25 people from St. Mike’s visit Capitol Hill

From March 21 to 24 the Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC) and the Center for Student Diversity, Empowerment and Community (DEC) collaborated to bring a 25-member group to Washington, D.C. In addition to these two groups, they were joined by student members of the Student Disability Advocacy Alliance (SDAA), Common Ground, and international students, including two of Saint Michael’s international Fulbright graduate students. Trip chaperones were Sarah Childs and Choeden Lama, Director and Assistant Director of DEC, and Trish Siplon, faculty advisor to SGAC. The trip was supported financially through SGAC, DEC, the Institute for Global Engagement, the Beloved Community Fund, the Student Government Association and the Office of the Academic Vice President. The students had meetings with staffers from the offices of ten Senators and Congressional Representatives, including Senator Welch and Representative Balint from Vermont. They visited Capitol Hill and collectively covered eleven meetings, asking offices to support the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) — a foundational 20 year old global health program; LGBTQ rights in the United States and abroad; and a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.