The following students orgs are only a fraction of the many orgs that exist at the College—this list also represents the more visible, formalized groups on campus. Many activist groups have evolved informally through email, group-chat, and in-person meetings, often in response to crises on campus.
Beyond the Green (BTG): BTG describes itself as “a student-run publication that seeks to provide space for voices that are not being heard on our campus. we are grounded by politics that are radical, anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-classist, anti-homophobic, anti-ableist, and anti-transphobic (against all forms of oppression) and that reject the structural neo-liberal paradigm that characterizes middlebury college and its official publications.” Beyond the Green rocks. Check them out here.
Sunday Night Environmental Group (SNEG): SNEG is a climate and social justice activist group committed to organizing at Middlebury and beyond. Past campaigns have involved the Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign (Divest Midd), Climate Strikes, and organizing with Sunrise for a Vermont Green Mountain New Deal. Meetings are 8:30-9:30 on Sundays on Zoom. SNEG is most active through the Divest Midd Facebook account.
The Campus Hunger Project: Campus Hunger Project works to prevent and address student food insecurity while classes are in session and during breaks. They work to create long-term, institutional changes, compile and share resources, and increase awareness about student food insecurity. See their Middlebury food resource guide here and break resource guide here. To get involved email mleider@middlebury.edu or ckearney@middlebury.edu.
Queers & Allies (Q&A): Q&A is a group where students of all sexualities and genders work to create a supportive social community to raise awareness and create dialogue on LGBTQ+ issues and the multiple identities that intersect with them (e.g., race, religion, (dis)ability, class, and nation). Q&A organizers and advertises queer-related events on campus, holding topic-driven discussion meetings, hosting parties and kickbacks, and bringing LGBTQ+ speakers and performers to campus. Join the mailing list here, or follow on Facebook.
Middlebury American Association of University Professors (AAUP): Middlebury employees reinstated a chapter of the national AAUP amidst the pandemic and ensuing financial crisis, organizing to protect employee benefits and wages, amongst other things. Alumni and students also formed groups to support the AAUP’s work. See the AAUP website here.
Queer Studies House (QSH): QSH is a house students can live in after their first year, located behind Proctor. Students living in the house organize several events every semester for building queer communities and learning about queer and gender theory. The house is also a space where other social justice-oriented often meet and host events. Check out their website here.
Middlebury Black Student Union (BSU): BSU works to “represent the concerns and interests of black students and other PoC in the Middlebury community while providing a safe place for students to discuss and celebrate issues of diversity and intersectional identity.” BSU works to organize events and create spaces on campus for black folks and black culture. Contact BSU at bsu@middlebury.edu, or on Facebook here.
Trans Affinity Group (TAG): TAG describes itself as “a group of trans, nonbinary, gender non-conforming, questioning and generally non-cisgender people in the Middlebury community,” whose purpose is aimed at fostering community and support by creating a safe space where all gender identities and pronouns are affirmed and respected. Check them out/get involved here.
Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPOC): QTPOC is a “continuing initiative where students, faculty, and staff, who identify as queer, trans, and of color express and explore notions of gender and sexuality in a welcoming space.” Check out the AFC’s page for more info.
Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP): SSDP aims to support substance users on campus and in the broader community, standing with and for those among us who have experienced unwanted institutional scrutiny and neglect. SSDP advocates harm reduction strategies, moving away from punitive policies. Learn more here. (SSDP is not currently active)
It Happens Here: IHH is a survivor-centered storytelling platform founded at Middlebury that has spread to colleges and universities throughout the U.S. IHH empowers survivors to tell personal stories of sexual harm while also allowing for anonymity. Learn more here.
Juntos: Juntos operates as a farmworker/student solidarity network, connecting students with efforts for justice and dignity for migrant workers in Vermont, especially within Addison County. Juntos often works closely with Addison Allies and with Migrant Justice/Justicia Migrante.
ASIA (Asian Students In Action): ASIA is an Asian cultural org that is “dedicated, but not limited to the needs of Asian and Asian-American students at Middlebury”—you can find them at their website, or follow them on Facebook.
Raisins: Raisins (Radical Asians) is a cultural and activist student org. Raisins helped lead the movement and draft the demands of the administration of the Legutko incident in Spring of 2019 (see more here).
Students for Justice for Palestine (SJP): SJP became an official org in Fall 2020. Join to help fight for Palestinian liberation on campus. Check out the incredible educational resource they released Spring 2021 here. Email to get involved at sjp@middlebury.edu and follow on instagram here.
Alianza Latinoamericana y Caribeña: Alianza serves to encourage learning about Latinx cultures and to offer students of Latin American and Caribbean background support at the College. Alianza hosts numerous social, cultural and educational events each semester. Check out their instagram here.
There are also several religious/cultural student orgs to more spiritually support students: check out the Middlebury Muslim Student Association (here), Hillel (here), Gather (here), and generally the Scott Center for Religious and Spiritual Life.
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