{"id":9344,"date":"2021-03-07T19:12:39","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T00:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/?p=9344"},"modified":"2022-03-04T17:15:31","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T22:15:31","slug":"converting-passion-purpose-into-advocacy-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/converting-passion-purpose-into-advocacy-activism\/","title":{"rendered":"Converting Passion & Purpose Into Advocacy & Activism\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sarah Achenbach ’88\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Whatever your political leaning, 2020 felt like an endless civics lesson.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"MC

Mary Catherine Andrews ’86 served as President Bush’s director of democracy for the National Security Advisory and as his director of global communications.<\/p><\/div>\n

This isn\u2019t another article about the recent U.S. presidential election, don\u2019t worry. But it is about how political awareness and activism\u2014on both sides of the aisle\u2014are nurtured at Hollins University.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, Hollins, once again, made <\/span>The Princeton Review<\/i><\/span>\u2019s list of colleges with the \u201cMost Politically Active Students.\u201d Nestled between American University (#5) and Syracuse University (#7) and based on student ratings of their own political awareness, Hollins is the only women\u2019s college on the list.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How does a women\u2019s university focused on the liberal arts and the smallest higher educational institution by far on the annual ranking make the cut along with Columbia University and Reed College?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Simply by <\/span>being<\/i><\/span> a small, liberal arts women\u2019s college, that\u2019s how. Turns out that Hollins\u2019 educational mission, approach, culture, and size have been the perfect incubator to turn passion and purpose into advocacy and activism. And Hollins has been doing it for generations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fostering an\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Environment of Respect\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Courtney Chenette \u201909 isn\u2019t one to let a teachable moment go to waste. Last November, Chenette, a civil rights attorney specializing in constitutional cases, worked as a recount observer for the Wisconsin vote recount for the presidential election.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Courtney

Chenette<\/p><\/div>\n

In the evening, from her laptop in a Milwaukee hotel room, she hosted Zoom conferences with her Voting Rights and Election Law class at Hollins. Chenette, assistant professor of political science and gender and women\u2019s studies at Hollins since 2018 and pre-law advisor, led students in analyzing the potential ballot recount challenges that Chenette and her legal colleagues reviewed earlier in the day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStudents crafted arguments for and against the challenges and applied our class readings,\u201d she explains. \u201cI teach that the best advocates know the rules and anticipate a plurality of arguments, requiring students to develop strong foundational knowledge and see beyond their own perspectives to make their strongest cases.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When students can anticipate the strongest counterarguments to their beliefs, Chenette says, they become better advocates. \u201cUnderstanding what the systems are and having the language to explain what is happening around you is not specific to one party,\u201d Chenette adds. \u201cIf I were an attorney who refused to think about the other side, I wouldn\u2019t be a very good attorney. Critical thinking and respect for the people behind the issues is important.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Colleen

Berny<\/p><\/div>\n

Colleen Berny \u201910, a self-described \u201ctoken Republican\u201d in political science classes at Hollins, felt the same level of respect: \u201cMy viewpoints were carefully considered and debated, and other viewpoints helped me figure out where I stood on the issues.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn order for things to move, you need to work across the aisle and around the table,\u201d says Berny, who is a staff member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and advisor on critical infrastructure security and cybersecurity issues.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s been interested in security issues since September 11, 2001, a day that inspired her duty to serve. At Hollins, Berny, who is cochair of the Washington, D.C. Hollins Alumnae\/i Association, majored in history with a double minor in English and political science, then earned an M.A. in public and international affairs (major: security and intelligence studies) from the University of Pittsburgh.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mary Catherine Andrews \u201986, senior advisor on communications, management, and international affairs for Vianovo and a former senior advisor to President George W. Bush, experienced the same level of respect among students of different political leanings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"icons\"Two pivotal events sparked her political career. \u201cJake Wheeler inspired my interest in politics,\u201d she says, recalling her first class with the late, legendary political science professor. \u201cHe had a box of Ritz crackers and jar of peanut butter on his desk,\u201d she remembers. \u201cHe put peanut butter on the crackers, passed them around, and told us to take a cracker and wait. Then he told us to eat our crackers, which was when he explained that the federal government does lots of things, including regulating the amount of rat hair in peanut butter.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrews, a political science major with a concentration in computational sciences, dove into campus politics, and was elected as vice president of the Student Government Association (SGA) her junior year. Each week, she presided over robust Senate meetings filled with different viewpoints, ideas, and agendas from across the campus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She lauds those meetings and her love of the science behind the politics with inspiring her next step to Capitol Hill and her first job working for Sen. Cass Ballenger (R.-NC). Andrews, who earned an M.P.A. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, quickly found a passion for international relations. During the Bosnian War, she worked in the Balkans for the International Republican Institute, has observed more than 25 elections in 12 countries, and is the author of eight books on democratic development in Central and East Europe.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her greatest honor, she says, was serving as President Bush\u2019s director of democracy for the National Security Advisory and as his director of global communications, experiences that reinforced her Hollins\u2019 SGA bipartisan approach. \u201cOne of the big lessons I took from the Bush White House is that you have to get along with everyone,\u201d she adds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, Andrews continues to seek that center. Part of her work is advocating for climate change with Republicans and, last November, she was one of the Bush officials who signed the Statement by Former Republican National Security Officials for Biden (NatSecforBiden.com). \u201c[In politics] you have to seek the middle ground.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"divider\"Connecting Passions and Disciplines to Effect Change<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

