester and know several things can be improved upon. We hope to have better directional signage with balloons to draw students’ attention. Additionally, we hope to have a shorter lecture, more structure, and additional speakers. Remember to bring basic supplies (scissors, tape, and a bowl for candy), book the event space earlier, and provide reference cards for students to take home later.

Photo of the prize table with three themed goody bags – Sexy, Kinky, and Intimate.

Web image of our event flier that was posted on myUMBC.

by

BeeMore Health!

Team Members: Jay Gepilano, Jillian Casey, Dillan Walsh, Daniel Rascovar

Our project this semester focused on mental health, and bringing awareness of mental health resources to students on campus. Our original project was straightforward and simple – create an Instagram account where we could promote mental health resources on campus and work with Retriever Integrated Health (also more commonly known as RIH) to bring more awareness to the services they offer. Through our research we discovered that there are a plethora of resources available for students already present on campus, however they are poorly advertised to the general public. By creating this Instagram account, we hoped to create a sort of ‘hub’ for students to have easy access to all of the available mental health resources and events. Once we had our plan, we tried to get official approval from UMBC officials, but our idea was immediately shot down; we were told that an Instagram account could not be done, and the best they could offer us was a brief takeover of the university Instagram.

After this, we had to pivot very quickly and change our plan entirely. It was a huge 180 for us, as we were pretty much set in stone with the Instagram account. With some deliberation, our group decided that if we could not do something specifically UMBC related, we could at least promote general resources in the Baltimore County area of mental health- and to make it even more accessible, we decided to create a website that held a masterlist of mental health resources via links and pretty graphics! The amount of research being conducted grew exponentially, but in the end it was incredibly worth it, as we have at least 50 potentially helpful resources linked on our website. Our graphic designer decided it would be best to have templates (as making individual posts for each resource would be a LOT) and everyone had access to upload captions. Afterwards, a poster was created with a QR code for us to share everywhere- social media, with our friends, on tables in the Commons, etc., etc. Overall, this project, although with many hinderings, was incredibly successful. We were able to complete our initial goal of bringing more attention to UMBC mental health resources, although obviously not as we had originally planned, as well as resources for so many more people. Although we had to pivot quite a bit, and change paths, it did end up working out in the end by enabling us to reach an even wider audience. The sections that we included on our website were resources for: students, both K-12 and post secondary, families, expecting parents, those with disabilities, as well as LGBTQIA+ individuals. The website is linked below, and even has a suggestions box which is being checked frequently, if our group were to gain suggestions of helpful individual resources or categories, to expand the focus even more.

Bee More Health Website =)

by

A New Approach to Accessibility Mapping on Campus!

Team Members: Sarah Paskow, Cordelia Justice, Key Cooper, Heather Shanty, Gwyn Ellis, Irene Shijo, Sage Zoz

From elevator outages to construction, disability access routes are continuously changing without notice to the student population. In a conversation with SDS, we were assured that UMBC’s current static disability map is to be updated every semester, yet our team believed it failed to reflect the fluid and changing nature of our campus’s accessibility access. With this in mind, our team set out with a plan to focus on ways accessibility routes and mapping could be improved for students at our university. We found that our current accessibility map is quite hard to understand, leading us to consider an alternative map that allows for timely adjustments to routes and outages and lets students view their location in real-time. This allows for greater student success at our university and creates a transparent environment for SDS and, by extension, our campus to engage with students. Along with our greater goal of a new map for students and greater SDS transparency about campus accessibility concerns, we also brought up ways in which our accessibility route signage and facilities report signage could be updated to increase not only student engagement with report systems but also legibility.

1

Image of our current Accessibility Map for UMBC Campus (https://accessibility.umbc.edu/visitors/)

Our team began by pinning down the best means of a map for us to use. UMBC’s static map is incredibly convoluted so we wished to find ways to allow students to toggle layers to provide them with routes and information most catered to their specific needs. The two-mapping software considered were ArcGIS and Google Maps, our team ultimately decided to work with Google Maps as we assumed students would be more familiar with the user interface and inner workings of the site.  Once our Google Maps template was created, we mapped all campus elevators (including photos/operation status of each elevator) and attempted to mark disability access routes on a separate layer (the latter may still need further development as the Google Maps tools were not the best for route creation).

