Students Compete to go to D.C.

How many Fairfield University students can say they have been in the White House?

A group of Fairfield student advocates is trying to get there.  Rachel Lang ‘14, Marissa Tota ‘12, Alex Cody ‘12, Alicia Bissonnette ‘12, Jesus Nunez ‘14 and Astrid Quinones ‘14 are nominated for a national award and they need your help.

Rachel Lang and five of her classmates formed Fairfield University’s Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Commons (GSSC) over the course of the past year.  The group entered a nationwide contest sponsored by the White House and MTVU Campus Champions of Change Challenge and is now in the Top 15 finalists.

This competition is for student groups who are committed to President Barack Obama’s quest for change. Currently, GSSC is the only LGBTQ advocacy group in the finals, according to a University press release last week.

According to a mission statement posted by the group on feministing.com: “Student leaders felt that it was not always hate that fueled the acts of intolerance, but ignorance.  Therefore, they set out to create a safe space to converse about not only LGBTQ issues, but any issues pertaining to gender, sex, or sexuality.”

Creating a “safe space” for students to speak freely about LGBTQ issues would alleviate the intolerance and overall create a more diverse, open Fairfield community.

According to the article GSSC is currently collaborating other students groups at Fairfield that deal with  LGBTQ rights and gender issues and will be conducting a film screening of Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s “Miss Representation” on March 5, among other upcoming events.

According to Lang, “students will be sitting outside of Jazzman’s with laptops having student vote all week.” They will be collecting these votes from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

But Fairfield students aren’t the only ones who can decide the fate of this student organization. It is currently up to a public vote to decide the top five contest winners who will be invited to an event at the White House and featured by MTVU and MTV Act.

By going to https://campuschallenge.uservoice.com/forums/148562-campus-champions-of-change-challenge and casting your vote, students can help Lang and her team to make it to Washington, D.C.