“Give Back and Give Blood” is the name of Rutgers–Camden’s Student Nursing Association’s first blood drive in association with the American Red Cross. It will be held on Wednesday, April 8th, from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. in Campus Center MPR. The Student Nursing Association (SNA) is not only looking for donors, but also for volunteers to help run the drive. 

“The American Red Cross supplies about forty percent of the nation’s blood,” explains SNA’s Junior Secretary, Sofia-Andre Aseron. “So doing a blood drive and participating in it is a good way to give back to your community.”

Aseron is the main organizer of the event, communicating with representatives from the American Red Cross along with the rest of the SNA E-Board. In particular, Aseron expressed that SNA’s event planner, Maya Mazahreh, president Gianna Giangreco, and PR manager Prerana Malla have all helped organize the event. 

“The blood drive is super important because, as of right now, according to the American Red Cross, there is a current blood shortage in our hospitals and in our blood banks and accidents happen every day, and we need to make sure that we have a good blood supply to make sure that we can help those who need it,” explained Aseron. 

Aseron also shared the inspiration for the event, which was a joint effort between herself, Jilliane Jaugan, SNA’s Fundraising Chair, and Vincent Crocilla, SNA’s Vice President: “We were talking about ways to get students more involved in the club and, really, [Jilliane] had the idea. She remembered that at our high school, they hosted a blood drive, and we just remember a lot of people coming out to it and a lot of people thinking it was the coolest thing ever.” She added, “We wanted to do something that helps with our local community and do more outreach.”

The American Red Cross offers two different types of blood donations: a standard donation or a Power Red donation. The Red Cross describes Power Red donations as giving almost double the amount of red blood cells as a standard donation, and makes donors feel more hydrated than a standard donation by separating blood so it does not take plasma, platelets, or saline. Power Red donors must meet certain age and height requirements, as well as be blood type O, A negative, or B negative. 

The donation process also varies slightly for each type of donor. A standard donation can take up to about thirty minutes, while Power Red can take up to an hour, with these times including the check-in process, the actual donation process, and then the recovery. According to Aseron, “The American Red Cross will be providing refreshments on their end to help replenish and recharge energy, but the blood drives don’t really take that much energy. A lot of people think that it does, but it won’t drain you for the day. I’ll promise you’ll be okay.” 

While being nurses in training, the Student Nursing Association will not be the ones taking donors’ blood: “The American Red Cross will be the ones taking the blood as they are the ones certified to take the blood. The SNA is just hosting the event,” explained Aseron. SNA is working in tandem with the Camden branch of the Red Cross to hold the blood drive. 

SNA members will be volunteering to run the event alongside other RUC students. Any students who are interested in volunteering with check-in and recovery can do so by signing up for volunteer slots, which are divided into thirty-minute increments. Students can sign up for more than one if they are available. Both donors and volunteers are asked to sign up for a time slot if they would like to take part.

Other upcoming events from the SNA are their stethoscope giveaway, which will be during their third GBM of the semester, and their clothing sale, where students can buy Rutgers–Camden School of Nursing merchandise. More information for both of these events can be found on SNA’s Instagram page. 

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LilacsDreamMarket is determined to make South Jersey fun for young people. Held in Merchantville, New Jersey, LilacsDreamMarkets is a small business market founded and run by Rutgers–Camden student, Tishanna Mayes, A.K.A. Lilac.

In June of 2025 the senior English student held her first craft market in Merchantville. Mayes has held two more markets since then featuring over thirty different vendors. The markets are free to enter and the newer markets have only featured items under thirty dollars, in an effort to make events in the area affordable. 

Mayes shared where her inspiration came from to start LilacsDreamMarket, “I started my markets as a way to kind of bring something new, because I’m not gonna lie, in South Jersey, there’s not that many things to do. I’ve been a small business for a while, so I was a vendor before I started doing the market. It kind of just came over me, I was like, you know what? I want an audience that’s my age group.”

Since the first event, the LilacsDreamMarkets have grown exponentially. Mayes says this is thanks to her dedicated social media presence. Mayes Instagram account, @lilacsinmayesco, currently has over 800 followers while her TikTok of the same name has over 2700 followers. 

