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About
Who we are
COVID Safe Campus is a nationwide group of disabled academics and advocates with public health and policy expertise, challenging ableism and fighting for COVID safety in higher education and beyond.
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We organize because disabled people like us have been devalued, isolated, and systematically excluded from academia throughout the pandemic.
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Insufficient COVID mitigation strategies put our lives at risk. In the absence of meaningful protection, disabled people are not afforded equal educational and employment opportunities.
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We advocate for policies that center the most disproportionately impacted members of our communities and we provide mutual aid through mask distribution and peer support.
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After advocating for our safety and for our right to education on our own, we founded COVID Safe Campus in January 2022 to allow our community to take action on a larger scale. No one should have to carry the weight of this advocacy by themselves.
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Now, we're uniting high risk and disabled academics and advocates across the nation.
Our Mission
COVID Safe Campus' mission is to grow and resource a movement to increase protection against COVID, advocate for disability access, and combat ableism in higher education and beyond.
We work to shift narratives surrounding COVID and conduct public health research centering disability justice and our collective responsibility to care for our communities.
Our Team
Co-founded by Eiryn Griest Schwartzman and Annesley Clark
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Executive Director
Eiryn Griest Schwartzman, CHES®
(they, them, theirs)
Contact: eiryn@covidsafecampus.org
Eiryn is the founding Executive Director of COVID Safe Campus and serves as the organization's lead public health organizer. In this role they use their expertise in health and education policy to lead advocacy initiatives, research, and coalition building efforts for CSC. They are a first year MPH student studying Population and Health Sciences and hold a B.A. in Public Health. They specialize in health and education policy, developing and evaluating health programs, ethical analysis, and building solidarity with disability justice in public health practice. Eiryn is also a qualitative researcher primarily focused on social and legal epidemiology, studying the relationships between laws/institutional policies, disability accessibility, and population health.
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Lead Community Organizer
Kris Jayme Matas
(they, them, theirs)
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Kris is the Lead Community Organizer at COVID Safe Campus and provides leadership on research projects for the organization. They are a Masters in Library and Information Sciences student at San Jose State University and recently graduated with a B.S. in Community and Regional Development. Kris is a researcher specializing in public health, disability advocacy, and education accessibility.
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Lead Legal Organizer
Courtney Bergan
(they, them, theirs)
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Courtney is the Lead Legal Organizer at COVID Safe Campus. They recently graduated from law school, specializing in Health Law, with a professional background in research and biostatistics. Courtney is also a passionate health policy advocate working to promote disability justice, mental health abolition and transformative justice initiatives.
Steering Committee​
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Abigail T.
(she/her)
Abigail works on research, policy tracking, and graphics. They are a second year biology student at Northeastern University. Abigail is also a Campus Ambassador at Northeastern and hopes to pursue a career specializing in molecular biology and design.
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Alex M.
(she/they)
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Alex is a CSC Campus Ambassador at Northeastern University, focusing on mask and test distribution as well as policy advocacy. Alex studies History, Culture, and Law and organizes in solidarity with campus labor. She is particularly interested in COVID as a labor justice and disability justice issue. They are a firm believer in freely giving people the information and resources they need to stay alive and fight for a better world.
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Claire Wang
(she/her)
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Claire has mostly worked on policy tracking at CSC. She attended Northeastern University, graduating in spring 2023 with a B.S. in computer science & math, and served as a CSC Campus Ambassador during her last semester. Claire is passionate about disability justice, labor organizing, and animal liberation.
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M.H.
(she/her)
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MH works on research, policy tracking, communications, graphics, and educational materials for CSC. She is a senior undergraduate student at a West Coast research university, graduating soon with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. MH pursues writing, political education, data analysis work, performing arts, and entertainment, as well as volunteer work on behalf of justice and queer liberation-oriented organizations.
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Olivia Billis
(she/her)
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Olivia works on communications, graphics, policy tracking, the ambassador program, and facilitates peer support. Olivia is a recent college graduate with a B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Environmental Science & Policy. She was a member of COVID Safe Campus’ inaugural Campus Ambassadors cohort in Spring 2023 and has been a committed volunteer in the community ever since. Olivia is passionate about advocating for COVID safety during the ongoing pandemic and is committed to Disability Justice. She determined to continue COVID and disability justice related community outreach and education.
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Sara Simon
(she/her)
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Sara works on COVID Safe Campus’s policy tracking and data analysis efforts. Based in Chicago, Sara is a PhD student researching the history of automation in public health data collection. Prior to graduate school, Sara worked in newsroom technology and data journalism.
Let’s Work Together
For all inquiries related to press, partnerships, and donations please contact our Executive Director at: eiryn@covidsafecampus.org
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For general inquiries, campus ambassador applications, volunteering, or questions about our programs, please contact our general email at: covidsafecampus@gmail.com​