As the President of the College Republicans, Vice President of the growing CUAllies group, and your favorite barista at the Barnes & Noble Starbucks, Stephen Morris has surely caught your eye in some way throughout his three years here. He has proven himself as someone who puts the safety and inclusion of fellow students at the forefront of his actions, while also being one of the funniest and most entertaining guys around.
Major: Politics
Hometown: Springfield, VA
HC: What’s your favorite group that you have become involved in since being at CUA?
Steve: Probably Student Government.
HC: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Steve: I would love to work in poltics in some way. I want to focus on ways to help transcend the different divisions in politics that exist, and to get more young people invovled. Ideally I want to stay working in DC, I love being here.
HC: What is the coolest experience you have gotten to have through being CUA Republicans President?
Steve: It has been amazing to be able to see all the diverse forces of the future Republican party. I don’t think it is any secret that Republicans have been divided, espeically with all of the exposure on the extreme right-wing Donald Trump types of views, so it has been cool to see how the future of the party rejects that type of bigtory.
HC: CUAllies (a group of CUA students who are hoping to to become the schools first officially recognized LGBTQ group) has been gaining much attention this semester and has had two successful meetings so far, are you happy with how the club has been going?
Steve: Yes absolutely. We have almost doubled our scocial media presence and we have a lot of new interest, especially among freshman. I beleieve we are making a lot of progress to make CUA a more open and accepting place for everyone. I am really excited about two new initiatives we will be launching next semester so look out for updates about that.
(@cuallies on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook)
HC: What is one thing that you want the general student body to know about CUAllies?
Steve: That it is not a politcial movement. It is a group that is just as relevant to gay students as it is to straight students, because we believe that everyone should have equal dignity. We are not fighting for anythnig special, we are just fighting for everyone to be viewed the same.
HC: You also recently spoke at the “In Their Own Words” event and bravely shared your own coming out story, how was that experience for you?
Steve: I was so happy that I was able to do that. I did it for two main reasons: One, I wanted to show straight students that even though we have made a lot of progress in society, their gay and lesbian friends and family still go through many struggles. My second reason was that I wanted to show anyone still in the closet that they don’t have to fit into any stereotype or path and that they can forge their own identity.
HC: Any future plans for involvement at CUA?
Steve: Right now I am focused on my efforts as Speaker of the Senate. I want to do a lot of cool things such as raising the wage of student workers, getting CUAllies officially recognized and making the campus a safer place for all students look forward to doing all of those things next semester.
Thank you so much for all that you do here to make CUA a better place, Steve. Keep doing you and best of luck with all your endeavors!