“I have goals to be a social media manager, and I kind of just took my creativity and I used that,” explained Mayes. “And I also wanted to be more upfront and be the face of the market.  Like, I feel like a lot of markets that I see, the owners don’t really put their face out there and, like, really try to connect with people. So I wanted to bring something different and, like, make sure it connects to people and people feel seen and heard.”

The past year has featured a growth in social events for young people throughout South Jersey. She Runs South Jersey is a running club started last spring that meets at Cooper River Park on Saturday mornings. Jhilly Social Girls is a social club in the South Jersey and Philly area that started in October of 2025. Mayes shared advice to anyone who wants to start a small business or events like her’s:

“Just take the chance, honestly. Just do it. If you have an idea, just make it happen. As much as you can, I’d say, like, literally, the trinket market came to my mind one day and I was like, you know what? I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna try again, ’cause my first market wasn’t the best because I wasn’t doing the best marketing. So I was like, you know what? I’m going to put this 1st and start doing as much as I can.”

LilacsDreamMarket’s newest market, “The Lucky Finds Market,” will take place next month on March 22, 2026 in Merchantville, NJ from 10 to 3. The link to secure a ticket is on Mayes socials along with forms for vendors looking to sell at the market. 

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With the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics kicking off this weekend, there are plenty of South Jersey natives to root for this year. The 2026 Winter Olympics run from February 6th to 22nd and take place across Northern Italy. There are three South and Central Jersey athletes in 2026’s Team USA from all different disciplines and there are also two hosts from South Jersey covering the Olympics, with one Rutgers alum within the pair. 

From Mount Holly, Isabeau Levito is a women’s figure skater representing Team USA this year. At only eighteen, Levito is the 2023 US National champion and 2024 World silver medalist. Currently, she is the 2026 US National bronze medalist, which got her an Olympic spot this year. Levito trains in Mount Laurel with the Skating Club of Southern New Jersey at Igloo Ice Rink. US Figure Skating has named Levito and her fellow US women’s figure skaters the “Blade Angels,” modeling the three women after Charlie’s Angels as they compete for the Olympic podium this year.  

In Team USA snowboarding, Bri Schnorrbusch is from Monroe Township. Currently, Schnorrbusch has two top ten finishes at the World Championships, eleven podium finishes at the North American Cup, and is also the 2022 Junior World Champion. US Ski and Snowboarding has described Schnorrbusch as “one of the brightest young talents in snowboard cross.”

Both Schnorrbusch and Levito are sharing their experience at the Olympics on their social media pages. Isabeau Levito has posted vlogs, comedy, and skating videos from the Olympics on her Instagram and TikTok pages, @isabeau.levito. Similarly, Bri Schnorrbusch has shared Olympic hauls and vlogs on her TikTok and Instagram accounts, both under @bri.schnorrbusch. 

Two-time Olympic skeleton athlete Kelly Curtis is another South Jersey native from Princeton. At the last Winter Olympic Games in 2022 in Beijing, China, Curtis placed twenty-first and placed tenth at the 2025 World Championships. Curtis is one of only two women chosen to compete in Team USA’s skeleton team. 

A couple of NBC’s 2026 Olympic hosts are also South Jersey natives, including Rutgers-New Brunswick class of 2003 alum  Kathryn Tappen. From Morristown, Tappen is a hockey host for NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics. Milano Cortina is Tappen’s seventh Olympics with NBC after joining the company in 2014. Tappen has been working in broadcast journalism since graduating from Rutgers, working for New England Sports Network, the NHL Network, and NBC. This year she’ll serve as the on-site hockey reporter in Italy on NBC and Peacock. 

Traitors star and NBC Figure Skating host, Tara Lipinski, is also a South Jersey athlete. The gold medal Olympian is from Sewell, New Jersey, and started learning to skate at the Deptford Skating Center and trained at the University of Delaware. Milano Cortina is Lipinski’s fourth Winter Olympics with NBC, and she will be one of three figure skating commentators alongside Johnny Weir and Terry Gannon. 

Fans can watch these South Jersey athletes on NBC and Peacock starting on February 6th. Women’s snowboarding begins on Sunday, February 8th, to see Bri Schnorrbusch compete and continues until the 17th. The full snowboarding schedule can be seen on the Olympic’s website. Isabeau Levito has not been announced to compete in the team events, so her first skate on Olympic ice will be during the Women’s short program on February 17th. If she qualifies, she will also compete in the Women’s Free Skate on February 19th. Kelly Curtis will compete in women’s skeleton on February 13th and 14th, with the team event taking place on February 15th; however, it has not been announced who will compete in the team event. 