While team members worked on map creation, we also scheduled meetings to talk with SDS and Facilities about our thoughts on current systems and our proposal for a new mapping system. We were able to schedule a meeting with SDS, though facilities failed to respond to any of our emails. In our first meeting, we were given guidance on some other points to include in our map as well as a full run-down of SDS’s current accessibility mapping implementations. Even after such a meeting, our team remained interested in continuing our project as originally proposed.

After Spring break, we were able to meet once again with SDS and for the first time, facilities management, organized on behalf of SDS. During this meeting, we provided everyone with a rundown of our current progress on the map and how it would work. We received feedback on some more points of interest to include (elevators we missed, handicap parking, and varying ramps) and were told that facilities would not be of use until our map had completed a beta testing phase, SDS agreed with this sentiment.

Reference photo of our location pins on our public Google Map

To this point, we have added more points of interest to meet SDS and facilities demands and are set to table on campus to get students interested in such a mapping alternative. While UMBC facilitation with this map would be preferred, our group feels fully invested in allowing this map to work with and for students first and foremost. If no implementation can come hastily enough, we feel ready to use student feedback to make educated decisions on the outlook of our campus map. As it stands no map like ours exists and until one does students will continue to run into issues with lackluster alternative accessibility route reporting and elevator outages. This map, in accordance with student engagement and facilitation, is a way of ensuring student success for all students at our university and creating a transparent and accessible learning environment. 

Team Created Flier for our accessibility map testing! Feel Free to use!

by

Menstrual Product Project

Project Contributors: Tanzila Malik, Priya Joshi, Lauren Forsyth, Adamarys (Addy) Arias, Amariah Patterson, Lizbeth Castro, Oreoluwa Olaniyan, Zulmy Orellana-Villacorta

The Menstrual Product Project’s Purpose

  • Get people talking about Menstrual health
    • Created a linktr.ee
    • Instagram with additional information
  • To have at least 3 free menstrual dispensers in each building
  • Create an interest survey

Problems we ran into

  • Not having enough time during the semester to get everything done
  • Scheduling conflicts with the Women’s Center and UMBC facilities
  • The language that was used on the poster was not inclusive

So change of plans (instead)

  • We created informational pages
  • Put up posters to spread the message of free mental hygiene
  • Got over 100 responses on the survey
  • Garnered support for the student body and staff

https://linktr.ee/freemenstrualproductsumbc

by

Domestic and Sexual Violence Instagram Profile

A project to make a difference by Morgan Moore and Allison Cox

Our team wanted to create a project that made a difference in respect to domestic and sexual violence, specifically regarding marginalized groups such as black, brown, and trans people. Originally we wanted to create portraits of sexual violence survivors with captions under their faces, but we soon found that we lacked the time and resources to do so. We opted for an instagram profile, because it is easily accessible to many people and was less time consuming than our original idea. If we were to do this project over again we would have budgeted our time better to make it possible for us to post more on the instagram. However, we accomplished telling the stories of sexual abuse survivors and hopefully made somewhat of a difference! Allison did three posts on the instagram and made the blog post, Morgan made the final presentation, reflection, and did two posts on the instagram.

Check out our instagram!:

https://www.instagram.com/sexu.alviolenceawareness/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

by

UMBC needs to be more Pet Safe

The problem that I am addressing with my project is the use of harmful chemicals to pets on UMBC’s campus, specifically the use of dangerous pesticides, road and sidewalk salt. I know that UMBC claims to be pet safe, and many students have emotional support animals on campus, but the chemicals used in the salts and pesticides have proven to harm the pets on campus.

 I, myself, have an dog for an ESA on campus and have run into many issues with the chemicals used. My dog, Mr. Moo, broke out into open sores due to the pesticide treatment that continued to worsen when I moved him on campus. He got burns on his paws and I had to get him little rubber boots to wear so that the road salt used on the sidewalks around the residential areas didn’t burn his toes. While there are pet safe options for both pesticides and road salt, UMBC uses harmful chemicals that made me once again have to move my ESA off of campus until it was safe again for him, which entailed waiting for the pesticides to be washed away. 

