Next week, campus feminists will take a new trail of student activism by way of the “Wandering Womb.” The “grrls,” as the group calls its members, of the Women’s Center plan to bolster the introduction of their new zine with a bake sale on April 10.

“We try to charge guys more and charge girls less because of the wage gap. So it’s kind of like a little protest,” Barbara Webster, sociology senior, said.

Last year, members baked phallus-shaped cookies.

“The whole point of doing stuff like making penis cookies and making big signs that say ‘vagina’ on it is that we want to get people’s attention,” Webster said.

April 14 will mark the second anniversary of “Vagina Week.” Last year, feminist activists attempted to placard their way to university administrators attention, calling for a wider range of women health services on campus.

“The big part about writing ‘vagina’ on a sign and making people look at it and think about their vaginas and eating a piece of a penis really opens things up,” Julia Sorrentino, English writing junior, said.

“Maybe they feel less comfortable but they’ll still think. Thinking about it is the main thing and that obviously is a step toward conversation.”

Sarah Roy, president of Loyola Young Republicans and psychology junior, views education as the catalyst to thought.

“The whole point of being in school and learning how to think is to learn how to sort out the facts for yourself and figure out what your values are and what you believe,” Roy said.

Social activism has another aspect seamlessly interwoven into the ideals of student activism.

“I really think that’s why feminism is important to us, because you can identify with something, and it gives you a core group of values that you identify with and you believe in,” Erica Ciccarone, English writing junior, said.

The feminists want to be heard. Roy thinks overt protest is not the answer. According to the Young Republicans, this week is “Military Appreciation Week.”

“There’s not a list of things to do, but you can wear the yellow ribbon. We accepted donations to put together care packages. We’re going to be able to send over six care packages through an organization,” Roy said.

She says she supports activism. In contrast, her tactical deployment differs.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve seen a growing movement of activism on really all sides. We’re just getting started. It’s not the nature of Republicans to take part in protests and marches. It’s just not conservative style,” Roy said.

Fred Johnson, a recent convert to the American Civil Liberties Union and psychology senior, participated in Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.’s essay contest entitled “Civil Liberties or National Security, Which Is More Important?” He won $250. Johnson said he wants the dialogue to continue, no matter where it comes from.

“Write something, say something. Carry around a flyer or a poster. Just talk. Anyway you can express yourself, do it,” Johnson said. “It is important to hear both sides of the issue from my point of view and I’m biased.”

Political dialogue has spurred activism, in the realm of social change.

“I do know that as feminists we do work to get into the hearts and the minds of people, of people our own age especially, and try to address issues like sexism and racism and classism – Issues that are so instrumental in all the social problems in this country,” Ciccarone said.

Both the feminists and Roy say they see the university as clouded by its Catholic foundations.

For such organizations, to work within a religious institutional framework in their pursuit of social justice can prove to be a daunting task.

“My views tend to be conservative but it doesn’t have a whole lot to do with religion,” Roy said. “The Vatican has made itself a tool in foreign policy decisions but the United States is a secular nation. It matters what we want as people, regardless what our religious beliefs are.”

These women cannot even begin to take an organized stance on abortion, a traditional feminist issue.

“We really wouldn’t get anywhere with it because this is a Catholic campus,” Webster said.

“So we decided that we were going to keep waging a war of words about it and not let the issue die. Eventually if people keep on talking about it, they’ll have to do something,” Webster said.

The shape of the next feminist bake sale’s cookies remains a closely guarded secret.

“We have broadened our horizons. We have purchased cookie cutters,” Ciccarone said.