Senior Class Officers announce 2021 senior gift going to Social Justice Hub

This year’s senior class gift will be given to UW’s Social Justice Hub in the Office of Inclusion Education, the senior class officers have announced.

The Social Justice Hub is committed to advancing social justice issues on campus and around the community. It is able to accomplish this through action teams, events, and outreach and collaboration connections.

“The beauty of the Social Justice Hub is that through their programming they are reflecting students’ needs,” said Calli Hughes, senior class communications director.

The Social Justice Hub is part of Student Affairs’ Office of Inclusion Education, which was created last year to centralize and expand diversity, inclusion and social justice education efforts.

The gift is open for donations until December 2021. A donation toward the senior gift would allow the Social Justice Hub to support student internships, enable action teams to address the most urgent needs on campus, expand its collaborations and connections, and deepen discussions, activities, and the level of engagement with students and campus partners.

“We selected this gift to represent what our class has experienced during our time on campus,” said Lusayo Mwatkatika, senior class philanthropy director. “We urge seniors to participate in our upcoming engagement and donation opportunities including the Day of the Badger and other additional engagement opportunities that will be announced soon. “

Junior Alyssa Bokotey, who is the Operations and Intake intern for the Social Justice Hub, says that working for the hub has taught her a lot of great things.

“One of those things is to notice the holes that might exist on campus or in the community as it pertains to social justice work,” Bokotey said.

The Senior Class Officers of 2021 brainstormed different ideas for the gift and took advice from university advisors and from the senior class themselves.

“We sat down and really thought about the kind of impact we wanted to make and what legacy we want to leave behind,” Hughes said. “Usually we base it off of the students’ needs and wants that to reflect contemporary issues and different needs that are seen around campus.”

Giving a senior class gift is a time-honored tradition for graduating classes. Last year’s senior class gift was given to the Green Bandana Project which is dedicated to bringing awareness to mental health.

The Senior Class Officers who are graduating this spring will pass on the baton to the Senior Class Officers, who will be taking over for the fall 2021 semester will continue to raise awareness and funds for the gift.