Groups

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Aceplus is a dance and art group made up of Asian artists. With our roots in Asian culture, the group has since evolved to encompass a wide range of choreography and music. We also have a tight relationship with Asian contemporary art and have enormous interest in producing Asian pop culture related product design/ graphic design ( based on the dance group Aceplus). So, in short, Aceplus is not only a dance group but also an artistic space focus specifically on Asian art.
We aim to help promote the Asian dance/art community and provide a shared, inclusive space for our members to grow and support one another. As a mixed gender, multicultural group, we value originality, diversity and creativity in our dances. We hope that our presence will make a reflection of Bates’ diverse and creative environment. Ourselves as Asian artists wish to support and try to challenge the fact that Asian artists have been long marginalized in western culture. ( we welcome all cultrual background prospective members but we mainly focus on showing and presenting Asian Arts.
We can deliver a unique and pleasurable visual experience based on Asian culture to the Lewiston/ Auburn community. We will be honored if we can perform for the Lewiston/Auburn community.

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Africana Club celebrates the African continent in its entirety. We provide a forum for discussing the political, social, and cultural landscape of Africa. Although we strive to create a medium for African students to connect, Africana is open to students of all backgrounds who are interested in engaging in this dialogue.
We urge members to network with one another, grow strong ties within the community, and uplift each other. Through our annual fashion show, we seek to reclaim the African narrative that is often misrepresented in the mainstream by showcasing African culture and talent. We recognize the diversity of experiences within Africa and aspire to shed light on them. Most importantly at Africana, we pride ourselves on the strength of our community, and our mission to uplift one another.

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Members of the Africana club get to learn more about the African continent by interacting with students from the continent and exploring its diversity through entertainment, food, politics etc

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ASA (Asian Students Association) is an organization for students interested in exploring, discussing, and partaking in Asian culture. We achieve this by bringing together students who identify as Asian and who have a curiosity about the culture to foster awareness of the histories, peoples, and cultures on campus. ASA is a new club due to the combination of AASIA (Asian American Student in Action) and Sangai Asia. We hope to continue to host cooking nights for the Bates community, enjoy communal dinners with authentic Asian cooking, provocative discussion nights where we delve into difficult dialogues, and celebrate cultural celebrations such as Lunar New Year, Diwali, and Nauryz. ASA serves as a resource for anyone in the Bates community interested in talking about topics that affect Asian communities in or outside the United States (adoption, immigration, assimilation, cultural differences) and for students interested in Asian identity.

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Bates Christian Fellowship is a large and diverse family of students. We strive to grow in love for God and God's people of every ethnicity and culture, and to come to a deeper understanding of the Scriptures. There are many small groups that meet weekly for Bible study, discussion, and prayer. There are also larger weekly meetings for everyone to gather together for worship, sharing and planning. The Fellowship hosts many events throughout the year. Many of them are service opportunities on campus or in the Lewiston community and others are just fun times for the campus to gather and share His Love. Our activities are always open to the entire Bates community students, faculty and staff. BCF is associated with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

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To grow intellectual curiosity about Italian culture, develop cultural interaction and awareness, and foster relationships between students of beginning and higher levels of Italian on campus.

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The purpose of this club is to create a space for individuals from underrepresented communities to come together to excel in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). This club will function as a support system for Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) individuals. We intend to bring in established alumni from underrepresented communities to share their stories of success and note how their diverse backgrounds and identities played a role in their career journeys. This club will offer support, companionship, inspiration, and facilitate success by fostering young diverse leaders.

