In celebration of International Women’s Day, students will
be passing out daisies on campus today.
In an organized campus-wide event, student volunteers from the
Student Welfare Commission and the Office of Residential Life will
distribute flowers in an effort to increase awareness of
women’s issues.
Commonly known as Daisy Day, this day was started in 2000 by
Noah Bookman, a third-year American literature student at the
time.
Though International Women’s Day is on Saturday, Daisy Day
is being celebrated today to take advantage of a weekday campus
population.
International Women’s Day is celebrated worldwide and
honors women’s accomplishments while drawing attention to
women’s issues.
Based on the Greek myth about Persephone, who returns to Earth
every spring after spending the winter in Hades, the use of daisies
is supposed to symbolize happiness and freedom for women.
Previous themes for Daisy Day included women’s leadership
and a campaign to stop the international trafficking of women for
prostitution and forced labor. The themes are picked out of a hat
each year by the event organizers.
From 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, students will be tabling all over
campus and handing out daisies with quotes attached to them.
There will be pamphlets and literature on women’s issues
and this year’s theme: accomplishments in the arts and
sciences. The literature will also focus on poets and the
astronauts who were aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Campus groups will be compiling informational pamphlets about
their groups for students who would like to get involved with
them.
Organizers of the event hope to raise awareness of women’s
issues and honor the advances that women have made in the
world.
This year, organizers plan to distribute 3,700 flowers. Last
year, they had 2,700 daisies and ran out early, said event
coordinator Cristina Ng.
Since it has been well publicized in previous years, she thinks
that the event will be successful this year as well.
“It’s like anything else you do on campus. … You
try to get the word out there and spread awareness,” Ng
said.