The Center for Social Justice Education and Mandela Day Committee hosted the Social Justice Activism Fair 12-2 p.m. Wednesday in the University Center Breezeway. The event included booths from Counseling and Psychological Services, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Wesselman Woods, Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare, Evansville Recovery Alliance and Center for Social Justice Education.
Booths provided educational flyers, condoms, NARCAN boxes, fentanyl testing strips, oral contraceptive pills, stickers and candy for attendees.
Veronica Huggins, associate professor of social work focuses on social justice and empowerment through education, research and collaboration.
Huggins hopes the event will educate attendees on social justice and being a humanitarian.
“I’d like them to walk away understanding that it’s one thing to talk about it, it is one thing to research it, but seeing advocacy in action,” Huggins said. “I’d like them to see it in action as well and understand the charge to keep the legacy going.”
Huggins said she would like to see more events on campus that celebrate diversity and inclusion.
“I just wish that next year, we’ll have a nice 20-plus organization and the conversations are continuing,” Huggins said.
Cedalia Ellis, director of community support services and crisis services at Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare, hopes attendees see the importance of social justice and diversity in mental health.
“We pride ourselves on making sure we teach them the importance of culture, humility and that we’re constantly always growing,” Ellis said. “There is no real measure or mark when it comes to diversity or your understanding of it.”
Ellis said the Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare focuses on mental health services for Evansville and nearby counties.
“We think it’s important for everyone to know that they have access to mental health services, regardless of your insurance at any point in time,” Ellis said.
Lavender Timmons, co-founder of the Evansville Recovery Alliance, hopes conversations on wellness are normalized.
“We just want to make sure that everyone knows that regardless if you’re using substances or not, we care about them and we want them to be safe,” Timmons said. “And that’s our main mission.”
Students expressed their opinions on the event.
Addyson Mathis, sophomore pre-dental hygiene major, thought the event was interesting.
“I did see that they were giving out condoms and stuff,” Mathis said. “I thought it’d be interesting to check it out.”
Kinly Daughtery, freshman nursing major, said they were unaware the event was happening.
“I just showed up and I wanted to look at what was going on,” Daughtery said. “I was like, ‘this is cool’ so we came down here and checked it out.”
Jordan Hibbler, senior biology major, enjoyed the free items the booths were handing out.
“It’s not as many tables as I thought there would be, but it’s pretty cool,” Hibbler said.
Huggins said the International Office, Multicultural Center and other organizations should work together to bring to campus important topics to continue conversations like these.
