When a Carolina Kickoff camper approached A.J. Karon asking why there was no Campus Y committee dedicated to gender equality, Karon decided to do something about it.
“We kind of noticed that there isn’t really a specific group dedicated to gender equality on campus,” Karon said. “Our idea is to change the culture surrounding gender so we can stop things like gender bias from happening in the first place.”
Karon, a junior environmental health science major, started planning the UNC Students Working for Adequation of Genders committee, or S.W.A.G., in January. UNC S.W.A.G. will become an official subgroup of the Campus Y in the fall.
“I have close friends and family members who have been affected by sexual violence,” Karon said. “Everything I have learned within my educational career has kind of pointed to the importance of gender equality — especially in the developing world.”
S.W.A.G.’s first project took place in early April. The committee presented The Clothesline Project, which was a visual display of t-shirts made by sexual violence survivors.
The committee plans to work with the Orange County Rape Crisis Center in the fall by sending volunteers for the Start Strong program, which works to educate middle and high school students on sexual violence and equality.
The group wishes to target more men to talk about the issue of gender bias. Karon said they hope to hear their voices as well.
“We feel a lot of men feel targeted by big campaigns about sexual violence,” Karon said. “We want to work collaboratively to solve this problem.”
Junior Catherine Hipps attended an interest meeting for the committee Wednesday.
