Over 25 students gathered at a classmate’s home in Binghamton on Saturday to write letters to elected officials across New York as part of a national movement to voice concerns regarding President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders.
The event was hosted by Addie Dean, a senior majoring in cinema; Jamie Mondello, a senior majoring in integrative neuroscience; and Eric Timlin, a senior double-majoring in history and philosophy, politics and law. They were among marchers at the Women’s March on Washington and were inspired to host the event, independent of Binghamton University, after protesting alongside hundreds of thousands.
“I went to this march feeling all this kind of pride and love and all this solidarity, but if I go home and just pat myself on the back I’ll feel like a sham,” Mondello said. “For me, [the march] was just a little pep rally to say that we can do this.”
The 10 Actions in 100 Days campaign, created by the organizers of the Women’s March on Washington, will release a new way for people to become politically active every 10 days. Following the march, the campaign began encouraging people to write letters to their senators by providing printable resources, ideas on what to write and information where participants can find the contact information for elected officials.
The hosts were motivated to create a productive group environment, and provided everything from coffee and donuts to paper and stamps for their guests. The attendees wrote a total of 60 letters, addressed to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Charles Schumer, state Sen. Fred Akshar and Rep. Claudia Tenney, as well as Trump. Timlin said the substantial number of letters produced was due to the powerful visualization of action.
“If you make an event out of it, it makes people even more excited to come,” Timlin said. “Being politically active on your own is very difficult.”
The Women’s March and its initiatives have been criticized for being exclusive in their activities and mission, but Dean said she believed that the letter-writing campaign aims to benefit everyone.
“I don’t think it’s about Republicans and Democrats,” Dean said. “It’s about human rights, and that’s what we’re writing for.”
Many of the students in attendance had marched alongside their peers in the prior weeks. Matteo Maroun, a junior majoring in economics, volunteered at the Women’s March on Binghamton with Citizen Action of New York, and on Saturday attended the gathering as a means for further action.
“There’s always going to be something out there that you can get involved in,” Maroun said. “The next step for everyone here is just, if you see something, do something. There’s a lot of great organizations, even just here in Binghamton.”
Claire Luceri, a senior majoring in business administration, attended the event to take political action on the issues that matter to her, and encouraged other students to do the same.
“If you have an opinion about something, it’s your responsibility to get involved and be informed about issues in your community and speak out about them because you can’t really have a say until you take action about it,” Luceri said.
The hosts said they are planning more events for students at BU with future pop-up events. The most important thing, Mondello said, was turning words into action.
“It’s about changing the dynamic from just talking about it to doing something about it,” Mondello said. “Instead of just posting on Facebook, we actually sit down and call.”