Harold Goldstein
Joy and hope spread through the hallways as the Sociology Club gave out free hugs to students and faculty as a random act of kindness Nov. 14 at the Pierce College mall in front of the financial aid office. The Sociology Club’s ‘Free Hugs’ event is a not a solo act, but a byproduct of a campaign that started in 2004. A man named Juan Mann in Sydney, Australia, began the campaign in June 2004 by walking around Pitt Street Mall with a cardboard sign entitled ‘Free Hugs’. Many people positively responded to the man’s gesture and became his followers giving free hugs to anyone who wanted them. The police, however, told Mann and his followers to stop giving free hugs because of not having a public liability insurance policy. Therefore, Mann and his followers petitioned the campaign without the use of insurance. With time, and 10,000 signatures, Mann was able to go back giving free hugs to complete strangers.On Sept. 22, 2006, a music video promoting the Free Hugs campaign was posted on YouTube. The video greatly publicized the campaign and soon turned into a global phenomenon creating small campaigns all over the world. (For more information on the Free Hugs campaign, go to http://freehugscampaign.org/. for the original YouTube video, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4.) Because of the video’s popularity and the publicity of the Free Hugs campaign, the Sociology Club had thought of a way to do a random act of kindness for their student community at Pierce. “I saw this video on YouTube one night, and thought how great it would be if we could bring that same campaign to our campus,” said Vanessa Pomo, vice president of the Sociology Club. “So I brought it up (at one of our meetings) and we as a group decided it was a great idea to do so.” The club began their own small campaign in 2006 that gave out a positive message to those who felt bewildered while in college. “(Vanessa) felt this would be a good thing to do on campus because some students felt kind of disconnected and they don’t get to interact much,” says Anna Bruzzese, professor of Sociology and faculty advisor of the Sociology Club, “so it was basically a way to do something positive for the campus and for the community.” “We wanted to basically share this concept with those who are unaware of it,” says Pomo. “A hug can mean so much to someone who is having a bad day.” However, what came out as a positive message to students turned into an example lesson on social boundaries and a person’s interaction levels. “This also (turned out to be) a little exercise in Sociology,” says Bruzzese, “because the campaign really pointed out certain rules of interaction regarding gender. For example, girls or women are more likely to get hugs from strangers while men are more likely to get their hands shaken. So it was kind of an interesting sociological insight.” More events may be planned for future years if interest on campus continues to grow. “We’ll do more events if students are interested,” says Bruzzese. “It has to be student-driven so as long as students are interested, we’ll do it.” To further the experience, the Sociology Club may have some plans on how to expand the event on campus. “We talked about some ideas,” says Bruzzese. “Like maybe have some T-shirts that has ‘Free Hugs’ and maybe recording the event and putting it online. It depends on the student’s interests.” With supporters popping up all over the world, the Free Hugs campaign will be one of the ways that will slowly make the world a better place.