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As finals are ramping up, librarians at Paul Robeson are available to help students with their research. Subject specific librarians offer in person or online appointments to assist in all aspects of research and research projects from utilizing the databases to citing sources. 

Zara Wilkinson, a reference and instruction librarian, gave a basis of what is offered, “We help people at every part of the research process from I don’t even have a project assigned and I just want to feel a little more in control when I do, to I’m completely done and I just want someone to help me figure out if I’m writing my bibliography correctly. We can’t, we can’t check it for accuracy, but we can help people figure out resources that can help them check that.”

The Rutgers library systems are home to hundreds of different databases with a myriad of focuses and specialities. With that, the librarians are aware of how daunting the research process can be even with tools built into the library website like QuickSearch, a search engine built into the library website that searches through the online and physical collections. That’s why they are available to students to make the process easier and more manageable. 

Wilkinson assured this, “Knowing what to type in for your search terms, your keywords, is really important, but it’s really hard to get right on the first time. Librarians don’t even do that. We do a lot of iterative searching where we do trial and error; what search terms are more successful, what search terms are less successful. So we do a lot of searching in our professional life so it can really help students get oriented in that process.”

Samantha Kannegiser, a student success librarian, also explained how the librarians are available to help students become well versed in the research process and Rutgers’ large collection, “Online databases were kind of new when I was in college. So it wasn’t something like everyone just knew to search online. We were solely using books at the time. So I had a professor in my senior seminar who was like, okay, so you guys all know EPSCOhost, right? And everyone around me is nodding and I was like, what? So I went home and was furiously Googling stuff and really, I was up all night trying to figure out how to do research for this. But I, if I knew that I could have just gone into the library, seen that English librarian, and in 10 minutes, she would have had me ready to go. I wouldn’t have spent all night freaking out that I didn’t know anything that everyone else knew… When you think, oh my God, I’m the only person that doesn’t know this, you’re so not.”

Students can find a librarian specific to their major or research concentration through the Paul Robeson website and navigating towards the “Librarians in Camden” page. This provides a list of librarians, their contact information, and their area of expertise. On this page students can click on the librarian’s name to schedule an appointment through the website or reach out to them through their contact information. 

Additionally, the library website provides a number of self service resources with research guides, citation management, copyright guidelines, and other online tutorials. Zara Wilkinson also makes it clear that while these independent resources are available, librarians are also able and willing to assist students over email if setting up a meeting is not an option for them:

“Our students live really busy lives and so librarians are available to make appointments, and sometimes into the evening, if that works best for students. We can do Zoom appointments, we can do phone if that works for people. I also often am very happy to just email back and forth with students and provide a lot of help that way.”

Student Jiliana Reyes shared her experience with the library’s research services, “I’m aware that the library has research help, but only because of an honors writing class I took freshman year. Honestly, I didn’t find it that helpful but it could just be because I wasn’t using it correctly and sometimes I’m too lazy to ask for help because it’s just too long of a process.”

For students looking for a quicker, independent service, the library chat feature is available on the website twenty-four/seven. Librarians and the library’s research assistance is completely free and flexible for students who are looking for any additional help or support during their school year.

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Reynier Llanes’ Pursuit of Grace exhibit is currently on display at Rutgers–Camden’s Stedman Gallery until December 13th of 2025. The exhibit features new pieces that debuted at the Stedman Gallery as well as Llanes’ previous works from 2017 through 2024. 

In discussion with Llanes’ he shared how his history influences his work, “To be honest in my work I had to have this connection with my culture, because this is who I am. My main source is Cuba, but it also comes from my African heritage. And that way, having this conversation with the visual aspects of the paintings and myself, it creates a diary. And that’s important for me, but it’s not intentional. It’s genuine. It’s my best way to communicate.” 

Llanes was born in Cuba and attended Instructores de Arte in Pinar del Rio. He shared how his schooling influenced him to become a professional artist, “We had artists that came to our school and gave us presentations and described sort of what their life looks like. And I was like, you know, if they were able to do it, why not me? And that was like, you know, a force of inspiration that drove me.”

