Hundreds of students are expected to be walking around campus barefoot all day today in promotion of TOMS shoes.
TOMS is an organization that sells shoes to give shoes to children who need them around the world.
The company is encouraging people to go barefoot today to raise awareness about the problems plaguing many children across the world who live every day without shoes.
Hannah Jung, a senior physical education and health education major, started a Facebook group last week promoting the day.
The Facebook group had more than 500 confirmed guests and more than 1,100 people said they might attend.
Jung said the day was an opportunity to tell people about the struggles people have around the world.
She said she hopes the demonstration will encourage people to buy TOMS shoes.
"You're going to buy shoes anyway so you might as well buy shoes that will go to benefit other people," Jung said.
According to the TOMS Web site, most children in developing countries grow up barefoot, and walking is the primary form of transportation.
Often these children cannot attend school because their dress code requires them to have shoes, according to the Web site.
In Ethiopia, one million people suffer from Podoconiosis, a disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil, and can be completely prevented by wearing shoes.
Senior photojournalism major Ann Marie Mohr said she thinks the demonstration will be effective.
"People are going to be seeing something out of the ordinary and seeing that in real life as opposed to a picture," Mohr said. "I feel like it means a lot more when you witness it in person."
Freshman theater major Marissa Neel said she is going barefoot because she loves any excuse to not wear shoes and because she supports the cause.
"I think in America we take the simplest things like shoes for granted," Neel said. "It's sort of like fasting for Catholicism. You're experiencing their pain and therefore you sympathize so you're helping them out."
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