Since she was in high school, Syracuse University senior Taylor Krzeminski has struggled to feel comfortable with her body. After seeing a counselor at SU, she was recommended to a treatment center for her eating disorder.

Although she is still in recovery, Krzeminski finds that sticking to scheduled meals and focusing more on experiences and travel aided the healing process. She added that this shift in mindset was especially important while abroad in Poland her junior year.

After finding others with similar experiences and concerns, Krzeminski co-founded SU’s Students United for Body Acceptance Club, which spreads awareness of body acceptance and eating disorders.

“I just thought that it was important to have something like that on campus just because of how prevalent dieting and eating disorders are among people in our age range of the typical college student,” Krzeminski said. “It just didn’t make sense to me that so many people weren’t talking about it.”

SUBA is a new club on campus with a mission to “change the culture from being obsessed with how you look to focusing on yourself,” Krzeminski said. The organization will host events in honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week from Feb. 24 through March 1.

Events include SoulTalk, a weekly meeting dedicated to talking about life’s biggest questions, on Tuesday and a presentation on eating disorder myths on Thursday. Both of these will be in collaboration with the Barnes Center at The Arch.

Krzeminski first saw the other co-founder, Eli Blodgett, while scrolling through her Instagram feed in February 2019. She was intrigued by Blodgett’s posts about body positivity after seeing him on a mutual friend’s post. After her own experiences involving body image, Krzeminski messaged Blodgett in support, and the two immediately clicked.

Throughout the course of the semester, their friendship deepened, culminating in the start of SUBA after seeing a lack of body acceptance organizations and a safe space for all different types of bodies on SU’s campus.
“Eating disorders isn’t something we need to keep in our pockets,” Blodgett said. “We need to have a conversation about it.”

We’re so excited to announce the events we have planned for National Eating Disorder Awareness Week! These events will tackle the intersections between identity and body image, as well as changing the predominant narrative about eating disorders. We hope to see you there!

A photo posted by syr.suba

Krzeminski and Blodgett spent their summer dedicated to creating a constitution and recruiting, eventually applying to be a registered student organization in September 2019. With recruiting, Krzeminski brought two people from her “Fat and Feminism” class on board, Naiya Campbell and Yarijel Melendez, who became the vice president and secretary of SUBA, respectively.

Once SUBA was officially recognized last fall, it began recruiting new members through involvement fairs and word of mouth. Ellie Quillen, a freshman and member of SUBA, found the club online and wanted to join because she saw a lack of body acceptance clubs in high school. She also wanted a place where she could take a break from social media culture.

“I’m a teenage girl in a world where social media has unrealistic body standards,” Quillen said. “It would be the best thing for me to surround myself with people who are more accepting of different bodies.”

At the beginning of the semester, the club started holding meetings on Mondays called “Body Neutral Mondays.” Topics vary from week-to-week, with past topics including dieting culture. The meetings normally host a check-in on how members are doing and provide an open-forum setting for members to speak their mind.

The NEDA week events are SUBA’s first events held as an organization. During this semester and in the future, SUBA plans to have a shopping clothes trip to help against the social consciousness with body norms in shopping, Krzeminski said. The club also hopes to partner with Ophelia’s Place, an eating disorder treatment center in Liverpool, and will host a fundraiser with donations going to the treatment center on March 2 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Now, Krzeminski looks back on all that she’s been through, from her time in treatment, to meeting Blodgett and starting the club. This semester, Krzeminski wants the club to grow by the time she graduates and pave a new generation of students willing to talk about body acceptance. But the awareness only starts with NEDA week, she said.

“It is important to live life in the moment,” Krzeminski said. “There is more to life than the way you look.”

Published on February 23, 2020 at 11:14 pm

Contact Christopher: cscargla@syr.edu | @chrisscargs