Christian Gonzalez Rivera

Vice-President

I am writing to declare my candidacy for the position of vice president of ALAS. Among the various positions available, I feel that the role of VP would be the best fit for me, given my plans for involvement with ALAS in the future.

I am very interested in working with the board and membership on designing events that highlight the experiences and contributions of Latinos to the urban space, both los de aqui and los de alla. Often in our studies we focus on the negative experiences of people of color--poverty, social strife, discrimination, and struggle. All of these things are part of our stories, but we have many more stories of cultural richness, family ties, success, and pathbreaking that have moved our communities forward. To the extent that we have shaped urban space and informed culture, customs, and knowledge in the United States and in other countries, so should ALAS be working to create a platform through which these experiences can be integrated into a universal story about the urban experience.

The description of the vice president's position is strongly focused on planning, organizing, and evaluating events, so I feel it would be the best platform for me to work with the board and membership on realizing these goals for ALAS and Wagner as a whole.

I have plenty of prior experience in leadership of student organizations. During my undergraduate years at Columbia I was president of the Columbia Queer Alliance, an advocacy and social student group for LGBT students. I had come into a group that had experienced substantial lack of membership, and that had dwindling resources. Through my efforts and those of the board I led, we held very popular recurring cultural and social events, established revenue streams large enough to make us self-sufficient, and even secured an newly-renovated LGBT lounge area that now serves as a safe space and legacy for the LGBT community at Columbia.

As with many of us in ALAS, my upbringing in Latino neighborhoods has a strong impact on the way I view urban and social dynamics. I am committed to sharing these stories with others, and feel that the position of vice president of ALAS is the ideal place from which to do so.