My specific goal of my project was to research what specific salt, and pesticide treatment UMBC uses on campus and offer them a better solution for each, which will make the campus safer not only for the ESA’s, but for anybody who walks their dogs on campus, the wildlife, and the feral cats that call campus home. For my project I scheduled an interview with Mr. Hogan and sent him a list of my questions prior to the meeting, so that he could provide all the answers I was looking for. My questions focused on current treatments used as well as offering him better alternatives. Mr. Hogan was very willing to meet with me and help me learn about what goes on behind the scenes. In fact, I found that my phone calls and efforts I put forward last year, when I called Mr. Hogan to talk about my issues with both the pesticide use and road salt. I learned that UMBC has switched to a liquid road salt solution, cutting down on the environmental impact. As far as the pesticides, he told me that the application process has been modified to use a liquid herbicide around residential areas and walking areas called Triple SF. It is a selective herbicide that leaves little to no residue to reduce the impact on local fauna and pets on campus. For the larger campus Mr. Hogan informed me that they use Resolute 4FL, another type of selective herbicide. My conversation with Mr. Hogan assured me that he and the ground department do care about the animals on campus and listen to student concerns. 

I would deem my project a success as it seemed to perfectly wrap up what I unknowingly started last year. 

by

Why Ukraine Still Matters

By Sam Kefauver and Matt Sachs

What are we advocating for?

While Ukraine remains entrenched in a seemingly endless war with Russia, the public’s attention to the conflict and struggles experienced by the Ukrainian people has dwindled since the conflict escalated in February, 2022. The stories captured by mainstream news outlets detail changes and developments surrounding the political and economic landscape of the war, as well as ongoing battle progressions. BBC, Fox, NBC, and Reuters are some of the most popular news companies in the world, and yet they have failed to create more visibility to the humanitarian struggles in Ukraine. Refugee movements have been overshadowed, with the primary focus changing to who is winning the war, what is being supplied to Ukraine, and the threats being made by Russia. This analysis will feature an overview of how news outlets are reporting on the war, and then shift toward interviews we have conducted of Ukrainian immigrants regarding the war, its coverage, and public attention. Finally, we will report on organizations that report on all spheres of the conflict in Ukraine with a  prioritized focus toward humanitarian struggles, as well as discussing what can be done in order to better support Ukrainian struggles.

While mainstream news organizations have kept Ukraine in the spotlight since the war escalated, news reports have failed to keep attention on humanitarian issues surrounding the conflict. BBC has covered fears in the United Kingdom over raising potential for violent crimes in the UK due to the massive amount of weapons provided to Ukraine throughout the war (O’Donoghue, 2023). Reuters on May 9th published an article discussing attacks on Kyiv by Russia on the anniversary of V day, as well as other updates on ongoing fighting in the war (Reuters, 2023). Fox and NBC have focused largely on who is winning the war and current fighting movements, with NBC remarking on the “stunning scale of Russian deaths in Ukraine” (Smith, 2023) and Fox discussing developments in the Bakhmut region and Russian army struggles (McFall, 2023). In all of these examples, there is little to nothing being said about civilian struggles and refugee movements in Ukraine. Other news reports center around similar subjects as those listed above, or around aid being provided to Ukraine from the US and other allies. 

While these issues are important to cover, it needs to be understood that news organizations aren’t actively using their platforms to help the Ukrainian people and aren’t doing enough to engage the public in Ukraine’s struggles. The public is no longer following the war and humanitarian issues surrounding it as closely as they were when it started, and the general concern for the ongoing suffering in Ukraine has dropped tremendously. Some of the reason for this is due to overall mental exhaustion in hearing about updates in Ukraine, and some is due to the lack of effort by news agencies in finding ways to engage the public about issues surrounding the war. Ukrainian individuals whom we have interviewed have provided detailed accounts of the horrors of war, civilian struggles in Ukraine, and frustrations surrounding the visibility of the crisis and attitudes toward the war on social media.

Learning about Ukrainian Lives

A huge part of our project was reaching out to displaced Ukrainians in order to get better insight than what the news outlets were sharing. Here are some of the things we learned from the people we interviewed!

