Lavender Menace, an organization for LGBT women, was founded by Chanise Kimbley, a sophomore studying psychology, and Emily Moores, a junior studying film.
Moores said the name Lavender Menace stems from a 1970s group of lesbian feminists who fought to include lesbian and bisexual women in the second-wave feminist movement.
After transferring to OU from Northern Kentucky University, Kimbley said she missed having a space for queer women to connect. Starting Lavender Menace allowed her to offer that connection to others.
"It's been our dream to have a space where a lot of lesbians and other sapphics can come together and create closer bonds," Moores said. "Mainly because it's a space that's even more understanding of our way of life than a queer group that's open to everyone."
Lavender Menace will meet every other Thursday at 6 p.m. at the LGBT Center and will offer various activities for its members.
"We just finished planning some of our meetings last week," Moores said. "Our first meeting is going to be a 'get to know you bingo'… so we can get everyone acquainted with each other in order to do all of our other activities. We have a movie night planned, a PowerPoint night and a crafts night planned."
Kimbley said the group recruits members through its Instagram account and has quickly gained over 50 followers.
As Lavender Menace utilizes social media to recruit members, Coffee Club will have a booth at the Student Involvement Fair Aug. 21 on College Green.
Maire Stonecipher, a junior studying psychology and sociology criminology, started Coffee Club to unite people who enjoy coffee.
Stonecipher said that students who attend the Involvement Fair can join Coffee Club through a QR code that provides access to the club's GroupMe account.
"It's not going to be exclusive or anything," Stonecipher said. "I put the fun question of 'what's your go-to coffee order?' just to see the kind of people who are going to be in the group and what kind of different coffees we can try."
Once a week, the members of Coffee Club will gather at different coffee shops in Athens. Stonecipher said the group is still trying to find a day and time that will work for most members.
"I feel like it's a great way to get to know people and meet people and it's a really easy commitment and something you can just say, 'hey, I did this in college and I really loved it,'" Stonecipher said.
To start a student organization at OU, prospective clubs must meet requirements set by the Campus Involvement Center. According to the student organization handbook, requirements include a name for the organization, officers, an adviser, a constitution, bylaws and a handful of members enrolled in the university.
"First, I talked to some friends about it (and) tried to create an (executive) board," Kimbley said. "It was really more about making connections. I had only been at OU for like half a semester when I came up with the idea."
The Campus Involvement Center only accepts student organization applications at the beginning of each semester, so Stonecipher said she was anxiously awaiting the start of the 2022 summer semester to apply for Coffee Club.
"I had to wait until the summer started and then fill out all the paperwork with the involved people," Stonecipher said. "Then I waited about a month and a half and finally got the email (that said), 'you're approved.'"
For the upcoming school year, OU students will have the opportunity to join Lavender Menace and Coffee Club along with 543 other student organizations on campus, many of which will have booths at the Student Involvement Fair.
"I'm looking forward to giving people … a generally safe space for people who are like them and have like interests," Kimbley said. "I feel like as a queer person, it can be a little lonely just out in the world and having a space where you're surrounded by people who are like you can be very helpful."