Advocacy
About
Outside of the classroom, I got involved with some amazing volunteer work and campaigns both on and off campus. Doing this work gave me the opportunity to apply what I was learning in my LSJ courses about policy and activism.
Taylor Beardall, ASUW Director of Internal Policy, and myself at the ASUW End of Year Celebration my freshman year. We were both on the Judicial Committee, and now we are both going to law school in the Bay Area.
I was awarded a homecoming scholarship in recognition of my ASUW work (Click the picture above to see the profiles of the other homecoming scholars)
Associated Students of the University of Washington
The Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW) functions as the student government at UW. I became involved with the ASUW as a freshman when I joined the ASUW Judicial Committee, a neutral group that holds the ASUW accountable to its governing documents. The Committee reviews the ASUW Constitution, Bylaws, and Board Bills, as well as the Elections Policies and Procedures. Being an at-large member my freshman year and serving as the Secretary of Judgements my sophomore year was a great way to learn about how the ASUW works and to get involved with the UW community. The Committee mostly consisted of upperclassmen. Having the opportunity to work with people who were further in their UW careers than me was helpful—I still seek out advice from my friends that I met on the Judicial Committee today.
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Passionate about increasing equity and access within the higher education system, I became the ASUW Student Disability Commission (SDC) representative on the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity Vice President’s Student Advisory Board (SAB) after I finished my term on the Judicial Committee. I participated in weekly meetings with Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity leadership and collaborated with other minority group representatives to take an intersectional approach to campus issues. I then finished my time in student government as an ASUW representative on the Provost’s Advisory Committee for Students (PACS). In this role, I shared the student perspective with the University Provost and President on issues regarding diversity and inclusion, annual budgets, tuition levels and state tuition policy proposals, financial aid, long-range budget and allocation planning, as well as admissions and enrollment management. These roles have showed me how rewarding being an advocate can be. I know that, with a law degree, I can do even more for the communities I care about.
F*** Stairs Campaign & Campus Visit Program
The UW campus tour guides–truly the best job on campus!
In addition to advocating for disabled students’ needs, such as ensuring that the UW Campus Climate Survey was accessible, as a SAB representative I also worked on the SDC’s F*** Stairs Campaign, which asks students to pledge to use wheelchair accessible routes for two weeks in order to spread awareness about campus accessibility. For the campaign, which occurred prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, I planned the SDC’s first webinar, and its remote accessibility allowed us to reach people who otherwise would not have been able to attend the event. I also created an initiative that partnered the UW Campus Visit Program (CVP) tour guides with F*** Stairs. Each guide was required use a wheelchair accessible tour route for the duration of the campaign, making our campus tours more welcoming and accessible to a diverse group of visitors. CVP then made a permanent change to a new wheelchair accessible tour route that is now used for all campus visits. As a tour guide myself, CVP was a big part of my UW experience, and the partnership between CVP and the SDC is one of my proudest accomplishments at UW.
Top Left: Original Tour Route
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Top Right: Wheelchair Accessible Route for F*** Stairs Campaign
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Bottom Left: New Wheelchair Accessible Tour Route for all tours
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(Click the images to zoom in)
OutRight Action International & Honors 232
Jessica Stern speaking at OutRising, the annual OutRight Action International fundraiser in Seattle
One of my favorite Honors classes was Honors 232: Human Rights Diplomacy with Dr. Elise Rainer. This course focused on international LGBTIQ+ rights and it included a policy simulation in which students were assigned a real person to represent. I played Jessica Stern, Executive Director of OutRight Action International, the first LGBTIQ+ rights organization with consultative status at the United Nations (UN). Months after I had taken the class, Dr. Rainer reached out to me because she had heard that OutRight needed more volunteers for their annual fundraising event in Seattle. This opportunity was the start of my volunteer work with OutRight, during which I have had the opportunity to meet the real Jessica Stern. Working with OutRight has allowed me to gain hands-on experience with global LGBTIQ+ rights activism. When I was writing my departmental honors thesis, OutRight also connected me with international human rights attorneys at the United Nations. These interviews helped me gain insight on the geopolitical dynamics at the UN as I conducted my research.
Click the logo above to be directed to OutRight's website
"As the Executive Director of OutRight International, I serve as one of the leading experts in supporting LGBTIQ+ groups abroad to foster solutions that promote lasting policy changes. Uganda has had a history of homophobia, but its recent bill targeting the LGBTIQ+ community is unprecedented. The bill would forbid homosexuality with penalties as extreme as death. Sweden is currently supporting Uganda with foreign aid. This recent development in Uganda’s proposed laws brings us here today as the Swedish government reconsiders the conditions of this aid. Given the impact that the bill will have on the Ugandan LGBTIQ+ community as well as the importance of non-governmental organizations in promoting change, I argue that Sweden should condition its aid to the Ugandan government and redirect the funds to grassroots organizations."
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This excerpt is from my Honors 232 position paper as Jessica Stern. We were debating if Sweden should condition is aid to Uganda due to its LGBTIQ+ rights violations.