Oleksandr shared what leadership under russian occupation was like, as he lived in Russian-occupied territories. He shared about how living away from home was so bad that he returned to an active war zone just to be home. He also shared about his efforts supplying laptops to those who no longer have access to school, so they can engage in online education. We learned from him about how exhausting it is to have news not make it outside of Ukraine, but how the war gave him purpose.

Daryna shared about the suddenness of the conflict, and the current state of Ukraine. They shared about how Ukrainian infrastucture is still unstable (blackouts and missile attacks), and Daryna taught us about how committed many were to the safety of others; some individuals did not want to leave but completely relocated, knowing it was safest for their family. She shared how there are horrible events still going on that could respark interest if they were publicized, but are banned by social media platforms. She shared a reliable donation source (see below!) and let us know that any social media presence helps.

Sofiia shared about how horrific and disorienting the war was for her, but how she appreciates the national coverage of it brough to Ukraine, because before no one cared when it was occupied before. She shared about how she found new purpose in her online learning communities and her dog adoption shelter that saves mistreated russian animals and animals misplaced from owners during the conflict. She understands the societal exhaustion and waning support, but if people knew about the struggle to function with the lack of infrastructure (like inconsistent electricity), then the public might be more inclined to support.

Anna shared about how leaving the country was a tough and uncertain experience. She talked about the value of food return programs were a key way for her and many others to survive while they were displaced. Another program she thought was incredibly valuable was the ukrainian media coverage and people reposting in english. She also helped us understand that much of social media doesn’t truly understand the conflict, mostly through not being able to comprehend the severity of the situation, both in Russia’s intent and in how dangerous the streets are.

Overall, we gained a more nuanced picture of what was going on! Not only did we get to see more individual lives, but their stories helped us find better avenues to support and gave us a much more comprehensive understanding of what the conflict was really like, and how the people of Ukraine lived in it.
If you want to see the full interviews, the link is here!

How do I learn more? How can I support?

For best understanding the conflict on a day by day basis, we wanted to present a few more resources that we believe give good, active, and reliable knowledge about the lives of Ukrainian Refugees:

https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine – This is our most objective source, giving active information of the number of Ukrainian refugees still displaced.

https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/ukraine/ – This source can give you better insight and knowledge with quick and informative content about the conflict. They also share testimonials of Ukrainians to give even more insight! 

Time is one of the main solutions that can be given to alleviate the war in Ukraine, as there is nothing as individuals that we can do to bring a sudden end to the war. However, the question, “what can I do?”, still remains, and is so often expressed when people encounter tough issues that are meaningful to them. In response to this question, we have gathered links to a few ethical, well known, and grassroots organizations who are gathering donations to support various causes connected to the war in Ukraine. We encourage those who read this post to either donate or share this post to gather attention and support for these organizations. We have taken information provided from the websites of these organizations to describe what they are doing in Ukraine and how donations can support them.

Doctors Without Borders:

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/ukraine

“Every day, Doctors Without Borders teams deliver emergency medical aid to people in crisis, with humanitarian projects in more than 70 countries.”

“As the war in Ukraine escalates, our teams are responding to a deepening humanitarian crisis.”

“On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a large-scale military operation in Ukraine that rapidly escalated into a war across most of the country. Doctors Without Borders is expanding our medical and humanitarian response to the evolving needs of Ukrainians and those affected by the crisis.“

GlobalGiving:

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/ukraine-crisis-relief-fund/

“GlobalGiving is a nonprofit that supports other nonprofits by connecting them to donors and companies. Since 2002, we’ve helped trusted, community-led organizations from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe (and hundreds of places in between) access the tools, training, and support they need to make our world a better place.” 

“Your donation to the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund will provide:

  • Shelter, food, and clean water for refugees
  • Health and psychosocial support
  • Access to education and economic assistance
  • And more”

Future for Ukraine (FFU) Foundation:

https://ffu.foundation/en/donate

“Created by Ukrainians, for Ukrainians”

“Together, we have launched new initiatives, traveled hundreds of kilometers for humanitarian missions to hot spots, supported wounded soldiers within the framework of the prosthetics project, and taken care of displaced Ukrainian children and women.”

