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TCNJ News Releases Archive 2021-2018

This First-Year Seminar empowers students to reduce the environmental impacts of the fashion industry

Keeping up with the latest fashion trends can be challenging at best, and wasteful — even dangerous — at worst.

In Kathleen Webber’s First Year Seminar class, “The True Cost of Fashion,” students learned what happens to our clothes when we’re done wearing them: 84 percent of it ends up in landfills, where microplastics and harmful chemicals can seep into the ground and water.

“These issues not only affect the environment, but people as well,” says public health major Angel Damtey ’27, a student in the class. “People in marginalized communities who work in or live near fast fashion factories are regularly exposed to dangerous chemicals. It’s important to raise awareness of these issues, so people can stop supporting brands that do not care about human rights.”

two women peruse clothing on a table

In an effort to minimize these damaging impacts, Webber’s students recently hosted a clothing swap in the Brower Student Center, where TCNJ community members “shopped” for free clothes, shoes, and accessories.

Leading up to the swap, members of the campus community donated gently used clothes in bins across campus, including in academic buildings and residence halls. Several student organizations donated to the event, including the Environmental Club, Alpha Pi Omega, and Chi Upsilon Sigma.

In total, over 300 pieces of clothing were collected for the swap, and about 70 people came to “shop” the inaugural swap.

“A swap is really a way to extend the life of a garment and keep it out of the trash,” says Webber. “Many cities and colleges are starting swaps. I hope that we can continue to do one every semester and it becomes an event students look forward to participating in.”

Webber, chair of the Department of Journalism and Professional Writing and associate professor, has worked in the fashion industry for much of her career and writes about sustainability in fashion for a variety of publications.

Check out @tcnjclothingswap on Instagram for more information.


— Corinne Coakley ’25

One TCNJ prof cites the pressure to publish as a growing problem in his field

“What’s wrong with psychology?” was both the title of psych professor Jarret Crawford’s presentation, and the big question he asked a room of colleagues from across campus to consider recently. Crawford’s own answer to the question draws a similarity to his transition from a Catholic to an atheist, and he points to “the replication crisis”… Continue Reading

From research into vaccine hesitancy to reimagining a symphony, TCNJ’s summer research projects are making waves

Wait your turn, fall semester — TCNJ’s Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience is still in full swing, with students and faculty across disciplines working in tandem to conduct research, create works of art, and empower themselves and others. This week, we’re highlighting another four projects happening on campus: PROJECT Vaccine hesitancy in the Black community FACULTY… Continue Reading

David McMillan ’21 heads to Scotland on a prestigious scholarship

Unlike the long-storied mysterious inhabitant of Loch Ness, the opportunity in front of David McMillan ’21 is no hoax. He has been awarded a prestigious scholarship to attend graduate school at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where he will pursue a master’s degree in public policy. The senior will attend the program as a… Continue Reading

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School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Social Sciences Building, Room 302
The College of New Jersey
P.O. Box 7718
2000 Pennington Rd.
Ewing, NJ 08628

609.771.3434
hss@tcnj.edu

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