His background in academia, not only as a student but as a professor, is what encourages him to return to institutions like Rutgers for exhibitions. He also shared how his experience as a teacher has shaped his outlook on art:

“I was one day teaching these kids. Actually, they were teaching me because they know how to use color. I was walking by one and he was painting the clouds in yellow and the sun was green. And I was like, I don’t think that’s the way you should paint them and he turned around and said, yeah, but that’s the way I see it. I was like, shocked. I was like, okay, this kid had taught me something very essential. You cannot limit your imagination. And that’s the best way to express yourself.”

Elizabeth Coulter, the Stedman Gallery and collection coordinator, shared her own experience with the Pursuit of Grace exhibition, “I think what’s so moving about this exhibition is, it has a lot of universal themes that people can really relate to. Reynier does a lot of paintings that incorporate symbols that can be interpreted in so many different ways and also give these beautiful access points to different people so that they can build their own perceptions and reactions to the work.” 

Llanes also shared advice for students looking to enter creative spaces, “It’s fun to be online. It’s fun to create and share stories and all that kind of stuff, but you need to have connections. You need to have human connection. And also support, again, your institutions because the more you come to these kind of events, you’re going to meet people that may help you later on in your career.”

Coulter shared a similar sentiment, “The gallery is your resource. Beyond just having really cool works to look at and engage with we have all different kinds of programming that are totally free and you don’t have to pre-register. It’s a way of expanding your learning and your experiences on campus outside of the classroom. We have artists coming to do talks, we have art workshops where you can just, again, change your pace and create something new that you can take home with you. We do different kinds of tours and we also do different kinds of receptions that are a more casual entry point with food and drinks. So, really, the gallery is a space that you can have all different kinds of encounters with art, and you don’t have to be an art expert. Just be a space for you to unwind and connect with your community and expand your learning.”

For students unable to visit Pursuit of Grace before it closes on December 13th, the gallery will reopen on January 20th, 2026 with Of The People. It is a juried exhibition curated by Philly based visual artist, Alex Dacorde, ICA Los Angeles curator, Amanda Sroka, and curator of prints and drawings from Princeton University Art Museum, Laura Giles. The exhibition, inspired by the 250th anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence, reflects on American democracy and will run from January 20th to March 28th of 2026. 

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The Scarlet Scribes and The Gleaner present a Halloween Open Mic Night at The Writers House Room 102 on Thursday, October 30th from 6-8 P.M. The event will feature free food and drinks as well as a chance for students to share their original writing of any form. 

Mia Morris, president of the Scarlet Scribes, explained the event, “We encourage everyone to come in costume and take the stage. Read a poem, perform a monologue, sing a song, whatever your choice is, as long as it’s original work, it’s welcome.”

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This year, Rutgers–Camden has seen a rise in new campus organizations that emphasize community and inclusivity on campus from student dance clubs to major-oriented organizations. 

The students leaders within these clubs want RUC students to find a home within their club, like Mia Morris who is the president of Scarlet Scribes, RUC’s English club, “My first semester here I got imposter syndrome, I felt isolated, I felt alone, and this semester when I took the student leader position I knew I wanted to be more involved in the community… because finding your community and being involved on campus is how you make the college experience.”

Student leaders like Mia Morris see campus activities as an essential part of college life and an opportunity for students to grow. This is why there’s been a significant uptick in new student organizations over the past year. The Scarlet Scribes was established in December 2024 by now Rutgers Camden alum, Sophia Westfall, and is part of a large group of clubs established within the year. Bhangra Fusion, Women in STEM, and Raptor Royales are all newly formed clubs looking for more student involvement on campus. 

Raptor Royales, RUC’s stomp and shake cheerleading team, is another newly formed organization that popped up in the Fall of 2024. Over the past year, they’ve already collaborated with MujeRes and the RUC Black Student Union and done countless performances at events like Legacy Weekend, Raptor Rally, and different RUC games.

Women in STEM was formed in September of 2024 with the mission of cultivating “a supportive environment that empowers and encourages women pursuing careers in STEM disciplines. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive community that embraces and celebrates the contributions of women, while striving to promote gender equality within these traditionally male-dominated fields,” according to their RUC Engage page. Since then, they’ve held networking events, game nights, galas, and co-hosted the STEM Olympiad Annual Event and the NAACP Health Fair. 