While naming factors that place Hollins among the nation\u2019s most politically active student bodies, Chenette shares a quality not often described in admission material. \u201cThe moxie of Hollins students is unparalleled, but they also deliver on substance,\u201d adds Chenette, who serves as pro bono general counsel for Reconstructing Hope, a nonprofit providing victims of relationship violence with surgery to remove signs of prior violence. Relationship violence was the cause that sparked Chenette\u2019s passion at Hollins. A political science and gender and women\u2019s studies major, Chenette was a campus counselor and chair of the Coalition Against Sexual Assault.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHollins taught me that change can come from within systems and from outside of those systems,\u201d Chenette says. \u201cPolitics is inherently interdisciplinary, making Hollins leaders and problem solvers uniquely qualified to effectuate change with a liberal arts education.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mollie

Davis<\/p><\/div>\n

Mollie Davis \u201922 came to Hollins deeply passionate and vocal about one cause: gun reform. She also has a title\u2014school-shooting survivor\u2014that commands attention when she speaks on campus and nationally as a recognized gun-
\nreform activist.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"billOn March 20, 2018, Davis was sitting in math class in Great Mills High School in southern Maryland when she heard students screaming in the hallway. One of her classmates had just shot his ex-girlfriend (she later died at the hospital) and wounded a bystander before shooting himself in the hallway. Ironically, five days earlier, Davis had organized a peaceful school walkout with 250 classmates to bring attention to gun reform.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe shooting made me angry,\u201d Davis says. \u201cIt\u2019s so frustrating that this continues to occur in this country. Sharing my personal story makes me feel that the terrible thing my community went through can be used to change things.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As she wrote in <\/span>The Nation<\/i><\/span> in February 2019, \u201cMarch 20 lit a spark in me that will never fade away.\u201d At Hollins, she is honing her advocacy skills and exploring other disciplines to express her voice.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A double major in political science and theatre, Davis is a playwright deeply influenced by the works of Larry Kramer, pioneering AIDS activist and writer. \u201cTheatre is important to the human condition, and there are so many things it impacts,\u201d she says. In addition to her powerful essays about gun reform for national publications and her speeches at rallies and for campus voter registration drives, Davis has started three different versions of a play about a school shooting. \u201cIt\u2019s far from finished,\u201d she says, a comment that also speaks to her post-Hollins political career plans.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Politics at Hollins, Chenette adds, flourishes in the many academic intersections and personal opportunities that Hollins students can explore: \u201cIt\u2019s not only about making change but seeing political possibilities everywhere, from science and public health to art-making and theatre.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Maria

