Building bridges at URI

Bridges is a student organization at the University of Rhode Island seeking to make “bridges” between all the clubs and organizations on campus.

The organization is a non-hierarchal group, seeking to help unite the university

together. Bridges originally started in the 1990’s at URI as a way to create a more cohesive campus and open dialogue between inclusion and problems on campus. Over time, Bridges faded out and was no longer a club at URI. Alison Jackson Fraiser and Melissa Boyd-Colvin of the Leadership department both were a part of bridges when it first began in the 90s.

Describing the organization when it was active, they “saw it in the 90s, saw the initiative, saw it work, saw the campus come back together and now we’re starting to see that collapse again,” Connor Curtis, Secretary of Bridges, said.  

Boyd-Colvin and Fraiser are seeking to bring back Bridges and bring back a united campus. The goals of Bridges are to help reunite URI and to facilitate discussions campus wide. The first steps of Bridges is to help keep Greek life from being it’s own separate faction, unite Greek life and athletics, increase the visibility of multicultural organization and see all the clubs and organizations have open dialogues and rely on each other for resources.

Currently, Bridges is working on their first conference since their revival. They are seeking one representative from every Student Senate recognized organization and plan to do an overnight dialogue. The two days will feature different discussions, projects, activities and initiative plans. The goal is to be able to host these kinds of events yearly.

“We want to see those bridges being built, we want to see those connections between people,” Curtis said. “We want to see those one or two representatives bring it back to the organizations, teach how to be inclusive, how do we end stereotypes, how do we be a diverse, equal community. We want to see them bring that back to campus and make the difference.”

If anyone would like to join Bridges, they can contact both Melissa Boyd-Colvin and Alison Jackson Fraiser in the Leadership Department of the Memorial Union.