Her Campus Indy can officially call themselves a University of Indianapolis Registered Student Organization, after being in the process of trying to become an RSO since April. When sophomore marketing major and Her Campus Indy President Maddie Whipple chose where she was going to school, she said she wanted to start a chapter at UIndy, and that is what she did.
Her Campus is a national online magazine platform that allows people to write for their website. As the campus correspondent for Her Campus headquarters in Boston, Whipple said that she wanted to become an RSO and start a chapter at UIndy to allow women and men to have a creative writing outlet.
“I wanted to start it to give people a place to express themselves in whatever way they want,” Whipple said. “I know it’s mainly for women, but we have men in our group and they like it.”
As the campus correspondent, Whipple said she is constantly in contact with Her Campus headquarters to discuss what is going on in the UIndy chapter. Her Campus headquarters provides the Indianapolis chapter with a platform to publish articles nationally through their online magazine platform.
“I think mainly we are all about empowering women and making people feel welcome in the environment we portray,” Whipple said. “Girls come to the meetings and we talk about what we need to talk about and then we stay and hangout.”
Whipple said that not all articles deal with the empowerment of women, but members can write about whatever they wish. She said that Her Campus Indy has written and published topics about climate change, the top 10 things to get from an Amazon wish list and how to get over an ex.
According to Whipple, Her Campus gives the UIndy chapter free range in terms of the events they hold and the articles they write. The chapter can do what it wants, however, one item that they must abide by is posting on their social media accounts at least three times per week.
Her Campus offers internships, which sophomore sports management major and Senior Editor for Her Campus Indy Savahana Dye has taken part in. Her internship consists of editing all articles that are submitted by members of the club. She stays in contact with her advisor and receives feedback from her on her edits.
Dye said she believes that Her Campus can have an impact at UIndy. She said that she hopes that Her Campus Indy can make women stronger and make individuals well-rounded people.
“I think Her Campus [Indy] is going to have a huge impact on campus because a lot of students don’t read the news and one of our topics we write about is the news,” Dye said. “By having the girls [chapter members] write about what is going on in the news it will expand their horizons and it will make them more comfortable… talking about those hard topics that are happening…”
Everything for Her Campus Indy was coming out of Whipple’s budget. Whipple said that she organized and paid for a “queso and questions,” a question and answer event for students to learn about the Indianapolis chapter and Her Campus as an organization.
Her Campus Indy is preparing to have their first fundraiser after officially becoming an RSO. According to Whipple, they are planning a scrunchie fundraiser to raise money so that they are able to host events.
The scrunchies will be sold for $6 a piece or three for $15 and each member’s goal is to sell at least five.
Whipple hopes that Her Campus Indy will empower and allow women to be part of a group where they can bond and get done what they need to but after, hang out and talk about anything.
“I’m really hoping that I can make an impact on this campus,” Whipple said.
