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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)
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 second year MPH student studying Population and Health Sciences University of Michigan on the Applied Epidemiology Certificate track. Prior to graduate school they earned a B.A. in Public Health from University of Maryland Baltimore County. Eiryn also holds the credential of Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) through NCHEC. 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 a researcher primarily focused on social and legal epidemiology, studying the relationships between laws/institutional policies, disability accessibility, and population health and serves as the Lead Investigator of the CSC Research Lab. Outside of CSC, they are a photographer and music enthusiast.
Leadership Team and Steering Committee​
Core leadership team members are indicated with a * by their name​
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Abigail T.*
(she/her)
Abigail is Research Associate at CSC Lab and Program Associate with CSC initiatives, serving on the steering committee since summer 2023, and is an alumnus of the campus ambassador program. Abigail is a 3rd year biology student at Northeastern University and interns at a COVID vaccine research lab. Abigail’s expertise and interests include labor justice, mutual aid work, immunology, scientific communication, and virology. Outside of CSC, she is a student athlete and artist.​
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M.H.*
(she/her)
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MH is a Program Associate at CSC and Research Associate with CSC Lab. She has served on the steering committee since summer 2023. MH works on communications, graphics, educational materials, research, and program development, following volunteer work for CSC from February 2023 onwards. MH is a senior undergraduate student at a West Coast research university, graduating soon with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. MH's expertise and interests include writing and communications, liberation and justice-oriented politics and political education, data analytics, event producing/organizing, and entertainment/performing arts.
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Sarah K.
(she/her)
Sarah is a Research Fellow at COVID Safe Campus and a member of the Steering Committee since Fall 2024. Sarah has also been a Campus Ambassador since Fall 2023. She is a sociology PhD student at Tulane University specializing in health equity research and critical disability studies with an emphasis on socio-structural determinants and political economic analyses. She is currently working on her dissertation which explores multiple facets of the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on Long COVID. Outside of CSC, Sarah is a dancer and nature enthusiast.
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Vanessa S.
(she/her)
Vanessa is a Program Assistant at COVID Safe Campus helping to facilitate the Campus Ambassador program and she has been a member of the Steering Committee since Fall 2024.. As a Campus Ambassador since Spring 2023, she has distributed hundreds of respirators with other ambassadors, first at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and now at the University of Utah. She also plans to contribute to the Research Lab by providing data analysis. Her degrees are a B.A. in Mathematics & Studio Art, from Macaulay Honors College/Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY) and an S.M. in Earth & Planetary Sciences, from MIT. Vanessa is an atmospheric chemist, currently working on her Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Utah, focusing on improving air quality in Salt Lake City.
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Affiliates
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Kris Jayme Matas
(they/them)
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Kris is a research collaborator with CSC Lab and previously served as COVID Safe Campus' Lead Community Organizer from 2022-2023. 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.​
Leadership Alumni​
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Courtney Bergan (they, them, theirs) - Lead Legal Organizer, 2022-2023
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Sara Simon (she/her) - Steering Committee and CSC Research Lab Member, 2023-2024
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Alex M. (she/they) - Steering Committee Member 2023-2024; Campus Ambassador Program Alumnus
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Claire Wang (she/her) - Steering Committee Member, 2023; Campus Ambassador Program Alumnus
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Olivia Billis (she/her) - Steering Committee and Ambassador Program Assistant, 2023; Campus Ambassador Program Alumnus
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​