Arizona State University is a melting pot of students of different backgrounds and lifestyles. Undergraduate Student Government at ASU Tempe engages students by bringing elected officials to campus to talk about the importance of diversity. Former Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano, Arizona Legislature Candidate Joan Greene and Tempe Union Governing Board Candidate Brian Garcia came to talk to students about their public service and LGBTQIA+ backgrounds.
Music: Dreams by BenSounds Royalty Free Music
Jamila Rahim, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, USGT:
So, I never feel discriminated against on this campus. And ASU in itself - you take one scan around, it is an extremely diverse campus. It is true that we have literally every single type of student on this campus. And so I always identify with that.
My name is Jamila Rahim. I am the director of diversity and inclusion with undergraduate student government at Tempe. Basically, I put this event together with rainbow coalition called "Out in Politics" tonight just to create visibility for the community that identify with LGBTQIA+ and any other people that want to eventually pursue a career in public service.
Our elected officials and leaders within our community have an effect on our daily lives or our lives indirectly in some way or form, regardless of what community we come from. So that can still be from a marginalized community, but they still affect us.
So when they come and actually speak to college students and engage with us, we also get a better understanding of what their role is in our community, but also what we can do, what we can do better or maybe what we can eventually become ourselves or try ourselves.
What we always try to do is really open the dialogue or what it means to be apart of the LGBTQIA+ community. And I say IA because alliance is in that term as well there are a lot of people here that were not actually part of that LGBT community. But they are an alliance. They are ally. They want to see how they can help.
So those speakers really spoke to that on how we can be better allies, how we can actually build visibility for our brothers and sisters on our campus who maybe are going through something like this that we cannot relate to. So, I think they were really good speakers on that.
Reach the reporter at cmgiulia@asu.edu or follow @tinamaria_4 on Twitter.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
