Featured Initiatives

This school year, the OMA funded seventeen initiatives for over $3500. Below are several of the project reviews.

Attending the Womanist Mystique Conference

Organized by Ramelcy Uribe '16 and Gasira Timir '19
Friday, February 5 – Sunday, February 7, 2016

“This one day symposium is created by and for undergraduate students to share scholarly work related to Black women’s movements and organizations throughout history. The panels were made up of undergrad presenters, who not only had incredibly innovative and fascinating research, but were sooooooo bright and eloquent. After every panel, people were incredibly engaged as well, asking really nuanced and challenging questions, but it was definitely a positive space for learning. My favorite speakers/panels were: Dr. Dorothy Roberts who struck a powerful connection between the prison industrial system, the foster care system, and the gendered anti-Blackness, Black womxn experience in the U.S., Transnational Black Feminisms across Time and Space, Audre Lorde's Transnational Feminisms, and African Womanist Ideology.

I think the conference was a great experience in seeing what other young Black intellectuals are thinking about and incorporating into their learning journeys as well as great to be learning from folks who look like me in more ways than one. I think it's important for Students of Color and specifically Black students to know they have access to such spaces and can be one of those presenters if they wanted. I'd like to have more spaces to talk about Black feminism or womanism, and other movements for womxn across borders.”

Holding a Calligraphy Workshop

Organized by Yixuan Zeng '18 and Yabin Lu '17
Co-sponsored by Haverford Asian Students Association (HASA)
Sunday, February 7, 2016

“HASA believes that calligraphy workshops are a powerful tool to promote Asian culture on campus, for culture is transmitted through art, which is universal.
This workshop happened in tandem with a catered Lunar New Year dinner. A table was set up with ink, brushes, and red papers prepared. We asked everyone to try and write the Chinese character "Fu" (meaning good fortune and happiness) and bring it home to paste on their door for good luck.

About sixty people cycled through, creating over a hundred "Fu’s.” In general, the workshop went even better than we had expected. Next time, perhaps we can provide a variety of characters for people to try out."

Holding a Sisterhood Workshop for Womxn of Color (WOC)

Organized by Renee King ’16, Ramelcy Uribe ’16, and Diomand Henry ‘18
Co-sponsored by Collections Committee
Saturday, April 2, 2016

“The event was planned with the goal of building community and sisterhood among WOC. We needed (and still need) greater support in creating community and planting the seeds of sisterhood.

The first activity, which occurred in tandem with breakfast, was to choose a picture that represented self-love to you. Everyone went around and explained why the picture they chose was representative of the way they practice self-love.

The second activity was a version of a silent gallery. Folks had to check if they felt comfortable always sometimes or never for various scenario such as People of Color social gatherings, organizations, in the classroom, in their dorm room, etc. We then came back together as a group and talked about the results and some folks shared their answers and experiences.

Over lunch we came up with a product that would fix or solve some of the issues that occur in these spaces (the ones from the second activity). We had to have a name, description, price and motto commercial or song. After presenting each product we listed real ways we could combat the issues that often happen in these spaces.

The last activity that we did was a praise poem. We were unable to finish during the workshop but we plan to given WOC (who attend the event and those who did not) the chance to finish/start their poem.”

Volunteering at Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) for Alternative Spring Break

Organized by Zhuochen Wang '16
Co-sponsored by the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship (CPGC) and Students’ Council
Sunday, March 6 – Friday, March 11, 2016

“The purpose of this trip was to help participants realize that HIV/AIDS epidemic is still an urgent crisis and motivate them to join the fight, educate participants on HIV/AIDS related issues, and volunteer for GMHC and experience working in a non-profit organization.

On Monday, we received orientation and HIV 101 at GMHC. In the evening we attended an ACT-UP meeting and connected with several members of ACT-UP. Tuesday, we filed folders for the Coordinated Care Department, watched Larry Kramer in Love and Anger, and helped prepare for the AIDS Walk. Wednesday, we did a GMHC hotline workshop, served lunch to GMHC clients with Miss Universe, and did a safe-sex workshop while packing safe-sex kits. In the evening we discuss four articles on different HIV/AIDS related topics. Thursday, we made fundraising letters and filed documents for the Financial Management Department. In the evening we met up with two ACT-UP activists, and then watched United in Anger: A History of ACT-UP. Friday, we attended an all-staff meeting at GMHC and later talked with the CEO Kelsey Louie. 

The initiative was really successful. GMHC did a great job educating and motivating our participants to join the fight against HIV/AIDS epidemic. Our activities outside GMHC also went well. We are especially honored that two ACT-UP activists joined us for an intimate talk. Next time perhaps we could plan a workshop or something with ACT-UP ahead of time or even visit UNAIDS since one activist works there. Now that we are connected with ACT-UP New York and GMHC, ASN might provide more opportunities for student to participate in their events such as AIDS Walk New York. Also we learned a lot about HIV/AIDS from GMHC and can potentially use materials we received from GMHC to educate the whole campus.”

Attending the Korean American Students Conference (KASCON)

Organized by Jee Soo Kang '16
Co-sponsored by the Hurford Humanities Center
Friday, March 18 – Saturday, March 19, 2016

“KASCON invites a number of Korean or Korean American leaders in business, politics, and entertainment to speak and mentor Korean American students.

One of the aspects of the conference that really stuck out to me was the feeling of division between Korean international and American-born Korean students. The students divided between the ones comfortable speaking English, including myself, and the students more comfortable speaking Korean. I think, to a certain extent, it made sense, since a lot of the students speaking in Korean probably do not have a chance to speak in Korean in their day to day lives as students, and the conference was a great reprieve from having to speak English all day. This experience has made me think a lot about conversation about this divide. It almost feels like a form of silencing that we expect some members to participate in these conversations when they might not necessarily have the words in English to express their thoughts. I brought this up to others working on Asian/American issues on campus.

Another key takeaways was the importance of mentors and role-models that understand and live through the difficulties of racism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, (and many of the other power structures that often present themselves through microaggressions). It was the first time watching Asian/American and Korean/American women who are experts in their fields speak to me about their experiences with racism and sexism, and it reminded me of the need for more professors and staff of color at Haverford that students of color can look up to. I really want to share this insight with my underclass peers (although many of them know and feel this already) to work closely with the administration to bring about this change.

I ultimately really enjoyed my experience at KASCON. I was able to connect with Korean American leaders and peers that I hope to stay in touch with in the future.”