Prabhleen Kaur, co-president of Bhangra Fusion, explained the origins and inspiration for founding her own club:

“I love dancing so my first year I joined the Sikh Student Association, SAATH, and the performances and then I was like, why not start a [dance] team here? But since it’s a commuter campus we don’t really have official dance teams and I don’t think many people are interested so I started with a club and then we named it Bhangra Fusion because there’s so much diversity on this campus that I didn’t wanna limit it to just bhangra. It’s for our love of dance and our tradition.”

The club’s focus is on bhangra dance, and it holds workshops, socials, and performances. It also co-hosts large events like Holi – Rang De Bash 2025. They also performed at Marsala Madness 2024, which they are co-hosting with SAATH this year. Like many other organizations, Bhangra Fusion emphasizes collaboration, having previously worked with RUC Cheerleading, The Bridge, SAATH, and RUC Cricket Club. 

Kaur added, “Everyone is open to come, it’s not like you need to know how to dance or anything. It’s just for fun to represent the culture and anyone’s love for dancing.”

Other new student organizations hold a similar sentiment, like The Scarlet Scribes. While talking to Mia Morris, she emphasized that the club is open to all majors, not just English students. The Scarlet Scribes holds events such as open mics, poetry nights, and plays, with an upcoming Halloween open mic night co-hosted by The Gleaner on October 30th, 2025, in the Writer’s House. 

Prabhleen Kaur also discussed the importance of being involved on campus, stating, “I think I made one of the best decisions by being a part of the E-Board and being involved on campus… I made friends here, I got involved, I got to explore different cultures, different traditions, and learn a lot from the events on their own. People are afraid to be a part of the E-Board but I would suggest to people that they should be a part of clubs, you learn a lot and gain good friends and connections.”

Faith Mitchell, president of the Campus Activities Board (CAB) shared how to get involved on campus, “I would do kind of just a list in your head of what are you interested in? What are some hobbies? It could literally be something that you haven’t participated in since you were in first grade, but maybe it’s still something that you like doing, you just never got a chance to. And then how do you start getting into that stuff? You have to honestly keep your eyes and ears open… you can see a flyer when you walk by or you can hear an opportunity in class or even like your friends or something.” 

CAB is a base for events held on campus, creating non-academic events for students looking for activities outside their classes and academic endeavors. This October, they ran events such as a trip to Eastern State Penitentiary and “Framed in Fall,” which had food and a photo booth for students to use. 

These new student organizations have helped build a greater campus community with a home for every student at Rutgers–Camden. 

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As of the Fall 2025 semester, Cooper Street Hospitality has taken over for Gourmet Dining as the campus dining partner. This means students can see a more varied dining plan, the ability to order meals from the nursing and law buildings, as well as price increases on campus food. 

“The quality of food in the dining hall didn’t live up to my expectations in the past, and that’s coming from someone not hard to please… There’s also been times where I’ve gotten food from the dining hall and had an upset stomach an hour later,” explains a junior nursing student who asked to stay anonymous. 

Cooper Street Hospitality is emphasizing healthier, more diverse dining options, including more culturally diverse meals and easily accessible dietary options and resources. Students can book appointments with dietitian Blanca Cats, RD, to discuss special plans for allergies or nutrition tips. She’s also available at Plate Checks, which, according to Cooper Street Hospitality’s Instagram page on September 15th, 2025:

“…give you the chance to ask nutrition questions right at the dining hall—while building a plate that works for YOU.⁣”

All of these changes have come with a price increase on meals. A meal swipe at the dining hall costs $9.75 in October of 2024, but currently costs $13.00 according to the Rutgers Camden GrubHub. Food from the Scarlet Food Court has gone up in varying amounts, with a vegan burrito bowl, for example, previously costing $7.32 in March of 2025, now costing a student $13.38 as of the Fall 2025 semester. 

“The old dining hall food was good for what it was worth. It’s saved me on days I didn’t bring food from home… Now they’ve raised the prices I’m probably not going to go as often because the food isn’t worth it,” states Adriel Rebancos, a junior commuter student. 

