Who are those people holding the ‘Free Hugs’ signs?

If you’ve been on campus during the past few Fridays between 2pm and 4pm, then you’ve probably seen the group of people standing at Marsh Plaza with “Free Hugs” signs.

Rain or shine, they’re there.

And you’ve also probably avoided eye contact at all costs and scurried your way past them. Don’t worry, we’re all guilty. They understand.

This movement raises its fair share of questions for students on campus. For starters, who are these people? Why do they want to hug me? Don’t they have something better to do on a Friday afternoon?

Nobody really asks, but we all want to know, the city of Boston isn’t necessarily known for its hospitality and welcoming attitude. The “BU bubble” might be a bit more hospitable, but it’s clear that the “Resting Bitch Face” reigns supreme on Comm. Ave.

So, I did a little investigating in order to find out who these “Free Hug” people really are. Here’s what I learned when I contacted Chelsea Hammond, the secretary of the group behind the PDA:

How did the club originate?

The group was created in 2007 by two BU students with the initial mission to spread peace and social justice. They would do free hugs independently whenever they could throughout the day and carried signs around with them. Then they decided to set up a formal regular time for people to come together as a group to give and get hugs so that they would be a more cohesive group and be there at a planned time to encourage more participants.

What’s your mission?

Our mission statement is: “Humans United, Giving Support (HUGS) seeks to inspire the Boston University community through kind acts that unify the student body and break social barriers. We welcome all members of the BU community to join us in achieving this goal.” We spread kindness in more ways than just Free Hug Fridays! We also do random acts of kindness and kindness challenges, community service, and host and collaborate on big events.

Are there any weird or funny stories involving Free Hug Fridays?

Our mission is to spread kindness, so we don’t want to tell any stories that might embarrass the people who come to hug us. Sometimes people think we’re doing a social experiment, or asking for donations. People also tend to ask “What’s the catch?” which is actually great because then we’re able to explain to them that there is no catch to being kind and that we’re just out here to spread some happiness! We also LOVE it when people are walking their dogs and we can hug them too. We hugged Frankie, the baby pug, who is a crowd favorite. Sometimes the real-life dog Rhett comes by too! And a professor whose old dog likes to play frisbee on Marsh Plaza behind us, which really sets the scene.

Do many people actually go in for the hug or do they just roll their eyes and walk by?

A lot of people do come to get hugs and there really are not a lot of eye rolls at all. Some people do pretend they can’t see us or say “no thank you”, but hugging is only great if it’s consensual, so that’s fine with us! We also get a fair number of high fives and fist bumps. It’s great when there’s someone who is too shy initially and then works up the courage either after walking by a few more times or in a few weeks and then they come in for the hug.

If you have any inspiring stories, I would like to hear those too!

When I brought this one up, there was an immediate consensus of the feeling when someone really needed that hug. Sometimes people will hug you and then tell you how much they needed that or what a difference it made. That’s why we do this. It reinforces that we’re not doing this only to make people smile, we are actually impacting their lives. We also love it when people want to hug everyone in the line (and do!) or when they ask for a group hug.

So there you have it, mystery solved. HUGS is just a group of nice people spreading kindness on campus and just another example of why we should all be #proudtoBU.