When my friend and I asked the former presidents to take over the Feminist Society of Sciences Po Paris - Reims Campus, they seemed shocked. We later realized that they had assumed that the club would die out completely when they left the school. Instead, we revitalized it and made it the strongest feminist association on campus.
Throughout the year, we worked to:
- improve the perception of feminism amongst the student body
- gain new members from diverse backgrounds
- delve into both the artistic and practical elements of feminism today
- emphasize intersectionality
Events like our poetry exhibition, privilege walk, campaign for women in sports and monthly open discussions took organization, planning and widespread communication. Our efforts were successful and by the end of the year, the club had gone from 5 dedicated members to 20. The new blood became the driving force of the association.
At the end of the year, we were successful in a grant application of 2000 euros to improve the sexual harassment and equality training of incoming students. This has spurred the club even farther towards creating a feminist campus and gaining more traction within the student body. Hopefully, the energy only will only get stronger as the years go by.
Through this experience, I learned how to motivate a team, how to create events that could communicate feminist ideas to broad student body and how to advocate for a cause that often meets backlash. It was a valuable experience and I hope it was valuable to the campus culture as well.