Recently at SRU, posters about the Equal Rights Amendment were put up around campus. They include a QR code that individuals can scan to sign a petition to get the amendment passed.
While only being an SRU student for a few months, freshman Ariella Westreich has been working to bring awareness about the Equal Rights Amendment to campus.
Westreich is a secondary education and social studies major who got involved on campus right away in several clubs and is working to start her own. She wants to start an Equal Rights Amendment club for students on campus.
The Equal Rights Amendment was originally proposed in 1923 by Alice Paul.
Westreich talked about what the amendment is.
“It ensures gender equality for all Americans, so it gained momentum in the Women’s Movement of the 70s,” Westreich said.
“They were so close, but unfortunately, missed a deadline by three states’ ratification in 1982, so now there’s momentum to bring it back and get it added to the Constitution. And Virginia was the last state to ratify 2020,” she said.
Over the summer Westreich would read the news, and felt she wanted to make a difference.
“So, I came across this site called Sign for ERA, and it’s this petition that was created by Hunter College about the Equal Rights Amendment. So, I started researching more, and then I found on the site that you can create your own hyperlink and get people to sign up using your own code,” Westreich said.
Westreich reached out asking more questions and decided to hang up petitions around her local area.
“The lady in charge of the petition site was like, ‘so we have a Zoom meeting that we do bi-weekly, if you want to join us. We’re Sign for ERA champions.’ Next thing I know, I’m zooming bi-weekly with all these women who originally fought for it,” Westreich said. “And it just kind of happened. Next thing I know, I’m doing activism,”
When coming to SRU Westreich wanted to bring what she was doing at home to campus.
“So, I’ve been really trying to raise awareness about it and people have never heard of it,” Westreich said.
She started speaking at various clubs and organizations to spread the word and recruit students who might want to get involved, including SRU Progressives and the Honors College.
“I’m trying to start, kind of my own club, getting people [to] raise awareness and to get petition signatures. And I got some good momentum so far for people who are also in SRU Progressives,” Westreich said. “Since I’m a member of a lot of clubs, it’s been good to spread the word.”
Westreich has been advertising the petition by hanging up posters around campus with a QR code that individuals can sign.
“The women who are part of it now and the organizations are working with politicians, elected officials, trying to get certain people on board and just trying to strategize to get the Equal Rights Amendment added to the Constitution. So, through joint petitions, introducing it on the floor to hopefully get people’s support on this issue.”
If students have questions or want to get involved in helping with the creation of the club, they can reach out to Westreich at ajw1044@sru.edu.