Jdid<\/p><\/div>\n

Maria Jdid \u201921 intends to become a neurosurgeon, but her double major\u2014international studies and biochemistry\u2014
\nspeaks to her global perspective. Her family moved from her home country of Syria when she was a toddler and settled in Saudi Arabia, where Hollins caught her eye for its very active Model UN Club\u2014Jdid co-founded her high school\u2019s Model UN Club\u2014and for its single-sex environment. \u201cI wanted to be in a place that kept my voice and strengthened it,\u201d she explains. \u201cI come from a minority sect of Islam, which was condemned in Saudi Arabia,\u201d she adds. \u201cI had to hide my identity. When I first came to the U.S., Hollins was the reason I got comfortable identifying as Arab.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her ability to cross disciplines and to \u201cthink beyond the lab\u201d proved beneficial during her 2019 Summer Term and J-Term 2020 internship at NYU Langone Health researching acute lymphoid leukemia: \u201cIt was eye-opening that the Hollins skill set really helped me excel.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pre-COVID-19, she led talks to increase campus awareness of the Arab world and on issues between Palestine and Israel. On April 17, 2019, Syria Independence Day, with the help of her Hollins Model UN friends, she led a fundraiser and presented a poster on the war in Syria.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt meant a lot to me to see the entire team come together,\u201d Jdid, who was copresident of Hollins Model UN, reflects. \u201cNot everyone in Model UN is a liberal, but everyone is extra-politically driven. Our views are always to help each other confront situations through different ways.\u201d Hollins annually hosts the Model UN Model Arab League Team (this year, virtually), and Jdid has attended the national conference sponsored by the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of the pandemic, she plans to work in a hospital for a year before applying to medical school. Her plan? Become a doctor and work for a U.S. institution that sends doctors abroad to help underserved populations. \u201cPolitical activism is individually driven but goes beyond your interests,\u201d says Jdid, who hopes to return to Syria one day. \u201cIt\u2019s less focused on goals and more on progress and the journey to enact change.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The journey for Monica Huegel \u201909, a campaign researcher for various candidates including Hillary Clinton\u2019s presidential bid in 2016, began her first semester when she joined the College Democrats. \u201cWe were a small, scrappy group that volunteered for Roanoke-area campaigns,\u201d she explains.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Monica

Huegel<\/p><\/div>\n

She knocked on doors and manned phone banks, activities that weren\u2019t the easiest fit for the self-described introvert. What came naturally was the comparative research she conducted on candidates in early voting states as an intern at EMILY\u2019s List in Washington, D.C., the political action committee to increase the number of pro-choice female candidates, which was founded by Ellen Malcolm \u201969.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After earning her M.A. in political science from American University, American Bridge, a political action committee, hired Huegel, which led to jobs doing research for various campaigns. \u201cResearch in the political world gets a reputation for mudslinging, but we look at policy and if a candidate\u2019s voting record matches the rhetoric,\u201d Huegel explains. \u201cWe vet donors, speakers, and campaign surrogates.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After Clinton\u2019s loss in 2016, Huegel took some time off before looking for a research position not tied to the mercurial cycle of a political campaign. She now conducts strategic analysis for the research firm IMS, Inc.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"divider\"Fostering Community through Politics\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Laura Smith \u201988, chief of staff for Pennsylvania State Representative Todd Stephens, laughs that working in politics was never on her career radar. After graduation, Smith, a sociology major, worked for a computer software company in South Carolina until 2003, when her father\u2019s terminal illness brought her home to Lansdale, Pennsylvania\u2014and what has become a rewarding career in the state legislature and as an elected official.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Laura

Smith<\/p><\/div>\n

Smith, who is in her second term as one of five elected board members and vice chair of the Towamencin Township Council, sees her political career as public service and the confluence of her problem-solving prowess and her love for her hometown.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter my dad died, I needed a job,\u201d Smith explains. A friend was the recorder of deeds for Montgomery County (near Philadelphia) and needed someone to make inroads in the community. \u201cI am the Queen of Connect-the-Dots,\u201d she says. \u201cI made a point of meeting everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her networking expertise led to administrative jobs for different Pennsylvania state representatives and a love for helping constituents. \u201cI love it when I can fix an issue for someone,\u201d Smith says. \u201cOnce, a father came into our office in tears. He needed a waiver for an independent living placement for his son, who was severely autistic. These waivers are hard to come by, but I realized that the issue was about keeping his family intact. We made the case to the Department of Human Services and got the waiver that changed their lives.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her second campaign in 2019 was challenging. \u201cIt was interesting running as a Republican,\u201d Smith says. \u201cPeople told me that they couldn\u2019t vote for me because of Trump, but I explained that at the local level, it\u2019s about managing services and tax dollars for infrastructure, first responders, parks\u2014all the things that make our township such a great place. In my job and on the council, I teach civics. I educate people every day on the difference between local, state, and federal government.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s found her niche as a \u201csenior whisperer,\u201d she says, taking great satisfaction in helping retired constituents solve problems, from tax issues to demystifying technology. Smith, like every alumna interviewed for this article, lauds Hollins for helping her find her voice: \u201cI\u2019m not afraid to stand up and say something. My experience was empowering, and I learned that I could do what I set my mind to.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Huegel, too, credits Hollins\u2019 size for helping her find and use her voice. \u201cHollins is a small community, so you need more voices to speak up. You could build coalitions.\u201d At Hollins, Huegel served as president of the College Democrats. \u201cThe president and vice president of the College Republicans were also political science majors [with me], and we combined our efforts on voter registration drives.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"divider\"Creating Change<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u201cHollins taught me that change can be transformative and transgressive: it can look like advocacy within existing systems like lawmaking and lawyering, but it can also come from the outside, through demonstrating, innovating alternatives, creating art, developing research, galvanizing community, and educating,\u201d notes Chenette. \u201cHollins students are among the most politically active because they see the opportunity to make change both in systems and beyond them. They see political possibility everywhere.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Rev.

