The National Organization for Women Campus Action Network will host local lawyer Chris Hendricks on Jan. 28 in an informational workshop focused on students’ rights on and off campus.
NOW CAN, created last semester, works closely with West KY NOW, a regional chapter of the national rights advocacy and voter education organization. President Presley Billingsley (they/she), a freshman psychology and sociology major, said Hendricks was recommended to them because of his past work with West KY NOW.
Vice President Cameren White, a freshman visual communications major, said meeting with a lawyer was a priority for the group because the opportunity to learn what rights students have on and off campus is important for everyone, even for those who are “working towards different goals.”
“Having a lawyer present was one of the things that interested us the most initially,” she said. “I feel like, given the current political climate on campus, I think that it is necessary that as many students as possible are aware of exactly what their rights are.”
While making plans for the event at CAN’s first meeting, Billingsley said members posed questions such as, “As a lawyer, what is the difference between free speech and harassment?” “How can we get legal support if we are being harassed?” and “Can the police legally search my property?”
The workshop will open with Hendricks answering prepared questions that were discussed at NOW CAN’s meeting on Jan. 21, followed by an open floor conversation for additional questions. Billingsley said the event will be a welcoming, educational environment for everyone, no matter their views.
“Chris is a very nice and patient person, so it’s not intimidating,” Billingsley said. “It should be a welcoming environment for students to be able to be vulnerable and ask those hard questions. Everyone is welcome because everyone needs education (and) bipartisan support. We want as many people as we can to get the education that they need.”
This is NOW CAN’s first active semester. Billingsley said the group is important because students often feel more comfortable getting connected with organizations on campus.
“Students have a hard time connecting with those outside organizations because it’s like they’re walking into unknown territory,” they said. “To have that group on campus to show you where your resources are, how you can be an advocate if you choose to be and to educate you on current politics or new resources … is a good start.”
CAN operates on the same tenets as its sister organization, West KY NOW. Their six core tenets are reproductive rights and justice, economic justice, ending violence against women, racial justice, LGBTQIA+ rights and constitutional equality.
White said CAN’s main goal is to give a “proactive way to better campus.”
“Our goal is to bring … action to campus,” White said. “I feel like it’s really easy for students … to feel hopeless, or feel like they cannot make an impact, and we want to give them the power to do something.”
Secretary Li Irvine (they/them), a freshman aquatic biology major, said NOW CAN is working to meet a need in the campus community.
“I think (CAN) is trying to fill a space on campus for education and activism towards feminist causes, which we don’t see a lot of,” Irvine said. “We’re planning a lot of informational meetings and seminars … we want to do more humanitarian things, like food drives and clothing drives.”
NOW CAN is working towards more events this semester with plans for a meeting with student representatives from Lotus Sexual Assault Center in February; a panel on faith and bodily autonomy in collaboration with the Kentucky Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice in March; and Green Bandana training in April. These events are opportunities to bring people in who can “answer students’ concerns or educate about things that affect our members,” Billingsley said.
CAN’s monthly meetings are held the second Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. in the Mississippi Room of the Curris Center. Billingsley said meetings are discussion based and focused on connecting members with “resources or people that can help address their questions better than we can.”
The “Know Your Rights” workshop will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 28, in the Mississippi Room of the Curris Center. For more information about the workshop and NOW CAN, contact [email protected].
