If you're like me and you are the president of an activist organization, the hardest part of running your club is probably trying to get people to care about whatever your cause is. The club that I'm president of is Code TEAL at DePauw University, the acronym standing for "Talk, Educate, Advocate, Listen." We are a sexual assault awareness organization and survivor advocacy group and our goal is to ultimately not exist. The reason that we exist is because sexual assault and rape are major problems on our campus, but it often feels like no matter what we do, these problems don't disappear or become smaller. We can put as much effort into our work as possible and still DePauw students brush off the issue of sexual assault, the administration seems to not listen, and even talks with the university president feel useless. And when these things happen I find myself questioning what the point of being an activist is if we can't garner outside support for our cause. Do people really not care about sexual assault and victims? Because it definitely feels that way. Or perhaps people don't take these issues seriously until it affects them or someone they love, but even this mindset is still unacceptable. I've been so discouraged by this apparent apathy that I've come close to quitting my own club. Why put this much effort into something that feels like is changing nothing?

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And yet, despite these periods of hopeless, I can't turn my back on our cause. It's not because I feel a special attachment to leading Code TEAL, but because it is better to do something than do nothing. Even though there are times where I want to scream and pound out angry Facebook rants and subtweet people who treat our work as a joke, the better alternative is to persevere through our club's work, even though the changes it makes are sometimes small. My biggest wish as president of my club is that more people on DePauw's campus, both students and staff, would be more enraged about our sexual assault epidemic and be enthusiastic about inventing solutions. I definitely can't do much on my own and this kind of work is emotionally exhausting. We are tired. Women, victims, and their families are tired. I want to see the day where my club doesn't need to exist, and I know that this can be accomplished if people realize they need to care. As said by William Sloane Coffin Jr., "I am not always optimistic, but I am always hopeful."