If you are a part of He for She, then you probably know Suman Ali, but if you haven’t met her you should. Suman is a wonderful student who has made it her mission to spread the ideas of He for She across Siena’s campus. You can most often find her studying or hanging with friends in Casey’s, but if you don’t want to approach her there, read on to know more about Suman.
Suman Ali
Year: Junior
Age: 20
Major: Political Science Minor: Economics
Hometown: Albany
HC Siena: What is your favourite class this year?
Suman: Right now I’m taking a class with Dr. Veccarius-Kelly. It’s Syrian Refugees in the Middle East.
HC Siena: What is your favourite animal?
Suman: I’m not really an animal type of person. I absolutely hate cats, and I’m really picky with dogs. So I guess I’d say a dog.
HC Siena: Who is your favourite artist?
Suman: Right now I listen to whatever is on the radio. I’ve been listening to The Weekend a lot though, so he’s definitely most played on my phone.
HC Siena:What is your favourite movie?
Suman: I really don’t have a favourite, but I really like watching those dumb indie movies on Netflix that nobody ever watches. If it’s bad I’m gonna turn it off. I’ll get to the end and I’ll be like “ I just wasted an hour and a half for no reason.”
HC Siena: What is your favourite quote?
Suman: A quote I actually saw very recently I have on my phone. It’s just stuck with me for the past couple of weeks. “It took me a very long time to develop a voice and now that I have it I’m not going to be silent.” It’s by Madden Albright. … I wasn’t really the type speak up before so that’s really stuck with me for a while. Since starting Siena, I really developed my own thoughts and how I feel about things, I’m much more open about it.
HC Siena: What has been your best experience at Siena so far?
Suman: It’s the group of friends that I made. When I started He for She I was in a car ride going somewhere and I texted one of my friends, “ I want to start He for She at Siena”, and no questions asked, no comments, and she said “Let’s do it.” Her name is Annie and now she’s the acting vice president. They are really supportive of me and very “What can we do to to help and how can we be a part of it?” Things that I’m involved in they’ve always been very supportive of. That’s definitely been the biggest up for me.
HC Siena: How did you find out about He for She?
Suman: The first time I heard about He for She was actually in Dr. Veccarius-Kelly’s Comparative Politics class. She played us the speech that Emma Watson did for the UN. So after that it was always in the back of my head, and a couple of months ago I followed them on Instagram. So then I looked more into who they were and what their entire message was… It was really interesting, ‘cause I knew about them when they first started but it wasn’t until very recently that that I got a major interest in them.
HC Siena: What made you bring He for She to Siena?
Suman: They actually re-posted another school that started He for She at their campus and I don’t know what kind of event it was, but it basically was an event where you could go pledge your support for He for She. I thought ‘How cool it would be if this is something that we brought to Siena?’ On He for She’s website, and even instagram, you see that a lot of schools and universities in Europe have started He for She, but there wasn’t a lot about what is going on in the U.S. So I thought what would be cool is if Siena was one of the not too many campuses that had it.
HC Siena: Can you tell readers a little bit about He for She?
Suman: It is a solidarity movement for gender equality, started by UN women. It’s for gender equality, but it advocates men and boys to take a stance and say that gender equality is an issue. It’s really trying to engage the males to stand up for females. It’s definitely a different take on it.
HC Siena: What do you suggest students to be doing to help He for She?
Suman: Come to meetings. We plan on discussing different issues regarding gender equality but we also will be doing tables in the SSU and around campus where you can pledge your support for He for She. Their goal is to get one million people to pledge by July 28th 2016, which is coming up pretty fast. Right now there are about 650,000 people who have pledged their support. So a lot of what we will be doing is reaching out to siena students, to teach them what He for She is and more information on issues regarding gender equality.
HC Siena: When are the meetings for He for She?
Suman: We meet on Tuesdays at 9:15 in Siena Hall 119.
HC Siena: What advice do you have for younger Siena students?
Suman: I feel like you should shop around, see what you are interested in. You never really know what is really going to hit home for you. I think a part of the college experience is finding something you feel passionate about and you can spend your free time doing it and not feel like burdened by it. I constantly am having thoughts like, “Oh my god, we can do this for He for She,” and, “This is something that would be so cool to bring to campus”. It’s great when you find that one thing that clicks with you in your head and you know your friends are there for you. You know there are so many other people at Siena supporting you.