On a freezing Sunday afternoon, men, women and children alike made their way to the Union for the Lansing area Women’s March.
Hosted by MSU’s Women’s Council and the statewide Women’s March organization, the march began at the Union and ended at the Hannah Administration Building for a rally. It began with chants led by members of MSU’s Women’s Council before the event’s speakers were introduced.
This year's event marked the third annual Women’s March. The national movement began the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017, when 500,000 women and supporters held a march in Washington, D.C. to protest his presidency.
Special guests including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, state Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, D-Detroit, and student leaders spoke at the rally.
“We have seen such great strides, strides I never would imagine would happen from one election,” Whitmer said. “But we have work to go, change to be made, whether it is in on this campus or it is across our state in private workplaces as well as in public workplaces, we are on the march and we will not stop.”
A focus of the event was student and youth involvement in politics and what resources are necessary to encourage that involvement. Gay-Dagnogo, a former science teacher in Detroit Public Schools, spoke to the necessity of addressing student concerns like debt and educational access.
“I understand the impact that you’re facing as students," Gay-Dagnogo said. “Student loans continue to take away from our bottom line, but we have a president that tries to build a wall. Build schools, not walls.”
Michigan's main Women’s March has been held at the state Capitol since its creation, but this year the state’s largest march was held in Detroit to allow marginalized groups to more easily attend.
Instead of canceling the Lansing-area march altogether, organizers moved it to MSU’s campus.
“With everything that’s been happening on campus with Nassar and everything, this is a really good opportunity to bring all the students together,” said human biology senior Brianna Kardynal, a member of MSU’s Women’s Council’s executive board.
Gay-Dagnogo also spoke to the importance of student engagement at MSU. She pointed to pressure placed on former Interim President John Engler to address a culture of sexual assault at the university as an example of the influence of involved students.
The involvement of young women in the political process drove the sweeping changes in Michigan government as a result of the midterms, said supply chain business sophomore Sanjidah Hussain, who serves on the Women’s Council executive board.
“The only reason why we’ve had this whole 'blue wave' is because of the new generation," Hussain said. "It’s just so amazing seeing so many women being so politically active.”
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