Social Justice Student Organizations

Email Voicebox for a weekly activist email, or contact SGA Student Services, Social Justice Action Group, or Stonewall Resource Center to be on general email lists for activist opportunities. Be sure to read the Campus Memo for events on campus every week!

Email the S&B with your article.

Never hesitate to email an administrator or SGA cabinet members about a policy that they might have developed or with questions/concerns. If you are having a hard time with this, visit a Joint Board meeting or go to the SGA offices (second floor Rosenfield Center) to speak directly to your student representatives.

Email NSO staff to set up a meeting and pitch your programming.

Head to the SGA office on the second floor of the Rosenfield Center to fill out a group registration form. You will need two people to provide contact information and a mission for your group.

You could do anything from tabling outside the dining hall to postering around campus with a time/place for meeting(s). Ask the All Campus Events chair to send out an all campus email advertising your event and don't forget to set up an email for your group. Holding events like pub nights or bringing speakers to campus is also an effective way to recruit members.

Get a Funding Request form from the SGA Offices. If your budget is less than $700, you will be required to attend one of the weekly SPC meetings to explain your budget. If the budget is greater than $700, you will need to attend a Joint Board meeting to defend your budget in front of the Student Senate.

Reminder: Save your receipts. Always. Note that most reimbursements also have a deadline.

After you make your group by filling out the new group form in the SGA offices (second floor Rosenfield Center), you will be contacted to set up an email for your group. You will need to go to the basement of the Forum to confirm with the IT Office to get an official email.

Email plans from your campus organization email and ask for an account.

Head to the basement of the Forum, where the IT Office will help you fix your email problems.

A listserv is an email list for your organization. The best way to build up your listserv is to build up support for your group. Contact Teri Wilson at 641-269-3322 for more information.

Conference Operations has put together a wonderful guide for event planning. You can always contact voicebox or Conference Operations at any time for assistance in planning your event or with any questions you might have.

Call Conference Operations at 641-269-3178. If this is a room for a regular meeting, make sure to specify that you want the room weekly. You can get a calendar username and password account through Grinnell's calendar to schedule a room and date for your event online. The Campus Memo is also a great tool to schedule events. Reserve a space with Conference Operations and fill out this form.

Reminder: You cannot have an all campus event that receives funding from SGA unless the venue is accessible.

Conference Operations has a map that shows possible venues and a list of what to do to make an event/organization accessible for everyone.

Postering is always crucial and effective, as is emailing those on your listserv, adding it to the Campus Memo, putting it on the All Campus Events plan by emailing All Campus Events chair, asking major SEPCs to forward information, bringing up your group in a class, making a Facebook group, making a poster for the dining hall, or even making t-shirts for your event.

Contact Facilities Management, 641-269-3300.

Be sure to speak with professors or the CDO about contacting alumni or people you want to see on campus. Make sure you are aware of timing during the semester.

You can go to SGA with your proposal, and the same rules apply: get a Funding Request form in the office on second floor Rosenfield Center. Alternatively, talk to Michael Sims, head of Student Affairs. He has a special fund just for students who aren't affiliated with a group or department but have big ideas they want to fund.

You need a contract with the speaker. Students should never sign a contract by themselves (you do not want to deal with a speaker taking legal action against you!). Work with Student Affairs to get a signature and a contract that does not rip anyone off. Contact Michael Sims about your contract.

You can call Grinnell House and reserve a room at $50 a night. If Grinnell House is full, you need to start calling around to the hotels and bed-and-breakfasts in the area, but remember that you will need to account for your speaker getting to campus.

You can arrange for a vehicle to pick up your speaker at the airport by contacting Amy Van Manen, Facilities Management, at 641-269-3300. The fee will vary. Make sure someone from your group can go in the van to pick your speaker up.

Email the senators for each cluster or email someone in the SGA cabinet, usually All Campus Events chair and ask them to put your request in the Joint Board minutes so that senators will tell their constituents about it.

Posters are one of the most effective ways to get people talking about your group or event. Luckily, they are easy to make with an eye-catching color/design and information for the time and place of your event. Make sure to read signs in the academic buildings as to which areas are appropriate for postering. Keep in mind that you can only poster on the bulletin boards in the East Loggia and not on the windows/poles/walls.

Check out the Voicebox on the third floor of the Rosenfield Center! It is stocked with markers, poster paper, a printer, a photocopier, and usually some nice colored paper as well. Alternatively, the Multicultural Affairs Suites on the second floor of the Rosenfield Center has poster-making materials available for students planning events regarding multicultural affairs and social justice.