This post was written by the University of Minnesota Archives Intern, Annie Jirovec. Annie completed her internship through the Museum and Curatorial Studies minor program during the Summer of 2025. As part of her time here, Annie processed, described, digitized and made available the records of the Women’s Student Activist Collective. 

Student organizations have long been a part of university history across the nation. They were involved in activism and cultivating a sense of community on college campuses. This history is no less different here at the University of Minnesota. 

In 1891, a group of students founded the University of Minnesota YWCA and was incorporated into the Minneapolis YWCA as a program unit in 1979. The group was heavily involved in social services and philanthropy, and became a large part of anti-racism movements in the 1960s. Still in affiliation with the local organization, the student group changed its name to the University Young Women (UYW) in 1985 as the group activities changed, becoming more oriented towards activism. One year later, they disaffiliated with the Minneapolis YWCA and in 2001, they disaffiliated with the national YWCA. The following year, they changed their name to the Women’s Student Activist Collective (WSAC) and is now known as the Feminist Student Activist Collective (FSAC), a progressive activist-focused group that is still involved in community service.

In 2013, the WSAC donated a bulk of their materials to the University of Minnesota Archives. This collection spans over fifty years, and includes event posters, office records, photographs and their newsletter, Sojourner, which was active from 1983-1994. The bulk of the collection are administrative and office materials. These include records of budgets and their space in Coffman Memorial Union, meeting minutes and members roles/responsibilities, and the group’s planners and journals, as well. 

The group was also heavily involved both on and off campus, collaborating with other student groups such as La Raza (now known as Mi Gente), as well as University entities, like the Office of Women. Collaborative projects included event planning, such as the Take Back the Night protest, which they cosponsored with the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG). Other events that they either hosted or were involved in included the annual Rape-Free Zone event and protest, as well as the Women’s Revolutionary Art THing (WRATH, or also called RATH), a yearly art thing, featuring a show or a collection of writings. They also held events to educate students about various feminist topics, such as the Cross-Feminisms, Dismantling Violence, and Feminism & Religion events of 2004. 

Learn more on the history of the student group and the collection’s content by visiting the Women’s Student Activist Collection records finding aid online. For more information on how to schedule an appointment to review and access the records in our Reading Room at Elmer L. Andersen Library, please email uar@umn.edu