Junior Michyah Thomas wants to make sure that Hampton University students know who to turn to if they are sexually assaulted.
“There is no reason why the day I got sexually assaulted, I didn’t know what the Title IX office was. There’s no reason why I didn’t know what resources were available to go get emergency contraception,” Thomas said.
As the co-president of the Hampton University chapter of Generation Action, Thomas has found a way to educate students.
Planned Parenthood Generation Action has over 300 campus chapters across the country and fights for reproductive freedom and justice for all. The organization has a network of young activists who organize events on their campuses and in their communities. Hampton University’s chapter has similar goals, to provide adequate sex education, consent training and a safe environment.
Generation Action has already had an impact. Students have been able to participate in conversations about birth control and learn about giving self-breast examinations. Members of the executive board advocated for the emergency call boxes on campus to be fixed, to provide a safer environment on campus. The year-old organization has helped create a red flag task force, of students who liaison between the Title IX office and the student body. The task force also helps educate students about sexual assault and provides a voice that will be heard by the administration.
“We are that voice, especially for sexual assault victims and I feel like we can reach out to the whole student body to have a voice and break those barriers,” fundraising committee member Azariah Mabry said. Some students feel uncomfortable speaking about their experiences and a majority of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault. Generation Action is providing a safe space for victims to comfortably speak out.
Generation Action also advocates for women’s health and ensuring that the health center has emergency contraceptives and free STD/STI testing. Currently the health center provides prescriptions for birth control and Plan B. Plan B is an emergency contraceptive pill that can be taken after unprotected sex to prevent a pregnancy.
Inside the center, there are brochures and information about using condoms as a contraceptive, but health care professionals do not volunteer information about emergency contraceptives unless asked. Generation Action wants to ensure that students know what their options are for receiving other contraceptives besides condoms and the services that are provided for students’ sexual health.
Another resource provided by Generation Action is voter registration.
“… at Hampton 17% of students have been registered to vote, making it one of the most successful programs of the 26 colleges in the state [of Virginia],” according to buzzfeednews.com.
Members of the organization walked around campus signing up people to vote, had events talking about the candidates and did phone banking events to update and inform the community.
Despite the challenges of becoming an official organization on campus, Hampton’s Generation Action has been able to impact campus and educate the community. The Hampton chapter of Generation Action was formed in August 2017, but is still not officially recognized on campus. Their first application was denied and they have submitted a new one.
This has not deterred their members from fighting for women’s health and reproductive rights. Currently Generation Action is trying to educate students on consent and inform them about health issues that impact the community.
“It’s a hill that I would die on every single time. Like if the issue was women’s health care, I would die on that hill,” Thomas said.
Many members on the executive committee were influenced by family members.
“Definitely my grandmother influenced me,” co-president Aman Tune said. “She participated in sit ins in South Carolina and her family was picking cotton in South Carolina, so I just knew that I had to take a role in whatever the movement was going to be for me personally and for me that is equal opportunities for black woman.”
The members hope that Generation Action will continue to break barriers and encourage students to speak on their experiences. They hope that sexual assault will be increasingly addressed and that new laws will be implemented to remove restrictions that make certain students feel unsafe or cast aside.
The world definitely needs to become better on addressing sexual assault because a lot of people don’t address it, Mabry said. “By showing what we do on this campus, it helps prepare to raise the next generation and have that strong foundation for the next generation. That’s the Generation Action.”