Another large change coming with Cooper Street Hospitality taking over dining services is creating a dining hall outpost that starts on October 1st. This allows students in the nursing and law buildings to get food from the Scarlet Food Court delivered to them with no additional charge. The system is all through GrubHub, and students can use their meal cards or credit/debit cards. The pick-up locations for the outposts will be in the law bridge of the law building and in the lobby of the nursing building.

The junior nursing student also commented on the outposts:

“Last year, a big reason why I didn’t get [campus] food, not only because it was bad, was because I couldn’t get it in the nursing building… it was just kind of impossible for me to get between my classes… I’m a little bit nervous because it really depends on how long it’s gonna take them to deliver.”

All of these changes come after several student-staff discussions and input surveys over the past year, led by the Student Dining Advisory Committee. The school also took into consideration student voices that were heard at Student Governing Association meetings. SGA is always looking for feedback about students’ dining experience on campus, which can be expressed at their regular meetings. SGA hosted a dining-focused Town Hall on October 1st to hear responses to the new partnership with Cooper Street Hospitality. SGA President, Jennifer Levy, gave a statement to The Gleaner on the dining changes:

“SGA is committed to continuing to work with Cooper Street Hospitality and our University partners to make the experience for students the best it can be. The town hall aims to provide clarity on the changes that have taken place and allow students themselves the opportunity to share their voice and advocate for an experience that best serves all.”

Cooper Street Hospitality has taken on a bigger campus presence, online and in person. Their Cooper Street Hospitality ambassadors share information about dining services and events on their Instagram. They’ve also hosted more events on campus, such as the taco truck that was on the quad on September 17th, 2025. The company’s Instagram page @cooperstreethospitality features information on events and allows students to keep up to date with the ongoing campus dining changes.

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Rutgers New Brunswick Alumna, Elizabeth Coulter, has found a new home here at Rutgers Camden as the Stedman Gallery’s gallery coordinator. While attending Rutgers, Coulter studied art history and American studies prior earning her masters in decorative art history at George Mason University and the Smithsonian Associates. 

“I am so grateful to return to Rutgers University as a staff member and work for the school where my experience in the art world began,” Coulter states. 

“RU greatly influenced my foundation as a museum professional and art historian. The faculty and staff nurtured my interest in the arts early on in my academic career. Now, it is such a wonderful opportunity to be able to support the next generation of art professionals at the start of their careers.” 

Coulter is incredibly passionate about nurturing students’ love for art, highlighting the upcoming events the gallery is holding to involve students within the program. The Stedman Gallery, located in the Fine Arts building, is a free gallery on campus that features new exhibitions every semester. The gallery currently features “Emerging: The Stedman Gallery 50th Anniversary Show” an exhibit presenting seventy eight pieces pulled from the gallery’s seven hundred piece permanent collection. Guest curator, Jackie Neale, has included works from both VMPA professors and students, all of which pay homage to the gallery’s home of Camden to honor the gallery’s fiftieth anniversary as well as the year of the arts on campus. The exhibition closes April 12th before the Thesis Exhibition begins on April 28th which presents pieces from graduating VMPA students. 

One event targeted specifically at giving students an outlet through art is the collage workshop on May 6th at 12:45pm, the first reading day of the Spring semester. The workshop is hosted with the Art Students League and serves as a brain break for students during finals prep. Coulter emphasizes some of the other upcoming events and exhibitions the gallery is hosting.

“​​This spring the gallery has some great programs that are free and open to the public! For students interested in learning more about curation from professionals in the Philadelphia area there will be talks on March 28th at 6pm and April 29th at 12:45pm in the gallery. There are several fun events in the gallery at the beginning of May for this exhibition including a student artist-led tour on May 1st at 12:45pm and reception on May 9th at 5pm.”

Coulter also gave some guidance to RUC students who want to pursue careers in gallery work:

“It is helpful to gain practical experience, attend the free programs on campus, go see exhibitions, and connect with your peers and professors. Most people working in the arts have unique, non-linear career pathways, and it is helpful to hear about diverse experiences and opportunities. The art world can be challenging, and it is important to stay connected and driven.” 

Though, during her time at Rutgers, Coulter explained that she didn’t know she wanted to work in galleries. She emphasizes that she just wanted to pursue a career in the arts and made sure to garner as much experience possible to do so.

