The political climate drives the Student for Choice Club and UVU Green Club to engage with the community. Both clubs were on display during Club Rush, a two-day event where UVU students set up a table to promote their clubs to the campus community Jan. 11-12.
Students for Choice are sponsored through Planned Parenthood and help provide resources for reproductive health and sex education. With a newly-appointed president, Amy Miller, the club plans to defend social causes more than ever.
The club’s mission is to be involved in political legislation surrounding local areas, says Keli Byers, vice president of the Student for Choice Club. One of their major concerns in regards to Utah’s state health policies with how teachers have less freedom to speak to their students about sex education.
Byers mentioned the “No Promo Homo” laws in Utah.
“Right now there’s a petition to have Utah state change their laws concerning LGBTQ students in schools, because right now teachers cannot legally advocate or support LGBTQ students. They can’t even tell them that ‘I’m here and support you’ they could get fired from their job if they did,” she said.
Miller expressed how the club is important.
“People come to college and they’ve had no information. That’s why I love Planned Parenthood so much because that’s where I got all of my sex education. Because nobody talked to me. Even if you don’t want to have sex, you should still be aware of what’s going on, how you can be safe. People need to know that they are many services that can help them with that,” she said.
Oakley Hill, president of the UVU Green Club, discussed how the club is organizing an upcoming political rally for clean air and environmental change Feb. 4 in Provo on the steps of the Historical County Courthouse, the first of its kind in 40 years in Utah County.
“There’s been an illusion that the government will take care of these issues and that hasn’t been the case. Our government is heavily entrenched with oil and with coal. There is also heavy climate denial culture here. So, the illusion of anyone but citizens doing something about this is gone. We know that it’s on us. If we don’t do anything, nothing will happen,” Hill said.
He mentioned how one of the main goals of the Green Club is to call students to action. “Right now we’re helping Utah Valley Earth forum and a handful of other organizations to organize Utah County’s first clean air clean energy rally. We already have the speakers lined up. We have some great Native American activists who are speaking, we have climate scientists speaking, we have members of the LDS community who are speaking, physicians and more,” he said.
Jensen Astle, executive vice president of UVUSA, says club rush is one of her favorite events because it helps students connect.
“I think that the community is built because it’s what the students want to see,” she said.
Club Rush continues to grow as one of the largest student-involved events on campus with 80 clubs and 2500 people who attended which was held Jan.11-12 in the Grande Ballroom.