Foundation Goals:

  • Help Children
  • Help the wounded
  • Help for the military
  • Humanitarian help
  • Support medical institutions
  • Helping women
  • Support refugees

Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation:

https://prytulafoundation.org/en

“Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation is focused on strengthening the Defense Forces of Ukraine and providing assistance to the civilians affected by russian aggression.”

“Our mission is to help Ukrainian civilians affected by russian aggression regain access to decent living conditions”

“Helping our military fight the occupant on land, at sea, in the air, and in space everyday till victory.”

Sources

by

Upcycling Makes Better Clothes

The fast fashion industry produces incredible amounts of waste every year, contributing to the second greatest source of pollution in the world. This is due to wasteful practices at both the corporate and the individual levels. We hoped to make a project that would educate our peers about the environmental effects of fashion waste and encourage them to adopt sustainable fashion practices in order to limit the fashion waste produced at the individual level. Initially, our plan was to create a zine with information on the environmental and social effects of fashion waste that would be accompanied both by a webpage with similar information and an in-person event where students would be able to swap their old clothes with one another. We also intended for the zine to be available physically as well as digitally for easy access to all students. 

Ultimately, we decided that creating a zine, webpage, and an in-person event would be extremely difficult to do within this semester. We chose to prioritize the zine. The first half of the zine highlighted the pollution caused by the manufacturing process for the clothes we wear, as well as the amount of clothing that is thrown out every fashion season and with every new trend. The second half of the zine covers ways that students can upcycle their clothing, so as to prevent them from throwing them out and to encourage them to wear their clothing longer. Information regarding other sustainable fashion practices, such as taking care of their clothes and buying higher quality clothing that can be worn for years, was also included. 

In the future, if this project were to continue, we would definitely want to host a clothing swap event. Not only would it be extremely fun, it would also be an opportunity to mobilize a daily large portion of the student body and educate them on sustainable fashion practices and how to limit their own fashion waste. The way we split up the workload and created the zine worked very well. However, in the future, the distribution of the zine itself as well as setting realistic goals from the get-go is some things that need to be improved on in the future. Overall, the main takeaway from the experience was how accessible activism is. We were able to mobilize and produce an easy-to-digest zine that educated others on a major issue. We will be sure to remember this facet of our project as we move forward and devote ourselves to other causes. 

by

Fighting Toxic Masculinity One Meme at a Time

This project aimed to address toxic masculinity specifically within fraternities with a focus on consent. It is not uncommon for a girl in college to have either experienced or know another girl who has experienced roofying or sexual assault at a frat party. Addressing these issues and emphasizing the importance of consent is a crucial step towards facilitating a safer and healthier environment for all students.

Frat culture has historically been known to encourage toxic, violent “ultra-masculine” behavior, from initiations rights and hazing to other rituals. Some examples of common hazing practices include alcohol consumption, humiliation, isolation, sleep deprivation, and sex acts. Another issue with fraternity culture is sexual assault. Studies have found that men in fraternities are 3 times more likely to commit sexual assault than their student peers. (Our Wave, 2022).
While this may not exactly be the case at UMBC, it’s important for students to know and understand the dangers of such toxic behavior and the importance of consent, as well as be aware of healthier ways to express themselves and connect with their frat brothers.

Our goal was to address these issues in a non-confrontational way in order to reach those in fraternities and encourage consent with the use of relatable and lighthearted memes and images. We decided to create an instagram account to reach and engage with students at UMBC, including those in fraternities. Our page included humorous yet insightful memes, as well as more educational posts that describe what consent looks like and what it does not. Our account reached a decent amount of followers (over 100), as well as interaction and reposting from other students, including a couple fraternity brothers. We included captions such as “tag a friend” to encourage more interaction and exposure for our account. Additionally, with the help of Dr. Kate, we were able to print out flyers containing some of our posts along with our instagram handle and hang them around campus to reach more students.

Although we did have a decent amount of followers and interaction with the account, an obstacle we faced was getting interaction specifically from our target audience, fraternities. If we were to do this project again, we would probably need to find more strategies to increase this interaction in a way that does not seem forceful.