The societies and committees of Tuks

Ayesha Osman

The first year in university can be extremely difficult to navigate, especially if you do not know anyone or anything about the place. While we cannot make friends for you, it would be helpful if you at least knew where to find a few. The University of Pretoria is filled with many different societies and committees that cover your social needs. Here is a list of 5 university societies and committees to look out for in your first few weeks on campus.

The Inklings Society

In 1985, the Inklings Society was established as a literary and arts society. The society gives students an opportunity to engage with their coursework and explore their creativity as well as provide a safe space for them to share their original pieces. Plays, open mic nights, and drama festivals are few of the activities that are put on regularly. The society hosts a yearly ball where members are given a compilation of works called “The Inklinations” and readings are performed from this publication.

The Inklings Society can be contacted through their Instagram; @theinklingstuks and via their email address: thinklings.tuks@gmail.com

Tuks Gaming Society

Established in 2018, the Tuks Gaming Society is “dedicated to facilitate gamers finding gamers and the games that they enjoy,” states the 2022 Chairperson, Marco Vermeulen. The society aims to provide students with a safe environment where like-minded individuals can come together and enjoy board games, card games and video games of all varieties. This year, the society aims to reinstate their regular tabletop sessions every week, which they managed to successfully hold in 2022. They wish to keep this consistency while introducing a wider variety of games for all to enjoy.

Tuks Gaming Society can be contacted through the links found here: https://linktr.ee/ tuksgaming

UP&Out

UP&Out is a social society dedicated to creating a safe space for queer students to socialize and make new connections. The society ensures this by hosting weekly Talks for members to attend, which creates a safe space for them to share their experiences. In recent years the society has played a key role along with their parent organization, the Centre for Sexuality, AIDS, and Gender (CSA&G), in educating and providing workshops to various structures on campus regarding acknowledging and respecting queer identities. The society’s biggest events include the Pride March and Queer Prom, both of which take place during South Africa’s Pride Month in October. Last year the march included a few drag performances, as a sneak peek for what was to come during prom, performed by some amazing local queens! UP&Out will be hosting Open LGBTalks sessions in the piazza in March for anyone to sit in on and see if they would like to be a part of the society.

Tuks UP&Out can be contacted via their Instagram: @tuks_upandout , their email address; upandout.tuks@gmail.com and their website www.upandout.org.za.

Tuks4ClimateJustice

Tuks4ClimateJustice is a new society established in 2022. University of Pretoria student, Natalie Kapsodiseris, began campaigning for the University of Pretoria to endorse The Climate Justice Charter as part of a nationwide campaign. Through this, she met many students that wanted to do more for the Climate Crisis Movement at Tuks and so, Tuks4ClimateJustice was born. The society aims to create a culture around Climate Justice consciousness, hosting picnics, workshops and creating infographics to help achieve this. Furthermore, the society aims to influence the university to become more climate conscious, which has proven to be a difficult task.

Tuks4ClimateJustice can be found on Instagram under tuks4climatejustice

BOLD Committee

BOLD (Beyond Our Limiting Disabilities) was established in 2016 by a group of disability students to advocate for students with disabilities, to also amplify their voices, to create a community of students with disabilities at the University of Pretoria, and to provide students with disabilities, irrespective of disability, background, race, gender,belief the platform to voice their needs. The committee aims to host many events in 2023 which will be communicated through their various social media platforms.

BOLD can be found or contacted via their Instagram and Twitter; bold_committee