Allies share messages of support

More than 200 students, employees and visitors crafted personal messages and posed in front of rainbow-decorated wolf statues to show support for GLBT students at N.C. State’s second Ally Day Wednesday in Wolf Plaza. 

The event ran from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and received nearly five times the number of participants than last year’s Ally Day, according to Ben Stockdale, president of N.C. State College Democrats and a freshman in political science. 

Last year, the GLBT Center and the N.C. State College Democrats partnered to start Ally Day as a way for students to show their support for the GLBT community and encourage a welcoming environment on campus, Stockdale said. 

An ally is any person that does not identify as a member of an oppressed group but speaks to the equality and respect for people who do identify as one of the oppressed, according to Julius Perkins, program assistant for the GLBT Center. 

Participants at the Ally Day tent were given whiteboards and asked to write down why they are allies. They then had pictures taken with their signs in front of the wolf statues in Wolf Plaza. Event volunteers gathered the email addresses of participants after the photo, and they will be sending each participant the photo of themselves, Stockdale said.

One of the goals of Ally Day is that some people will make the photos their profile pictures on Facebook, according to Stockdale.

While the event began at N.C. State, it has spread to other North Carolina universities. Stockdale said he contacted other campus’ chapters of College Democrats and gave them the idea to put on a similar event for themselves. 

Other schools that hosted their own Ally Day events this year include East Carolina University, Appalachian State University, Western Carolina University, Wake Forest University and the University of North Carolina at Asheville, according to Stockdale.

The other universities had similarly successful experiences with their Ally Days, according to Stockdale.

“N.C. State is leading the statewide effort,” Stockdale said. “We designed the concept for everyone’s Ally Day events, and we are the ones that spearheaded the entire process. We’re calling it N.C. Ally Day.”

Ally Day and the Student Senate’s recent passing of Resolution 98, the Inclusive Admissions Act, are steps in the right direction toward N.C. State becoming a more welcoming university, Stockdale said. 

Although Ally Day was founded in part by the N.C. State College Democrats, the event was not created as a way to advocate for policy change, Stockdale said. 

Stockdale said he supported the people, not the policy. 

“I think it is particularly important for our specific campus community because it reiterates our statement for diversity and equality for all students here at North Carolina State University,” Perkins said. 

Students’ messages ranged anywhere from short, simple statements to long, heartfelt responses, according to Perkins. 

“My favorite part is seeing students come up with the most witty reasons of why they are an 

ally,” Perkins said “It doesn’t have to be this long philosophical message, it can be as simple as ‘because I like people.’”

The second Ally Day differed from the first, not only in amount of student involvement but also in location. Last year, the Ally Day event took place in the Brickyard instead of Wolf Plaza, according to Perkins.

“We prefer it here, instead of the Brickyard,” Perkins said. “Out here we get a lot of the traffic to and from Talley, and we don’t have to be competing with other organizations who set up there.”

Rachel Banawa, a freshmen in psychology, said she supported the cause because she wants everyone to feel safe and welcome on campus.

“We have a lot of diverse people here, and I think it’s important that they don’t come in and are seen as a minority,” Banawa said. “I do it so they have support and can feel like we are a loving community that wants them here.”