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Bates Voices of Farsi is a cultural club that brings together Farsi-speaking students, those who celebrate related cultural festivals, and anyone curious about connecting through language, culture, and shared stories and interested in learning about these cultures. Our purpose is to celebrate and preserve the diverse traditions, languages, and stories of Farsi-speaking communities while fostering dialogue and cultural exchange across campus. Through events such as poetry nights, cultural celebrations, and discussions on shared histories, we aim to create a welcoming space where students can connect over culture, art, and identity.
Our club enriches the Bates and Lewiston-Auburn communities by promoting cross-cultural understanding and appreciation. By sharing our languages, cuisines, and customs, we build bridges between communities and encourage meaningful conversations about global perspectives, belonging, and representation.
In alignment with the Bates College mission, Bates Voices of Farsi engages the transformative power of differences and cultivates intellectual discovery through collaboration and creativity. We seek to educate the whole person, emotionally, culturally, and intellectually, while inspiring members to become compassionate leaders who value diversity and act responsibly toward the wider world. Our work also furthers the Campus Life mission by creating inclusive spaces for connection, identity expression, and mutual learning, strengthening the sense of belonging that defines the Bates community.

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BUES exists to celebrate Europe in all its diversity, its cultures, histories, and communities, while creating space for underrepresented European identities to be heard and recognized at Bates and in the wider Lewiston community.

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The Black Student Union at Bates College is a sociocultural organization committed to cultivating spaces for African-American and Black diasporic students. Our goal is to foster unity amongst one another through programming and social events that are centered around shared experiences. We value the diverse perspectives of Black people and take the initiative to support intersectionality amongst individuals. The Black Student Union fosters connections with the Lewiston/Auburn community to create a richer experience for all.

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Our organization exists for the purpose of celebrating the Caribbean and its people. We are primarily an organization that seeks to both enrich the Bates experience of our members by increasing the integration of Caribbean students within the Bates community and to foster lifelong relationships through cultural programming aimed at building community between the two. We hope to illustrate the power of difference by allowing any student to join and learn as well.

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The Catholic Student Community is the Roman Catholic affiliated organization at Bates College. The group works alongside the College’s Catholic Chaplain in organizing a weekly Mass and other spiritual activities such as prayer/discussion meetings and dinner meetings. The group is also active in the Lewiston community, volunteering with local churches and charitable organizations.

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Bates College GENCO provides a space on campus to discuss gender issues. We seek to fill a gap that currently exists at Bates by providing discussions, advocacy, and community outreach on gender-based issues. We hope to help fill this community need in both our Bates and larger Lewiston-Auburn communities. We strive to become a group that helps create strong bonds between people interested in discussing gender, equity, and society. We welcome people of all genders to our club and hope that we foster a space for respectful discussion and meaningful community outreach. We undertake this work through an intersectional and feminist lens.

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Where are you from? And why does it matter? Whether we realize it or not, culture influences everything from our concept of success to how many times a day we brush our teeth. The International Club is a student organization that aims to create welcoming spaces for people from all parts of the world and celebrate diverse cultures. We host a variety of different activities ranging from informal gatherings where students can come together to play games or watch movies, to trips in the US, talent shows, the annual International Dinner and more. The club aims to create a space where we can openly talk about cultural differences and share our unique traditions. [Fun fact: We are the largest club on campus with over 500 members ranging from Costa Rica to Albania to Pakistan.] All students from around the world are welcome. Come join the party! Sign up!

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The Jewish Student Union is the entirely student run club on campus for Jewish life. We seek to create a tight knit community that meets weekly for casual shabbat dinners. We celebrate all major Jewish holidays and participate in programs with the local synagogue, Temple Shalom, in Auburn. All members of the Bates community are welcome and encouraged to attend JSU events and programs. Check out our Instagram!

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Being part of a Jewish Community on Bates College Campus via Shabbat, holidays, events.

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The overall purpose of Le Club Francophone is to provide students with an opportunity to explore and engage with the French and Francophone world in a non-academic environment. We intend to offer a variety of activities in which students can engage with historical and contemporary aspects of French language and culture, available to all students at any level of experience with the language, to stimulate their growth and interest in the French and Francophone world. We hope to enrich the Bates community by providing any student, regardless of preferred area of study, with avenues for participation for their own personal growth, while also engaging with the Lewiston-Auburn communities that have a high connection to the Francophone World based on the Diaspora from Africa in addition to the various components of French culture in the local community.

