Hi everyone,

I’d like to begin by saying a huge thank you to all of you, our supporters and our lifeline. You are all so important to this movement, and im at a huge loss for words. I can’t express how grateful i am that we have come this far. All the engagement, sharing, signing, informing, just everything is all because of wonderful people like you. I didn’t expect things to take off the way that they did, and im honored to be leading something so important. I am forever grateful for each and every one of you helping me push for a better campus, and a better future. From the depths of my heart and soul, thank you. You are all leaders in this movement, you are all pushing for change, and you are all the future. It is an honor to be able to look at how far we’ve all come in such a short amount of time. Thank you so much.

i wish i had more to say about our meeting today. All i can really say is that we filled the room with so much courage, love, positivity, and willingness to push for change. For a moment, i was left standing because all seats were taken! I can’t even begin to express the amazing energy in that room and how much it motivated me and my team. I hope you all know that your bravery was seen, and it is always going to be honored.

YAF was present during the meeting as well, which was something I should’ve prepared for. I admit that I don’t believe I did the best I could’ve today, but this is a new experience for me and many of you. Regardless of their presence, I believe that we did make a small difference in the eyes of the Student Senate about how prominent this issue is, and how much it’s affecting our campus culture. YAF and their members, unsurprisingly, came into our meeting recording and created quite a disruption between our groups. It is a given that in a public meeting in a public room, there is permission to record, but the manner the recording was done in, and the intention behind it does set the tone for how many of us are going to react to being on camera. Luckily, it blew over quickly and the meeting continued.

unfortunately, because of the time crunch, and my lack of preparation for YAF and the response they had, two of my speakers were not able to share their speeches. I am disappointed, but again, not surprised. I was hoping to provide all of you with more insight on the situation from plenty of different perspectives, not just the surface level “chalk bad, words mean” that has been circulating. I’m hoping that we will be able to prepare more and find more ways to communicate and inform correctly, with ample time for speeches, responses, and actually take our audience into account. I’ll update or inform on my instagram story when things get sorted out and I have a decent answer.

Other important figures were present at the Student Senate meeting, like Valley News, and our campus journalists. Be on the look out for new articles by either groups to have a more clear insight on things as well, especially for both sides. YAF and my team were given opportunities to make statements for these groups, and of course, I gave mine. My goal will always be to inform as many people as I can about the things going on as of right now, in the best way possible. I’m hoping to see those statements released soon!

on a more serious note however, there was police presence after our board meeting. there were VPD officers and campus police, from what I know of. They weren’t there for my speakers, our supporters, or even because of the meeting itself. They were there for a YAF member, and reasons right now are unclear. It was a moment of fear for me as a leader, because I was not prepared for officers to be there, and I wasn’t sure what to do to protect our supporters. Luckily, things were resolved peacefully from what was seen, and in private so both parties were able to continue mingling without any interruption.

following the more serious note, campus was evacuated today. It is under speculation why campus was evacuated, and COS has yet to give a clear answer, but many students are afraid to attend classes because of the intensity of the situation. Heavy police presence, the meeting today, and also what was said during our meeting has everyone on high alert. I want to stress that safety will always be important to me, please take care of yourselves first. Times are crazy right now, and we honestly deserve to rest for a day or two.

i wish i had a better update, ill give more on my instagram story at some point tomorrow, but for now this is what im leaving with you all so you can read it through and focus on a few things at a time. Please continue to follow up as I plan on covering a timeline of events and furthering any articles being published about the whole situation. I want to just allow a little bit of light and insight in just to refresh memories and get you all thinking. Thank you so much for reading through this portion, ill continue to do my best to bring forth more answers than questions about everything currently happening around our campus.