When is FUP?
FUP 2023 is over! FUP 2024 will take place from August 22-27th. Registration will open in May, 2024. We look forward to meeting you!
What will we do during FUP?
The FUP experience is defined by service and community. Over the course of five days, participants will work with a community-based non profit or local public school, attend panels learning from activists about critical social issues, dialogue groups and evening activities purely dedicated to fun. The programming of FUP is designed to meet two aspects of our mission statement.
The first aspect is service. During FUP, you’ll volunteer in groups for a community-based group in Boston. Our community partners are deeply embedded in the neighborhoods of Boston and Cambridge, and represent a variety of non-profit sectors, including community centers, grassroots organizations, clothing exchanges, and local schools. Although all work will be remote, the service opportunities will be hands-on project based work that increases the capacity of our partners.
The second aspect is activism and social justice,in particular how the Harvard can work with grassroots activists to create more equity and access. You will hear from numerous guest speakers and panelists on contemporary social issues in the Boston community, such as homelessness and workers’ rights. The majority of the guest speakers are invited in order to share their own personal experiences on the issues explored by the panel. The reasons for this are two-fold: knowledge of activsts and leaders who have been incarcerated, who have experienced being unhoused, of those who have not had the protection of labor rights and those who have been personally impacted by environmental justice is often muted within higher education. Within higher education, there is often an bias toward learning about issues from those who are policy experts or hold advance degrees on the issue. The reality is policy work runs behind what is happening on the ground and the reality of what we know about these issues is far more nuanced than what can be presented through traditional scholarship. Our panels invite scholars, policy makers and activists to harness the best of both kinds of knowledge to increase equity and opportunity in our communities. FUPpies will leave with a heightened understanding of social justice issues that can help to guide their own activism and engagement in social change.
In addition to your worksite group, you will be placed into a discussion group, which will give you a setting to critically examine articles within the reading packet and the issues raised by the programming of FUP. Finally, there will be activities that will equip you with the tools necessary to succeed in the academic, social, and activist spaces at Harvard.
It would not be FUP without the Work that City Tour (get a personal introduction to a community) or D-Tour (a tour of Harvard that addresses how student activism has shaped the institution) or ClusterFUPs (where you learn about life at Harvard) and the evening activities! Evening activities can be anything-flashlight tag, spa night, movie night, cookie baking, board games etc. By the end of FUP, you will have found a home within the public service community at Harvard.
What does it cost to attend FUP?
There is no program fee. Please note that participants often find they will spend $5-20 per day in discretionary spending. Personal (discretionary) spending includes: buying coffee, getting ice cream, or a meal off-campus. Please note that all FUP participants will have dining hall access for breakfast, lunch and dinner; snacks are provided during programming and all receive Charlie Cards to pay for public transportation.
Is FUP accessible?
FUP is committed to making every aspect of the program accessible. If you have questions or concerns, please contact the Disability Access Office (https://dao.fas.harvard.edu) and learn more about accessibility at Harvard Accessibility office (http://dao.fas.harvard.edu/). Get in touch with the Disability Access Office as soon as you can as that office will help us, as well as your professors to create an accessible program for you. For more information on the DAO: https://youtu.be/ZhnhGIaWbwY. If you need support with technology, please email us and the First Year. We work closely with the DAO, so please call them as soon as possible.
Other questions not yet answered?
This page is being continually updated to reflect and answer any frequently asked questions. If you still have a question, please email us at harvardfup@gmail.com. Thanks!