coalition for disability

Thank you for stopping by to learn more about the Coalition for Fat Identities. Take some time to look through our content and don’t hesitate to share how you’d like to get involved. Use the menu below to jump to a section of interest. 

Please contact us at cfi@acpa.nche.edu or connect with the members of our Directorate Board with questions or ideas.

Our MISSION

The Coalition for Fat Identities (CFI) is an Entity Group within ACPA – College Student Educators International charged with dismantling systems of oppression for Fat bodies by promoting awareness and creating inclusive spaces, centered around body and fat liberation and justice for faculty, staff, and students in Higher Education. In pursuit of fat liberation and justice, CFI works through an intersectional framework in recognition of the necessity to dismantle systems of white supremacy and colonization in order to achieve liberation for all marginalized and oppressed identities.

Advocacy

  • Inclusion as a protected class
  • Accessibility for all fat identities within universal design
  • Acquire and disseminate resources related to space accessibility, re: ergonomics, etc. and self-advocacy in the workplace
  • Create more inclusive spaces within ACPA and member institutions
  • Moving conversation beyond coalition and ACPA

     

    Education

    • Incorporate historical context, especially as anti-fatness relates to anti-Blackness
    • How race, class, and gender intersect with identity development
    • Promote/Provide alternative frameworks for understanding one’s individual identity and body self-acceptance
    • Create and disseminate a library/resource hub
    • Promote research around fat identity

    Engagement

    • Create a community for socializing, collaborating, and support
    • Collaborate with other coalitions to co-sponsor programs and to create educational opportunities at convention and throughout the year 
    • Recognition of fat liberation and fat identity work in our field
    • Rewards and awards for fat student affairs practitioners doing good work/programming/advocacy at their respective campuses

     

    HISTORY & Resources

    The Coalition for Fat Identities was founded on April 5, 2021. 

    It began through conversations between members at ACPA2021. Derron Borders initiated formation by posting in the Fat Student Affairs Professionals Facebook group in March 2021 requesting interest in creating a Coalition through ACPA. After gathering a group of interested parties, the group met for four (4) planning meetings that resulted in ACPA’s approval of the Task Force for Fat Folx (TFFF) by October of 2021. 

    TFFF endorsed their first programs and hosted their first in-person Business Meeting and Block Social at the ACPA22 Convention in St. Louis. Shortly thereafter, the first elected Directorate Board decided to change the name to Task Force for Fat Identities (TFFI). ACPA23 Convention in New Orleans saw members connecting from CelebrACPA through endorsed programs to a Block Social and shared meals. The group was approved by the Leadership Council to become a full coalition in December of 2023 and the first Convention as the Coalition for Fat Identities was ACPA24 in Chicago.

    Founding Members: Hollie Allbaugh, Derron Borders, Michelle Cerami, Janae Due, Allison Gagne, Nich Huston, Sara Karpik, Jessica Kilgore, Atiya McGhee, Amanda Morales, Rose Rezaei

    Past Chairs: Hollie Allbaugh (2022-2023); Janae Due (2022-2024)

    Click Here for our Fat Liberation Resources

    Documents

    News & Updates

    Meet the Directorate Board

    Jessica Kilgore
    Jessica Kilgore

    Interim Co-Chair (2025-2026)

    she/her/hers

    jekilgore@willamette.edu

    Carly Mendoza
    Carly Mendoza

    Co-Chair (2025-2027)

    she/her/hers

    cmendoza3@unl.edu

    Vacant

    Awards & Recognition Chair

    Holly Clemons
    Holly Clemons

    Convention Relations Chair

    she/her/hers

    holly.clemons304@gmail.com

    Vacant

    Fundraising & Finance Chair

    Priyanka Bharadwaj
    Priyanka Bharadwaj

    Marketing & Communications Chair

    she/her/hers

    pnb30@newark.rutgers.edu

    Carly Mendoza
    Carly Mendoza

    Membership & Engagement Chair

    she/her/hers 

    cmendoza3@unl.edu

    Lene Reynolds
    Lene Reynolds

    Research & Scholarship Chair

    they/them

    lreynolds@palomar.edu

    Get Involved

    Become a member of the Coalition for Fat Identities! Support student learning in higher education by helping to share knowledge of best practices, policies, and programs for fat liberation that impacts everyone in the higher education community. Join us on Discord for stay connected and get involved.

    Ready to join?

    Joining an Entity through the ACPA Member Portal automatically identifies you as a member of that Entity! You can join Entities and gain access to their workspaces through the Entity Involvement Form within the ACPA Member Portal.

    1. Once logged in, navigate to the Dashboard’s horizontal menu and select “My Account”
    2. Select “My Profile” from the dropdown menu
    3. A new page will appear
    4. On the “My Profile” tab, select the “Entity Involvement Profile”
    5. A new page will appear
    6. Select to join and unselect to leave Entities
    7. Then scroll to the bottom and select “Save Extended Fields” to confirm changes

    Contact cfi@acpa.nche.edu to learn more or ask questions!

    Any ACPA member can become involved and there are varying levels of involvement:

    • Attend our member meetings or others events throughout the year
    • Join a Committee by contacting one of the Committee Chairs
    • Submit a program proposal related to Fat Identities for the annual convention and we may sponsor your program
    • Review conference programs for the annual convention
    • Attend our open business meeting and block social at the annual ACPA convention
    • Attend our sponsored programs at the annual ACPA convention
    • Apply to join our Directorate Board

    Awards

    The Coalition for Fat Identities is now accepting nominations for our awards. Please submit the form below by Thursday, November 6, 2025. Recipients will be notified in mid-December and awarded at the next ACPA Convention.

    Cat Pausé Research & Scholarship Award: Named after late Fat Studies scholar Cat Pausé, this award goes to research and scholarship centering the experiences of fat people, furthering the liberation of fat people, and/or addressing the intersections of fatness with other identities. Research and scholarship can take on different forms, and CFI would love to highlight both traditionally published research and celebrate those that use different modalities to share scholarship, like podcasts, blog posts, etc. 

    Fat Liberation Advocacy Award: This award recognizes someone that advocates for fat liberation in their communities, such as on campus, in their departments, in their workplace, etc.. Advocacy can look like pushing for new policies, procedures, and practices to support fat students, faculty, and staff, and includes creating intentional affinity spaces for fat people. Non-fat allies can also be recognized for this award.

    Fat, Loud, & Proud Award: This award is exclusively for recognizing fat people. The Fat & Loud Award recognizes fat people that embody fat liberation in their practice. This may look like information and resource sharing, hosting fat-specific programming, showcasing fat joy, and content creation. 

    Fat Inclusivity Award: This award recognizes an individual, group, and/ or office that led the best fat inclusive program, event, or initiative. 

    Emerging Leadership Award: The Emerging Leadership Award recognizes a graduate student or new professional who centers fat liberation in their work. This may look like creating space for fat people to be in community; centering fatness in research, scholarship, dissertations, theses, etc.; promoting fat liberation on social media; and teaching about fat liberation in trainings, the classroom, presentations, etc.

    Click Here to nominate yourself or someone else for a CFI Award

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