Hale<\/p><\/div>\n

Those possibilities began in high school for Rev. Dr. Cynthia Hale \u201975 when she and the late Rev. Alvord Beardslee, emeritus professor of religion and former chaplain, volunteered together on Roanoke\u2019s National Council of Christians and Jews and attended an antiracism conference together before she enrolled at Hollins. \u201cHe was recruiting me for Hollins, but I realize now that he was recruiting me to ministry,\u201d says Hale, a Roanoke native who has been a Hollins trustee for the past decade.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She immediately became involved in the Religious Life Association at Hollins, chose a music major, and became a vocal voice for change on campus. \u201cI didn\u2019t go to Hollins to be politically active, but the crisis of the moment pushed us there\u2026it was Black power, white power, Kent State, women\u2019s power,\u201d she explains. \u201cI think we were more active then, [though] there\u2019s always been a core group at Hollins who are activists.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a racist place, which was part of that time,\u201d explains Hale, who founded Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia, serves as senior pastor, and works for numerous social justice issues. \u201cI vowed to change Hollins and thought I was going to eliminate racism by graduation. It wasn\u2019t eliminated, but I kept going. I\u2019m still going.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Arms\u201cMy activism was born of the fact that we find courage at Hollins to do what we need to do. Women have that [spark] in them, but Hollins flames the fire,\u201d Hale adds. \u201cThe faculty wouldn\u2019t allow us to say, \u2018We can\u2019t do this.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her c.v. is a primer on how to create change across communities. Hale created two nationally recognized pastoral development ministries, Elah Pastoral Ministries and Women in Ministry Conference. Among her numerous national awards is <\/span>Ebony Magazine\u2019s<\/i><\/span> \u201cPower 100\u201d list of the nation\u2019s most influential Black leaders, and in 2009 President Barack Obama appointed her to the President\u2019s Commission on White House Fellowships. For the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Hale served on the Platform Committee and delivered the Invocation at the Convention. For President Biden\u2019s Inauguration, she led one of the prayers during the Inaugural Prayer Service at the National Cathedral.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hale is an optimistic realist: \u201cChange is slow\u2014external change is one thing, but internal change allows diverse groups to work together.\u201d She proudly cites Hollins\u2019 first president of color, Mary Dana Hinton, Ph.D., a selection for which Hale served on the search committee.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By providing such visible opportunities to work together, from presidential search committees to Zoom conferences about real-life ballot recounts and healthy, respectful (and, yes, sometimes heated), political dialogue, Hollins, Chenette says, shows students how to make change sustainable: \u201cTelling people that they are wrong and you are right is rarely the most convincing argument. Humanizing politics, remembering it\u2019s about people, inspires diverse perspectives.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to feel you don\u2019t have a voice when you are young, but getting involved in politics [at Hollins] does help you see how that voice gets channeled,\u201d Huegel adds. \u201cYou learn that compromise is how things get built, and sometimes there are things that are hard to compromise on, but we have a dynamic system, and we can keep creating change.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sarah Achenbach is a freelance writer living in Baltimore.<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sarah Achenbach ’88\u00a0 Whatever your political leaning, 2020 felt like an endless civics lesson.\u00a0\u00a0 This isn\u2019t another article about the recent U.S. presidential election, don\u2019t worry. But it is about how political awareness and activism\u2014on both sides of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[80],"class_list":["post-9344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-winter-2021"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9344"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9418,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9344\/revisions\/9418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}