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The MSA is an association of students seeking a spiritual, social, and cultural community that strengthens bonds among members & allies. The club aims at providing appropriate spaces for religious observances and increasing awareness of the Islamic faith on the college campus through celebrations, discussions, and other diverse events. We network with both the Lewiston muslim community and other muslim student associations in the NESCAC.

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OutFront endeavors to promote understanding, education, awareness, and activism on campus regarding gender, romantic, and sexual diversity, providing queer students with a sense of community on campus, combating homophobia and transphobia, and helping to create conscious community members. This is achieved through weekly discussions, collaborations with campus and community resources such as SPARQ! and campus-wide events such as Coming Out Week, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Pride Week, and the large-scale event Lick-It

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OutFront members will be incorporated into a diverse and accepting community of queer students at Bates who share similar values and goals. OutFront provides support for queer students who are seeking a sense of community on campus, or those students who may be invested in anti-homophobic and anti-transphobic activism efforts.

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Raices Unidas is a student organization that celebrates diversity. The club offers the opportunity to Bates Students who identify as Hispanic or Latino to come together and learn more about their rich culture, however, the club’s main goal is to facilitate a welcoming place for the entire Bates community, whether Latino or not, to embrace and discover more about Latin American culture, a culture that many here at Bates are part of. We do not only seek to connect (or reconnect) members of the Bates community with the richness of countries in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, but also hope to explore the relationship that Latin American countries have with the United States, at a national and Bates level. We achieve these goals through discussions, community engagement, dances, academic conferences, Enlaces (Want to know what it is? Yes? Then join our club!), and food! To guarantee an inclusive environment for non-Spanish speaking members, all meetings are held in English.

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Members of this club will be able to gain knowledge about Latin American culture and build connections with people of different countries. They will be able to express their love and connection to being Latinxs, Hispanic, or to further their wants of learning about a different culture.

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The South Asian Student Association (formerly Desi) is a union for students of South Asian descent that will also offer educational and festive opportunities for the community, such as religious celebrations like Diwali and Holi, Bollywood movie screenings, and other cultural events. Derived from the Sanskrit de├àÔÇ║a (├á┬ñ┬ª├á┬ÑÔÇí├á┬ñ┬Â), meaning “land” or “country,” Desi is a modern term used to describe the peoples and cultures of the Indian subcontinent. The goal of this club is to allow Desi students to celebrate their cultural identity, share their struggles, and bring awareness to the traditions of a region that makes up more than ├ó…• of the world’s population, but whose culture is largely underrepresented on this campus. The colorful and flavorful culture of South Asia has touched almost all parts of the world, and it will now do the same at Bates!

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The Southeast Asian Society (SEAS) at Bates College is a cultural, social, and civically engaged organization. We strive to make an impact on our campus and city community by learning, educating, and taking action. SEAS seeks to create a community with the growing Southeast Asian population in Lewiston/Auburn. Additionally, we seek to create a space for Asian students who have ties to Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor (Timor-Leste), Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. By bringing together Southeast Asian students and affiliates, it is an opportunity for students to create intellectual discourse and build community together. SEAS encourages a sense of community in the Southeast Asian and Southeast Asian American population at Bates.

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Students for Justice in Palestine, SJP, is a national movement based in the USA that strives to empower, unify, and support student organisers who advocate for Palestinian peoples’ liberation and right to self-determination on university campuses. At Bates, SJP’s mission would be to educate students on campus about the history of Palestine, Palestinian culture, food, music and folklore and to advocate for issues of freedom, justice and equality from the Middle East to Maine.

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Women in Economics at Bates strives to create an open and inclusive environment for women to share their ideas, learn from each other, and find community in the field of Economics.

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