“As a student I attended all the art exhibitions on campus, went to free programs, took a range of art history classes, and interned at museums in various capacities. While I felt drawn to working in the arts, at that time I wasn’t sure which part of the field I wanted to pursue as my profession. I learned about different aspects of the field and often visited museums and galleries in New York City and Philadelphia.”

The gallery is free to all students and serves as a resource for all students, not just art students. With new events and exhibitions every semester there is always something new to learn from. 

“Students are always welcome at the gallery! The gallery is open from 10 am- 5 pm, Monday through Saturday. We hope to see you soon!”

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The fear of censorship has grown since Inauguration Day and the new Trump presidency. This began with the TikTok ban on January 18th, 2025 and the message that the creators of the app left behind in the app’s wake: 

“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!” 

Mere hours later the app became usable once again to Americans with a new message that read:

“Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!” 

These messages differed from Trump’s stance on TikTok during his previous presidency when he issued an executive order on August 6, 2020 stating, “At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile application in particular, TikTok.” Within this executive order President Trump shared that he feared for Americans’ privacy as the app was and still is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese parent company and part of the Chinese Communist Party. In the executive order the President explained, “TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories.  This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information” 

With this switch in policy many Americans have become wary of government censorship not only within TikTok but also American news outlets—a theory that has grown rapidly within the TikTok app. 

One of the biggest stories spreading throughout TikTok following the ban was the world-wide protests against President Trump. While many protests have been organized throughout the United States against the president, the “world-wide” protests are not actually against President Trump or “for the United States,” as many people believed. Some of the protests TikTok users have referred to as “for America” are German protests regarding their own government and the growing far-right AfD party. This is a movement that has taken over Germany as they gear closer to their upcoming election and as the AfD party has grown. Though, as German protestors have attempted to grow the movement on TikTok, Americans have claimed the protests as their own. 

A TikToker @kira.isch posted their video from a FLINTA* March in Berlin, a protest “for the rights of women, inter, non-binary, trans, and agender people,” according to the video’s caption. This then began to receive comments such as “Thank you all from the U.S.,” from @suesbakegoods and “OMG this is the first protest the algorithm has let me see!! Feeling so hopeful from USA,” from user @creating.in.chaos. But, others have taken to the app to let Americans know they are not protesting for them. German TikTok user, @mablepurple, posted a video on January 28, 2025 where they stated, “My dear Americans, I’m so sorry to break it to you but we’re not protesting on your behalf. I’ve seen so many Americans on this app being like, ‘Oh my God they’re protesting for us around the world’ and the comments under those videos are full with ‘Oh my God they don’t show this,’ and ‘Oh, our media they’re not showing this they’re censoring us they don’t want us to know this.’ We don’t protest for you, yet at least… As Germans we’ve kind of got new elections in less than a month… So no, I’m sorry. We are not protesting for you, we are protesting for us.”

The fake news has grown through users posting videos promoting the idea like @keishabeauty0’s video. The post titled, “Protest around the world, Protesting for us in America,” features the user stating, “Did y’all know… that there are people all around the world protesting for us in America and we didn’t even know. We have been censored that bad. Blame the algorithm if this video doesn’t go anywhere…”

Censorship scares have also transcended miscommunications on social media and moved towards speculation. TikTok user @nydiafreyre took to the app on January 25th to share how they believed the app was hiding the Ben & Jerry’s account from them sharing a video that reads, “Okay but seriously that’s weird I never blocked them y’all should check if you have them blocked too”. This was likely inspired by speculations that Instagram and its parent company, Meta, was following President Trump and Vice President Vance’s Instagram accounts on people’s behalf. Meta then put out a statement explaining how this was just due to the accounts changing from the previous administration to the new one. Andy Stone, a Meta representative, took to Threads to explain, “​​People were not made to automatically follow any of the official Facebook or Instagram accounts for the President, Vice President or First Lady. Those accounts are managed by the White House so with a new administration, the content on those Pages changes. This is the same procedure we followed during the last presidential transition.”

With this wave of fake news and censorship it’s important to remember to check sources. If a consumer believes that the American news outlets are censoring news, they can access non-American news outlets all over the internet. Checking reputable sources before taking social media posts as true has become essential in navigating the Internet. Our readers can read more about how to navigate fake news through our How to Dodge Fake News article.

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