UVA YDSA
UVA YDSA is a Virginia affiliate of Young Democratic Socialists of America.
2023 leadership
UVA YDSA leadership 2023.
- Grey Webbert Co-Chair
- Sloane Daly Co-Chair
- Dylan Jiron Secretary
- Autumn Hong Communications Chair
- Tucker F Treasurer
- Bryan L Socialists of Color Committee
- Nick Gentry Political Education
Housing campaign
UVA YDSA launched its housing campaign October 2022 on the steps of the Rotunda. Members participated in power mapping activities, assembled mold prevention packages for students in need and delivered a letter of their grievances to University President [[Jim Ryan[[’s home at Carr’s Hill.
Sam Amos, second-year College student and member of YDSA, stressed the importance of the demonstration as a way to show support for students facing these issues.
Beyond removing all reported mold, YDSA is demanding that the University install industrial-grade dehumidifiers in dorms with mold outbreaks, overhaul existing HVAC systems and compensate students hospitalized for mold issues.
For Nick Gentry, third-year College student and member of YDSA, the impact of on-Grounds housing issues go beyond just members of the University, as students are neighbors with the Charlottesville community.
Olivia Bent, first-year College student and member of YDSA, said she believes activism is critical to sustaining a healthy academic community here at the University which is why she chose to participate in the event.
“I think it’s important to improve the institution that you participate in because if you’re a student, you’re not just someone who goes here and just goes through the motions and just graduates, you participate in and try to improve your community,” Bent said.[1]
"Die-in"
Under the slogan "no acceptable losses, no in-person classes," more than 50 University of Virginia students spread out across the Lawn on Wednesday to protest how the university is handling coronavirus.
They're calling on UVA to reverse its decision about returning to in-person classes on Sept. 8 2020.
“They can still stop people from coming back to Grounds; they can still keep people home and keep people safe,” said Andre Zazzera, a UVA graduate student and a member of the steering committee of the United Campus Workers of Virginia at UVA (UCW-VA).
The students wrote letters to the administration about their concerns, which they plan to drop off at Carr Hill for UVA President Jim Ryan. Then, they lay down for around 15 minutes to host a “die-in.”
“Our limited goal is to get a good visual, a good optic of people dying-in on the Lawn and on the Rotunda to have a visual representation of what UVA can look forward to if it goes ahead with its reopening plan for this semester,” said Crystal Luo, a UVA graduate student and member of the UCW-VA.
They also assembled at the Rotunda for speeches.
“UVA’s more concerned with pleasing fancy donors and alumni than helping students and workers,” said Sarandon Elliott, a third-year UVA student and the chair of the UVA YDSA.
“Look at what JMU did,” said Madison Perry, a third-year UVA student and UCW-VA member. “Look at what happened to Northwestern, to UNC.”
“We think this is going to end the same way with sudden terminations, sudden move to online, that people aren’t going to be ready for,” Zazzera said.
Among their demands is a tuition freeze through the 2022/23 academic year, hazard pay for all employees required to work-in person, and free, regular COVID-19 testing for students, workers, and members of the Charlottesville community. They’re also asking for a firing freeze.
"We don't want the hurt to fall on the workers, for the university's lack of preparing ahead for ultimately what we could have seen five months ago happening,” Perry said.
The event was hosted by the UVA YDSA, the UCW-VA, the Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America, University Democrats, and the Organization of Young Filipino Americans.[2]