A new student organization joins the race with a mission to promote bodily autonomy across ETSU. The Appalachian Reproductive Health Alliance (ARHA) was launched on Feb. 13 and strives to bring awareness to sexual education while providing necessary resources to students on campus.
ARHA was created as a byproduct of the ETSU Elevates program, where students Leah Loveday, Rebecca Pearson and Lillian Hollenbeck developed a curriculum for menstrual health. They partner with RISE Healthy for Life, which stands for responsible and inclusive sexuality education. RISE hosts informative classes and shares products with ARHA to distribute on campus.
The organization is built on three pillars: access, education and advocacy. The access chair oversees the distribution of products such as contraception and menstrual health supplies. The education chair is responsible for writing social media content and fact-checking information before publication. The advocacy chair manages and finds resources for students, including reproductive health services and advocacy for general medical care.
The organization is structured with a constitution and bylaws to ensure operational balance. The leadership team includes a president, vice president and chairs for each pillar, along with positions handling social media and finances.
ARHA President Rebecca Pearson said that multiple leadership members review every decision made by the organization before being implemented.
“Everything that happens is reviewed by multiple people,” Pearson said. “Every person on the leadership team has to have eyes on anything that goes out under their pillar.”
During its first major tabling at the “Cruise Down Mainstreet” event, ARHA distributed around 160 individual products to students. Pearson praised her collaborators for their dedication and work ethic while emphasizing the value of having a fully operational structure of team members.
ARHA recognizes that discussing reproductive health can be difficult for students. Fear of judgment or backlash often prevents students from seeking help or information.
“It is an internal fear of all of ours because there’s definitely organizations on campus that make it known that not all people are welcome in that circle,” Pearson said. “Even if they can’t agree with most of us politically, they can still care about reproductive health.”
Resources provided by ARHA are available at no cost and no questions are asked. The organization also offers support for students who may be pressured into sexual activity or have experienced sexual assault, ensuring that they are not alone if other resources are unavailable.
“We’re not encouraging sex, but what we’re encouraging is safe practice and safe principles,” Pearson said.
ARHA’s next event, “S’mores, Spring Break and Safety,” will take place on March 13 at Tri-Hall Field. The event will focus on spring break safety tips and will feature s’mores, hot dogs and goodie bags with reproductive health products.
“Our main goal is standing for those who can’t stand by themselves and with their own health,” Pearson said. “It’s access to being healthy and access to preventing things down the line that are definitely preventable.”
Sexual assault and intimate partner violence rates are highest on college campuses, according to recent reports. Pearson hopes ARHA will continue to provide support and education to students beyond her leadership.
“I feel like there’s always going to be people that care about what we do,” she said. “As long as we have a board that listens to our bylaws and our constitution, then we will have events, and if we have events, we will have people.”
