First Peoples Community

 
Organizations coordinated by students of color for students of color

"We are the leaders we've been waiting for." -Unknown 

Evergreen's student organizations are valuable sources of cultural enrichment, personal growth, lasting friendships and solidarity. Each year, these student groups could not exist without the hard work and dedication of the srudents. It is up to the students to keep each of the groups running for future students to come.  Even if it's your first year, you can choose to become a coordinator for a student group.

At Evergreen, student organizations are more than just clubs or social alliances. They provide cultural, educational, recreational, and spiritual services to students. Students working with First Peoples student organizations conduct important work against racism and harassment and help the entire community understand, welcome and honor diversity.

These organizations produce cross-cultural events, bring speakers, films and entertainment to the community, sponsor conferences, and play an integral role in promoting  the college's goals of enhancing cultural diversity and student empowerment.

The Native Student Alliance

The Native Student Alliance serves Native students at the Evergreen State College through various cultural activities that respect and honor the diversity of our student body. We share a responsibility to the land, the people, and the cultures of this region and all of Turtle Island to protect our communities from racism and oppression. NSA is also committed to serving the wider community by building cross-cultural awareness and solidarity with Indigenous peoples.

Meeting time: Tuesdays

Contact: Ken Hoyt at hoyken09@evergreen.edu

Women of Color Coalition (WOCC)

"We welcome all women who can meet us, face to face, beyond objectification and beyond guilt." --Audre Lorde

The Womyn of Color Coalition is a community hub dedicated to creating a safe space for Womyn of Color. We collaborate with other campus and community groups in order to organize gatherings, forums, performances and events. We strive to educate, empower and foster leadership for the women in our communities by honoring our unique experiences and celebrating our cultural ties. Through community building our constituency is able to gather and discuss issues to pertain to our experiences and womyn of color. We are activists, artists, poets, daughters, friends, writers, students and womyn working through the intersections faced in our daily lives.

Meeting  time: Wednesdays at 3:30 - 5:30pm in Salmon 319(S&A Offices)
Coordinators
Dana Edmonds-edmdan24@evergreen.edu
Linna Teng-linnateng@gmail.com

M.E.Ch.A

Moviment Estudiantil Chicano(a) de Aztlan

The Chicano Student movement works to promote higher education, cultura (culture) and historia (history) for our communities and people of color at large. M.E.Ch.A was founded on the principles of self-determination for the liberation of our people. We believe that political involvement and education is the avenue for change in society. "La Union hace la fuerza." "United we stand, divided we fall."

Meeting time: Wednesdays at 4:30pm
SEM I Office

Contact: tescmecha@yahoo.com

Black Student Union (BSU)

The purpose of BSU is to provide a voice and community to members of the student body who identify with Black peoples. We aim to stimulate cultural, educational, political, and social development through weekly meetings and various common interest activities on campus.

Meeting time: Wednesdays at 1:00pm
Longhouse - Cedar Room

Contact: bsu@evergreen.edu

Queer People of Color (QPOC)

QPOC works to provide support for queer students of color attending The Evergreen State College. By creating a safe space to develop and reinforce our identities, we strive to be a strong and visible people within the Evergreen and Olympia communities.

Meeting Time: Fridays at 3:00pm
SEM I WOCC Office

Contact: queerpeopleofcolor.evergreen@gmail.com

QPOC is about:

• Creating a safe, supportive and inspiring space for queers of color.
• Collaborating closely with other student groups.
• Hosting'sponsoring guest artists and speakers, workshops, performances, screenings and other awesome events.
• Involving our program/academic loads with QPOC group happenings (so we don't feel over-stretched).
• Living our lives with dignity, intergrity, poise and love!!!!

          

Asian Pacific Islander Coalition (APIC): Resource for Intercultural Community Enrichment

A new student group dedicated to organizing and strengthening the support, engagement and empowerment of Evergreen's Asian Pacific Islander/American (API/A) community politically, socially and culturally through:

• Raising self and campus consciousness on API/A issues, identity and culture
• Developing a support network for students and fostering a sense of solidarity and family
• Creating a safe space to discuss these issues in a constructive, critical and supportive manner
• Sponsoring campus-wide and community-specific events (such as workshops, lectures, field trips, etc.)
• Building connections with our local community and other student groups of color

As  a new-forming family of students, we also host bi-weekly seminar potlucks every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month in which we discuss varying intercultural API/A issues, supplemented by a film, performance or readings chosen by the facilitator. Some examples of seminar topics include (but are not limited to):

• Deconstructing the "Asian Pacific Islander/American" Identity
• Class in the US
• Gender roles and Sexuality in traditional and contemporary cultures and its influence/impact
• Immigration, migration and what it means to be American born
• Being "American", "white-washed culture"
• Militarization, imperialism and the lasting impacts of colonialism
• Struggles and Movements
• Skin privilege and "passing"
• Angry "brown" person
• Humor and Racial Jokes/Stereotypes
• Multiracialism, Multiculturalism, Multiethnicism, Multinationalism
• Language-barriers, transformation, connection
• American born, first/second generation

If you are interested in our group, we'd love to hear from you!

Email us at tesc.apic@gmail.com  or visit our website tescapic.wordpress.com/about