Comma is a space for BIPOC students to create connections, share experiences, learn from one another and have fun. Advised by faculty Precious Bugarin and Stephen Lee, Comma is a fluid group, directed by student interest — their academic, creative and / or social needs. Comma meets monthly during the academic year with pop-up special events for the wider BIPOC creative community in Portland.

During fall term 2018, a group of motivated students came together to organize a community event for students of color called DOC. This important meeting kicked off a year of community meetings, research and many conversations around what BIPOC students needed at PSUGD and from a student group. COMMA was inspired and came from the work of the initial DOC team.

The meaning behind the name “Comma” comes directly from the purpose of the punctuation mark. Comma, the student group, is representative of both connecting and pausing. It aims to bring together people from different backgrounds and elicit a moment of reflection—a moment where separate ideas, identities, and experiences can come together in one place.

The brand approach emphasizes an intentional anti-brand quality, which allows a wide variety of visual solutions. This approach allows Comma to stay distinguishable amongst the other PSU affiliated groups, while simultaneously allowing the different student leaders each term to be fluid and expressive in the ways in which they would like Comma to be represented. This usually shows itself through exploring different brand colors for the term as well as graphic treatments.

Comma seeks to amplify the voices of BIPOC students and create a space to acknowledge the experiences and often challenging realities that marginalization brings. BIPOC creatives are pushed to create the types of communities in which they want to be a part of, because these spaces don’t already exist. Comma is a direct product of the students for people who share similar experiences.