Women in Journalism, a new club on campus, strives to become a safe space for women pursuing careers in the journalism field by building an uplifting and supportive community of women, both in and outside of the major.
The club has been in the works since last semester. It was started by student journalist Olivia Krupp, the current editor for the Opinions Desk at the Daily Wildcat and a journalism undergraduate student at the University of Arizona.
“This idea was born because last semester I was like, ‘Okay I need to join a women in journalism club’ and then I looked it up and asked myself, ‘How is there not a women in journalism club?’ Like this was crazy,” Krupp said.
Around the same time, Krupp had written an opinions article for the Wildcat about a TikToker who was a senior at the UA, calling behavior misogynistic and problematic. This quickly led to people doxxing her and threatening her safety online.
“He didn’t like the article and went on his TikTok and leaked my number, all my socials, and I was getting all kinds of rape threats, death threats, you name it,” Krupp said.
Although Krupp contacted the school about it numerous times, she felt the administration did not help her.
Since the incident, she has become set on helping to create a new safe space for women in or interested in the journalism field. She said that she had also talked to multiple students in her journalism classes and the Wildcat who were interested in a student group like that as well, further prompting her to create the club.
One reporter for the Wildcat, Amira Beck, said that she thinks it is important to have a network of women in the field who can support each other through their struggles. Beck, while not a journalism major at the UA, said she is very passionate about the industry and looks forward to seeing the club grow.
Another journalism student, Kelly Marry, said she looks forward to volunteer and outreach opportunities through the club to help K-12 students gain an interest in writing.
“I think it would be good to share our experiences and tell them all about it,” Marry said.
Last semester, Krupp reached out to a few female professors in the School of Journalism to see if anyone would be interested in being an advisor to the club, and professor Liliana Soto happily took the position.
“What I want to do is help them amplify their voices,” Soto said. “There are countless situations where we are going to face some type of danger. We need other women who have been in the industry longer to teach us how to deal with those things.”
Soto has experienced her own struggles as a woman in the journalism industry and hopes to bring her experiences as a way to empower women in the club. She has done live shots on her own in dark and unsafe areas, often carrying mace as her only source of protection, and at one point, had to fear for her safety from a stalker on social media while she was working away from her newsroom.
She said she looks forward to sharing and listening to the experiences of those who attend the club’s meetings.
The first meeting for the new club was held on Oct. 2 in the Daily Wildcat newsroom at 6 p.m., and all future meetings will be held on the first Monday of every month. The club is on Instagram and has more information and content on their page.
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