As an institution rich in its history of social justice, Hunter students can seek to continue that legacy through the Hunter National Organization of Women (NOW) chapter, one of the newest clubs on campus.
Established in 1966 with Hunter alumni Pauli Murray, NOW is the largest women’s rights organizations in the country, who have hundreds of chapters across the 50 states.
The Hunter NOW club was erected in the fall 2023 semester, initially named the “Sign4ERA” club. It solely dedicated itself to student-led advocacy work for the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposed addition to the Constitution at the New York State and federal level that would make sex-based discrimination unconstitutional.
Naia Lehtinen, the co-founder and current president of the club, was inspired to start a club advocating for women’s rights when she took a trip to a convention held at Seneca Falls, N.Y. over the summer. The purpose of the trip, organized by the Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women and hosted by former Congresswoman (and Hunter’s Distinguished Leader in Residence) Carolyn Maloney, was to commemorate the 100-year anniversary since the Equal Rights Amendment was first proposed.
Lehtinen describes witnessing activists continue the century-long fight as a mixture of “empowering and discouraging.”
Profoundly inspired by the convention, and with the encouragement of Maloney (who is the current president of New York State NOW), Lehtinen decided to partner with fellow Hunter students Tabia Ahmed, Jada Richardson, and Gretchen Wulfmeyer to bring the wisdom and networking resources acquired from that trip to the majority Black and brown, low income student population at Hunter.
“Sometimes students don’t have the recognition that they need in order to catapult them into action. I think it’s a really wonderful community, supportive community, we want to hear everyone’s voices,” said Lehtinen, who in addition to her extracurricular engagements, is a senior pursuing a degree in environmental studies with a minor in computer science minor, and is enrolled in Hunters business certificate program.
“There’s just so much power that students and young people have. But a lot of young people haven’t had the opportunity to be in spaces where they recognize that about themselves.”
During the semester, the club would take trips to Washington D.C. to garner support for the ERA, but more specifically the petition for its addition to the Constitution. However, with the desire to expand their advocacy to cover other areas in women’s rights, Lehtinen and the e-board members sought to refurbish their club as one that doesn’t just advocate for the ERA, but also for other NOW core issues, including economic and racial justice, reproductive rights, among addressing other disparities.
After completing the necessary steps to become chartered under the organization, the Sign4ERA club officially re-established itself as the Hunter NOW chapter in late October.
“NOW has always been at the forefront of feminist movement,” said Maloney in a press release about the chapter’s establishment. “When I was a young woman running for City Council and later Congress, NOW was there for me. That’s why I am so excited to help NOW be there for this next generation of leaders.”
Aside from hosting their own events, Hunter NOW has also worked in collaboration with the Roosevelt House this semester to organize a “NOW Conference.” Twice during the winter, the club arranged for students to get a private tour of the “Equal Rights Amendment: A Century of Speaking Out” exhibit at the New York Public Library, hosted by curator (and Hunter alumna), Cara Dellante.
In the future, Lehtinen said she would like to see the club collaborate with other campus human rights groups, and potentially organize self-defense workshops.
Lehtinen stresses that individuals interested in joining do not need to be vastly knowledgeable on the topic of women’s rights. One member, she recalled, voiced concern that they don’t know as much as they should.
“We made it very clear to her, emphasizing none of us know everything on the board of NOW. We don’t know everything about NOW, everything about the ERA, or social justice. But I think there’s such a temptation, I feel it myself all the time. And this goes right in line with impostor syndrome,” Lehtinen said. “We want to create that safe space, where women are empowered, anyone who wants to be involved is empowered to use their voice. That was a moment that really stuck out to me, because it’s something I relate to. You don’t need to know everything. And we would love to have you involved and have a passion to explore that passion.”
For those who are interested in joining the club, Lehtinen suggests filling out the interest form linked to their club’s Instagram, as well as joining their Whatsapp group chat.
As Lehtinen graduates this year, she is looking forward to passing the baton of presidency to her fellow club member and treasurer, Gretchen Wulfmeyer.
“My officers and I will be creating over the summer a roster of educational events, academic resources, and planned actions to enrich the student body’s knowledge and participation in women’s issues across cultures,” Wulfmeyer said. “There will be opportunities to hangout and have fun, protest through art or disobedience, and table for the issues we elect to focus on!”
While sad that her co-founders (Lehtinen, Ahmed and Richardson) will be graduating so early into the clubs journey, Wulfmeyer said she is excited to carry on the agenda of Hunter NOW and use her professional training in campaigning to coalition-build with other advocacy groups on campus “to cement our intersectional approaches to student rights issues and women’s rights issues.”
“That whole intersectionality aspect of it, it’s just really important to us, because it all works together,” Lehtinen said. “In order to progress one thing forward, it’s so much more powerful to be working with other efforts. It offers so much more weight behind it, and you have a much larger community as well. And I think recognizing the similarities between other people in other communities. It’s just so much more powerful.”
