This past summer, students pushed again for the renaming of Gianforte Family Hall (GFH), an initiative that has been of student concern since the naming of the building was announced in 2017. Initiatives this summer were spearheaded by the Diversity and Inclusion Committee (DNI) of the Student Government Association (SGA) which included signing a petition and a student organization pledge to boycott the building by abstaining from holding club meetings in GFH rooms.
Leftover initiatives planned over the summer, which included organizing an alumni pledge to refrain from donating until the name is changed, outreach to the Hoboken city council, and writing a proposal to administration in September 2021, have been abandoned.
Julieann Murphy, Vice President of Operations of the SGA, explained that “Over the summer, Liana Meyer [SGA President], Vivian Touch [Chairperson of DNI], Nasir Montalvo ‘21 [founder of DNI] and I had conversations with several entities of Stevens faculty and administration […] as well as organizations outside of these conversations through a petition and boycott.” The petition aroused attention from students, resulting in 1,290 signatures while the building boycott resulted in 55 pledges from student organizations.
According to Connor Mills, the Sexuality Advocate of DNI, enthusiasm for the student organization pledge to boycott the building has diminished, as many clubs continue to use the building for meetings.
After The Stute published a response on June 22 from administration on if renaming the building was possible, Murphy admitted, “it became apparent that there is some sort of legal agreement that does not allow the building to be renamed […] We are still unclear on why information about this legal agreement was not revealed to the students who inquired about it in April 2017, nor in August 2019, nor at the protest in December 2019.” The information about a possible legal agreement changes the story “significantly,” according to Murphy, and was the main reason initiatives have been abandoned. Mills explained, “because of the legal agreement all of DNIs efforts had to stop in their tracks, but regardless of the presence of our efforts it is striking that […] there is no presence of queer solidarity coming from administration.” In addition, many students involved in summer initiatives such as Montalvo graduated in the Spring 2021 semester, leaving others to pick up where things left off.
Since it seems that Stevens renaming GFH is unlikely for the SGA, they are currently refocusing attention on ways to work on expanding DNI on campus. Mills has been working on getting multiple projects accomplished on campus, including increasing health services available to students, celebrating LGBTQIA+ History Month this October, starting a buddy system for any student to go to STI/STD testing centers, and a gender affirming clothing drive, among other things.
To learn more about SGA initiatives, email sga@stevens.edu or follow their Instagram @stevens_sga.
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