{"id":721,"date":"2019-04-16T22:17:44","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T22:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2019\/04\/16\/2019416g0lj071mno6mfqp7wqwyv9v3zuyh4g\/"},"modified":"2020-09-05T19:32:13","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T19:32:13","slug":"2019416g0lj071mno6mfqp7wqwyv9v3zuyh4g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2019\/04\/16\/2019416g0lj071mno6mfqp7wqwyv9v3zuyh4g\/","title":{"rendered":"Quinnipiac SGA elects diverse executive board to advocate for minority students"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Emma Robertson<\/a><\/p>\n

At 8 p.m., ballots closed. 8:30 p.m. No phone call. 8:45 p.m. The phone rings. Austin Calvo lunges for his cell phone. Just a friend. Not the person he hoped for, not the person he needs. Fifteen minutes pass. No call. Thirty minutes. No call. <\/p>\n

9:45 p.m. The phone rings again. This time, it was Quinnipiac University\u2019s current Student Government Association President Ryan Hicks. The moment Calvo was waiting for. His anxiety washed away.<\/p>\n

He did it. He won.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Quinnipiac Student Government Association President-elect Austin Calvo<\/p>\n

(Photo courtesy: SGA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

On Wednesday, April 10, the Quinnipiac student body elected Calvo, a junior political science major, as its next SGA president. Calvo has broken the mold as one of the first openly gay SGA presidents to be elected. <\/p>\n

Joining Calvo on the executive board as vice president-elect is a second openly gay member of the LGBTQ+ community, Sophia Marshall. Along with Calvo and Marshall, the student body elected two people of color, Esau Greene, vice president-elect of student experience, and Jamien Jean-Baptiste, vice president-elect of marketing and public relations, making this one of the most diverse executive boards in Quinnipiac history.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have two out, proud people of the LGBTQ community and to have two proud black men on this executive board is amazing,\u201d Calvo said. \u201cThis is the most unique SGA I\u2019ve ever seen and I\u2019m really excited to see what we can bring.\u201d<\/p>\n

The road to the office was not an easy one for Calvo. His sexuality was never something he wanted to hide and with it so openly on display, Calvo experienced slight pushback from members of the Quinnipiac community. <\/p>\n

On the day of the executive board debates, one of Calvo\u2019s campaign posters was defaced with homophobic remarks. Calvo received a call from Hicks informing him that the posters had been immediately taken down.<\/p>\n

The comments affected Calvo\u2019s confidence during the debates later that day. Calvo said he felt as if he needed to dial back aspects of his personality. He didn\u2019t even feel comfortable bringing up his bright yellow water bottle covered in stickers for fear of appearing gay.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just something you\u2019re always conscious of,\u201d Calvo said. \u201cYou always have to be aware that you\u2019re not the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Lindsey Downey, the sophomore president of Quinnipiac\u2019s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, visibility of the LGBTQ+ community is necessary to eliminate homophobia like which Calvo experienced.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of hurtful actions that people say or do (come) from a place of ignorance,\u201d Downey said. \u201cThey don\u2019t know or they weren\u2019t exposed to (LGBTQ+). If you\u2019re not exposed to people of the LGBTQ community, if you don\u2019t know people of color or what their culture is, the queer culture or any other culture, there\u2019s no way to know what\u2019s appropriate and what\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Calvo refuses to let negativity about his sexuality affect him. His passion for student government and advocacy drove him to push through this homophobia. <\/p>\n

Hicks explained that it was difficult to make that call and tell Calvo his posters were defaced, but added that Calvo\u2019s tenacity was inspiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was heartbreaking to see that picture and it was heartbreaking to deliver that news,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think that that should really be the story, I think the way Austin handled that news and said, \u2018This isn\u2019t going to be something that I stop fighting for,\u2019 I think that\u2019s what should be focused on \u2026 Austin\u2019s rebound to it and his continuation throughout the week.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Instead of quitting, Calvo learned to adjust his campaign strategies. He made it his mission to seek out the opinions of the heterosexual males with whom he struggled to connect. He began to realize that the student body cared less about his sexuality and more about his ideas and how he could affect the university.<\/p>\n

Throughout his first few years at Quinnipiac, even with slight resistance from a very small percentage of the student body, Calvo has been able to embrace every aspect of himself. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just so nice that over these past three years I have unapologetically been myself,\u201d Calvo said. \u201cI have shared every view I have in class, any opinion I have with my friends and people around me, I have never been scared to step down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophomore Sophia Marshall, the SGA vice president-elect and also a member of the LGBTQ+ community, has faced less resistance than Calvo. As she puts it, she has the benefit of looking straight. There were points when Marshall herself questioned what people would think of her because of her sexuality. But she has ensured that what represents her are her ideas.<\/p>\n

Unlike other members of LGBTQ+, she feels that, even among those who do not support her, she at least commands respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think even in my experience, some of the people who don\u2019t accept the way that I am, which is very, very, very seldom, even those people will respect my work ethic and will come to me regardless because they know that I can get things done,\u201d Marshall said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Quinnipiac Student Government Association Vice President-elect Sophia Marshall<\/p>\n

(Photo courtesy: SGA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Marshall believes that the results of this SGA election are reflective of the progressiveness of Quinnipiac\u2019s student body, of its faculty and of its community as a whole. The students backed ideas and chose their elected officials based on campaign platforms, not on sexuality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it kind of goes to show that Quinnipiac is moving in a more progressive way, which is really exciting,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cAnd I think the other thing is, I\u2019m really proud of the fact that I\u2019m super gay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Downey agrees and hopes that Marshall and Calvo can serve as inspirations for members of Quinnipiac\u2019s LGBTQ+ community to feel more comfortable with their sexualities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustin and Sophia are both very open about their identity within the community, which is amazing,\u201d Downey said. \u201cThere are so many LGBTQ faculty, staff, students here, but to have them sort of like front and center is nice because people can look at them and be like, \u2018they\u2019re here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But how will this diverse new e-board have an impact on the student body?<\/p>\n

With new voices and perspectives on SGA\u2019s executive board, the student body population, as a whole, has a voice. According to Calvo, advocacy for minority groups becomes stronger when minority groups have representatives speaking up for them specifically.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives almost every niche community of Quinnipiac a voice in the room,\u201d Calvo said.<\/p>\n

The next few years of Quinnipiac\u2019s future will be full of change. With a new president, Judy Olian, and with the introduction of her strategic plan, SGA will need to advocate for the students more than ever. <\/p>\n

The newly elected executive board represents members of the LGBTQ+ community, it represents people of color, it represents women and it represents men. But more importantly, the board is full of passion for change and advocacy. It\u2019s full of passion for Quinnipiac\u2019s students. As the current e-board steps down, Hicks said he is more than confident that he\u2019s leaving SGA in the hands of a new group of leaders that has every student at Quinnipiac in its best interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look at how eager they are and how enthusiastic they are and how passionate they are, it just shows how much they want this and how much they want to represent and advocate for the students.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quinnipiac students voiced their choice and elected their newest crop of Student Government Association leadership. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":723,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142,6],"tags":[4,232,207,206],"class_list":["post-721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-quinnipiac","tag-quinnipiac","tag-quinnipiac-students","tag-sga","tag-student-government-association"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2082,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721\/revisions\/2082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}