Students at UConn Stamford gather for peaceful anti-Trump rally

After Donald Trump won the presidential election, many people took action to voice their opposition, especially students.

In an attempt to have their voices heard, UConn Stamford students organized an anti-trump rally that allowed both students and the public to take a stand and voice their disapproval about the election results.

However, it also allowed students who were pro-Trump to voice their opinions too. No one was excluded, as long as they were peaceful.

Valeria Ochoa, a sophomore, English major and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies minor, came up with the idea to organize this rally but had help from many students around campus.

Ochoa says, “I came to school the day after the election and it was really gloomy here on campus. I started talking to a lot of the students and they were scared. They had fear in their voices and fear in their eyes. I saw this overwhelming sense of disillusionment from people. People were losing hope and that’s the opposite of what should be happening. So I said, ‘Let’s organize a rally on campus and get the student body together so they can voice their opinions.’”

Valeria Ochoa, giving a speech for the rally

Ochoa’s initial idea in organizing this rally was not to try to get Trump impeached or protest the idea of him becoming President but to protest the political system and the ideas and false promises Trump was telling the nation. The main goal of the rally was to have an open dialogue and work together to change the system.

Darlene Calderon and Alex Manna, both seniors, English majors, and WGSS minors, also helped to organize the rally.

Alex Manna and Darlene Calderon

Alex expressed relief in being able to organize this rally and giving a voice for those that were marginalized. They said, “There were LGBT students in the Women’s Center crying and they’re people you never see crying. It’s just the fact that you even have to comfort people in that way. Honestly, every marginalized group is affected by this: LGBT, undocumented and even documented immigrants, people of color, women. What we’re doing now matters because we’re reacting in a positive way. Just working on this rally made me feel so much better.”

Darlene added, “I’m documented but I have family members and friends who are very close to me who are undocumented and I’ve never felt with any election, except for this one, scared to be a part of the Latino community or to just be Latina in general. I know a lot of people feel this way too. A lot of people were saying there’s no point in protesting but it’s about changing the conversation and holding people who think its okay to spread hatred accountable and letting them know it’s not okay to speak like that.”

Overall, the turnout for the rally was large, with over 100 people in attendance, both students and people from the public. They held up signs and were allowed the ability to come up to the podium and speak their words.

Nancy, a member of the public, held a sign that said “Pussy Grabs Back” and wrote down quotes by Trump on sticky notes and then taped them to her body. She read some of them out loud to those who attended the rally.

One quote by Trump that she read said, “A person who is flat chested is very hard to be a 10.”

Dani Caruso, a junior and Digital Media & Design major, spoke out during the rally. Sporting a Bernie shirt and a sign that read “Fuck the DNC,” she voiced out her anger in Trump becoming elected.

She later expressed relief for voicing her opinions and said, “I really hope I sparked interest in others to get more involved in the political process and actually take a stand and use their rights to speak out. We must hold the parties accountable because they failed us. So, people need to get more involved and not just share memes on Facebook.”

Overall, the rally gave hope to students and those who organized it are thinking of bringing future rallies to the campus to allow more opportunities for students to attend and speak out. These rallies will be open to the public as well.