Making an Impact: Effective Activism for Master’s Student

Why Master’s Students Care: As a master’s student, you might have experienced firsthand that affordable housing can be hard to come by. Pursuing your master’s degree places a financial burden on top of your regular living expenses, making it difficult to cover both academic and housing costs. Some master’s students use this real-world experience to advocate for more affordable housing options in their city.

Inspiration: Savannah Baker, a former Master of Social Work student at the University of South Carolina, is an example of a master’s student who found it difficult to afford housing. Based on her experience and talking with other members in her community, she applied for Habitat for Humanity’s Emerging Leaders Scholarship. Through this program, she advocated for affordable housing options worldwide.

Why Master’s Students Care: It’s no secret the U.S. has far too many mass shootings, including many on college campuses. To help make campuses and communities safer, many master’s students form activist groups and attend protests to advocate for gun control and reform.

Inspiration: In recent years our nation has faced an unprecedented number of shootings. In response, last year Harvard student, March for Our Lives founder, and Parkland survivor Jaclyn Corin organized a summer of action. College students around the country spent the summer attending protests, talking to legislators, and taking other steps toward gun reform.

Why Master’s Students Care: Stress, anxiety, and depression are as common as late-night study sessions for master’s students. One study of a bioscience program in the University of California system placed the number of master’s students with anxiety or depression at up to 46%. Because so many graduate students have experienced mental health problems, many want to advocate for more resources for emotional well-being on and off campus.

Inspiration: After realizing how underequipped many primary schools are to handle students’ mental health concerns, 20 students in the MEd in Counselor Education program at the University of Virginia (UVA) created a handout explaining the importance of these programs. They then attended the Virginia School Counselor Association’s annual “Legislative Day” and handed the pamphlets out to legislators to advocate for change.

Why Master’s Students Care: Social justice is an issue that impacts everyone. As a master’s student, you’re likely to be exposed to societal problems such as gender or racial inequality. Many master’s students decide to advocate for equity within their field and larger communities.

Inspiration: Many students express social justice advocacy either through their thesis or educational policy reform. Austin McCoy, a PhD student at the University of Michigan, did both. He helped his undergraduate alma mater improve its diversity policies and studied the link between incarceration and race for his thesis.

Why Master’s Students Care: 26% of students believe climate change is the most pressing issue facing society today. Many of these students are using their voice and education to advocate for governmental policies and societal actions to prevent the progression of climate change.

Inspiration: Precious Nyabami, a University of Florida master’s student, wanted to use her degree in soil and water science to create long-lasting change. She devoted her master’s thesis to this work and discovered a new way for farmers to capture carbon. She then went on to develop a program to share this method with Florida farmers.

How they can be used: Campus events are a great way to come together for a common cause. After the shooting at UVA last year, the school’s chapter of March for Our Lives organized a campus-wide event to advocate for gun control.

Advantages: Campus events are a great way to advocate for a cause that directly impacts your school. These events can also spread awareness to those who aren’t familiar with the cause.

Limitations: Since the event happens at one specific time, it’s impossible for it to fit into everyone’s schedule. A live event can also be impacted by weather and other activities occurring on campus at the same time.

How they can be used: Petitions and letters, like the petition created by UVA students for more primary school mental health resources, are a great way to bring your concerns to legislative bodies in your local government and at nonprofits.

Advantages: Petitions and letters are aimed directly at decision-makers, meaning they often bring about change faster.

Limitations: For anything to happen, you have to get the decision-makers to read your petition or letter, which is often out of your control.

How they can be used: One of the best ways to raise awareness for a cause is to create a presentation on the issue to share at local organization meetings, industry-specific conferences, and on campus. For example, master’s students in The University of Kansas Men’s Action Program often do presentations on sexual violence prevention strategies for campus organizations.

Advantages: Presentations are a great way to reach new organizations and audiences who might be unfamiliar with the cause. Since you’re usually invited to speak, you also know your audience is interested in learning more.

Limitations: While a great educational tool, it can be hard to get people to take action after a speech. Public speaking is also something students commonly fear, making this an uncomfortable method for some master’s students.

How they can be used: Protests are organized events that bring together groups of people with the same concern. Often, the aim of a protest is to get the attention of those who aren’t in favor of your cause or decision-makers. Cornell University graduate students recently used this method to advocate for better pay and more university support.

Advantages: Protests bring your concerns right to the community’s doorstep. They’re an interactive way to advocate for your cause—and to show just how many people in your community care.

Limitations: Since protests can be seen as adversarial, they don’t always change the opinions of those on the other side. The logistics can also be tricky since you usually need to acquire a permit to protest in public.

How it can be used: Want to make your cause go “viral”? Turn to Instagram or Twitter. With a strategic social media campaign, you can spread awareness about your cause and educate followers on how they can help.

Advantages: Social media is one of the fastest ways to share information about your cause, events you’re organizing, and actions others can take.

Limitations: You can’t control who your audience is on social media, so this might not be the best method for local events. For example, if you created a video about a beach clean-up event in your town and posted it on TikTok, it won’t be limited to being viewed only by those in your geographical area, making it harder to reach people who can actually participate.

How they can be used: When demands aren’t being met, utilize your labor or purchasing power to create action with a strike or boycott. A strike is when you stop working, such as when master’s students at the University of Illinois went on strike to raise awareness of their low teaching assistant pay. A boycott is when you stop purchasing a product or using a service to protest the actions of the company or seller.

Advantages: A strike or boycott can be powerful because you’re taking away something someone needs (either your patronage of their business or your own labor).

Limitations: At the same time, a strike can put your job on the line. If a strike goes poorly, you could lose your position. With a boycott, you need a large number of customers to stop buying a product or using a service to make an impact.