Panel Discussion: Students for Change: Activating Campus Communities to Combat Sexual and Dating Violence

A Senior Domestic Violence Advocate at Metropolitan Family Services and former Founder and President of It’s On Us at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Ella is a longtime advocate for survivor’s rights at both the state and institutional level. Before graduating in 2024, Ella testified as an expert witness in favor of an amendment to the Illinois Gender Violence Act and authored a thesis on Radical Hope among survivors of color under the guidance of Dr. Helen Neville. Her survivor advocacy work was honored by the Obama Foundation with a Voyager Scholarship in 2022, which supported her subsequent survivor advocacy internships in Dakar, Senegal, Quito, Ecuador, and Palermo, Italy. Ella is a firm believer that gender-based violence cannot be studied independently from colonialism, and draws hope from fellow young people across the world who are taking risks to end violence in their own communities through transformative justice. On top of her full-time DV advocacy, Ella is Director of Policy Research at ACE, an organization that democratizes access to policy analysis and publication for young thinkers. You can reach her at dennise@metrofamily.org.

Sydney Turner is an activist, organizer, writer, and student currently based in the Midwest. As a senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Sydney is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Communication with a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies, and Certificates in Distinguished Undergraduate Research and Leadership. On her campus, she recently co-authored a referendum to expand reproductive healthcare for students and authored a new version of the Campus Safety Notice email for sex crimes, delivered to over 80,000 students, staff, and faculty via the Division of Public Safety. Her updated version of the Campus Safety Notice email improved the survivor-centered language and resource accessibility delivered to the campus community by the university. Through all of her endeavors, she seeks to articulate social justice advocacy through an artistic lens, and in the future, she plans to continue her advocacy in violence prevention and reproductive justice.

Ray is a Temple University senior serving as Student Body President. She has acted as a committed activist organizing to prevent sexual violence since middle school. At Temple, she became the Founding President of her university’s chapter of It’s On Us: Student Activists Against Sexual Assault. She currently occupies the first LGBTQ+ Caucus Chair position at It’s On Us National, where she is developing programming to represent the experiences of queer survivors better. She is an awardee by the City of Philadelphia’s CPOC for “Iconic Philly Woman 2024.”  Ray is also an ambassador for Callisto–an encrypted matching system for survivors of sexual violence–and a State Director for the Every Voice Coalition, where she promotes survivor-based legislation in Pennsylvania, and a Truman Scholar. Previously, she has interned at Take Back the Night Foundation, Network for Victim Recovery of DC, Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and Break the Cycle.

A Special Education Teacher at Chicago Public Schools and former Director of Marketing of It’s On Us at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mia is an advocate for survivors at the national and global levels. Before graduating in 2024, Mia completed her Political Science senior thesis on U.S. Intervention and the Rise of Femicide in Mexico under the guidance of Dr. Gisela Sin. Her work has transcended at the national level while interning at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and with Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García in 2023 where she conducted legislative research and policy recommendations. Mia is a strong champion of advocacy being survivor-centered while emphasizing solutions from a socio-political lens. On top of being a Sped Teacher at CPS, Mia is also a Teach For America AmeriCorps member and is working towards her Master’s in Special Education. You can reach her at mia.macias.24@tfacorps.org.

Jean Qian is a senior at Emory University studying political science and sociology on a pre-law professional track. As a dedicated advocate for survivor-centered justice and a passionate leader in campus activism, she serves on her university Department of Title IX Student Advisory Committee and as President of Emory University’s Sexual Assault Peer Advocates (SAPA). Jean re-established SAPA to educate and empower students on issues of sexual and dating violence through peer advocacy, increasing resource awareness, and engaging across multicultural groups. As a member of Emory Student Government, she has also written and passed legislation to mandate training on sexual violence education amongst students and enforce disciplinary probations against individuals found responsible for violating Title IX mandates. Jean is currently applying to law school, with the goal of pursuing a career at the intersection of human rights law, policy reform, and public interest advocacy.