Alli Coleman, SMART Secretary

When you hear SMART around campus, your first reaction might be to think of a math organization or something of that sort. Augsburg SMART stands for the Sexual Misconduct Awareness Raising Team. SMART hosts bi-weekly meetings and some pretty cool events throughout the academic year. SMART strives to raise overall awareness about rape culture, consent culture, harassment, and assaults.

At SMART’s general bi-weekly meetings, topics of consent, bystander intervention, and supporting allies are discussed as well as other topics. SMART also hosts events around campus throughout the year. SMART often teams up with QPA (Queer Pride Alliance) and other student organizations. We also invite community speakers to inform Augsburg students about consent, bystander training, sharing personal survivor stories and more. The first SMART event is happening on Thursday September 26th at 6pm in Murphy Square, where we will be tie dying t-shirts from the “Not Anymore” campaign. Free t-shirts will be provided as well as all the supplies that will be needed for tie dying. There will also be pizza to eat! Come join SMART on September 26th and tie dye FREE t-shirts with us!  This is a totally free event, where you can come meet the board of SMART, make new friends, and enjoy some pizza!

The SMART president is Sam Luhning, a third year here at Augsburg studying music business (business) with minors in business administration and management information systems. The Vice President is McKenzie Vergauwen, a second year here at Augsburg studying music business and psychology. The public relations officer is Kyle Thompson, a third year studying social work with a minor in theology. Next, we have the SMART events coordinator and community outreach officer Emie Brown, a senior this year majoring in religion. The secretary of SMART is Alli Coleman a second year majoring in Spanish and elementary education with a minor in leadership studies. Kyle Thompson and Sam Luhning also double as our treasurers.

If you are interested in joining SMART or learning more about what SMART is, make sure to follow our social media. Follow us on instagram at @augsburgsmart or like our Facebook page at Augsburg’s SMART. We hope to see you soon!

This article was originally published in the September 20, 2019 issue.