Organization members bring Love is Louder campaign to campus

By Braydon Conell

This week, the UNK Women’s Center is partaking in a campaign to overpower the negative voices and forces in the world and spread love and support. The Women’s Center will be in the Nebraskan Student Union Atrium to play their part in the Love is Louder community. Stop in and visit them over the lunch hour to write a short post-it note or write on their poster about why Love is Louder. 

Love is Louder was started in 2010 as part of The Jed Foundation. The goal: to amplify the message that love and support are louder than any voice that tries to bring us down. Over the past eight years, hundreds of thousands of people have joined the movement from around the globe. Using the hashtag #LouderTogether, the entire community has been tasked with helping spread the word. 

The Love is Louder Week that the UNK Women’s Center is participating in is the first annual Love is Louder Week. Founded as a counter to the focus on the factors dividing us, Love is Louder Week is meant to facilitate an area where we can openly speak on our differences, but focus on how they make us stronger, not how they divide us. Coinciding with the Women’s Center being in the Union, the first Love is Louder Week runs from Nov. 9 through Nov. 15. The Jed Foundation has had more requests than ever from campuses and communities who want to use Love is Louder programs, events and resources to tackle issues like bullying, discrimination, body image, loneliness and depression, all things which impact students here at UNK. Love is Louder Week is simply a way to bring attention to and raise awareness of these issues that impact our communities and provide a space where we can grow together. 

The Love is Louder website looks at how to get involved throughout the week — and the year — and go beyond just signing your name or making a post-it note. By connecting with Love is Louder, being grateful, expressing yourself, being kind, pressing pause to destress, changing your perspective, amplifying the “good stuff”, and using your support network, everyone can make a difference. 

“It’s a community that supports each other and encourages you to love yourself and be yourself,” said one man in a video on the Love is Louder website. Building a community is the first step in creating a lasting effort to combat the negative voices. We must learn to live as a community that is integrated and not separated by our differences. Multiple celebrities are already a part of this community of love and are working to spread love. Debbie Ryan, the members of R5, JR Bourne from Teen Wolf, Monique Coleman from High School Musical, and Anna Camp and Skylar Astin from Pitch Perfect are just a handle of social influencers that have came out in support of this community.

Love is Louder

To learn more about Love is Louder or join the campaign, visit:

• loveislouder.com
• loveislouder.com/week2018
• facebook.com/WomensCenterUNK