R.E.S.P.E.C.T.: Campus Celeb Jess Acosta

            Jess Acosta’s message of female power and self-respect is more than fitting for a publication like Her Campus. The soon-to-be Colby alumnus is president of the Bridge, Colby’s LGBT organization, and has dedicated the last four years of her Colby career to battling gender-inequality and LGBT issues head-on. When I sat down with Jess, she cut right to the chase: “so…I haven’t looked too closely yet, but what is Her Campus all about? Is it queer-oriented?” I was taken aback at first, until I learned of the obstacles she has had to overcome; her directness seems all too fitting. Fouryears ago, when Jess first arrived on campus as freshman, she was the only openly “out” member of her class. “Colby four years ago was a very different place from the Colby we have today. Real progress has been made, but it wasn’t always this way.” When Jess first arrived, the Bridge was “floundering”: it was run by a single student and had little presence on campus. Jess decided to get involved and help out where she could, assuming leadership over minor projects and taking on bigger and bigger rolls. At the end of that first year, on the day of her last final, Acosta received a phone call to come to the bridge office. She was handed a key and told “this is yours now, you’re in charge, good luck.”
        The Bridge room was essentially empty; the club had no email address and no steady membership. Returning for her sophomore fall, Jess took it into her own hands to change this. She singlehandedly travelled around campus covering every empty bulletin board with posters advertising the Bridge, calling interested students to come check it out. She worked hard to increase the number of Bridge events and to increase the presence of LBGT life at Colby.  
        First, of course, is “Pride Week.” During the first day of admitted students week the Colby campus was set ablaze with rainbow flags and messages of “no h8” (“No Hate”). The week was filled with various talks and concerts, culminating in the highly popular Drag Ball.  Students also stood on the Miller steps adorned in different colors of the rainbow; a representation of the banners administration would not allow them to hang. Last fall, the Bridge organized a weekend-long conference: LGBT leaders from across New England (mostly NESCAC schools) came to talk about their campus organizations and individual experiences. The Bridge also helped bring Bobbi Starr to campus earlier this semester, in conjunction with Nora Cromwell who was doing her honors thesis on Starr. Most significant has been the addition of a Gender and Sexual Diversity Resource Officer, Berol Dewdney, who we interviewed earlier this year.
        This Bridge-specific leadership, however, coincides with a broader goal of increasing the conversation of formerly taboo topics of gender inequality and female empowerment. Jess spoke of the relatively recent change in atmosphere that makes her feel “optimistic-ish” for the future of Colby’s gay and female community. She referred to Take Back the Night, at which she felt comfortable enough to speak out and tell her personal story. She also remembered fondly a spontaneous dance party that broke out in Foss around a month ago. “Two years ago, that kind of thing would have never happened!” Though this, specifically, is not representative of LGBT or feminist activism, it suggests openness and drive for community that Jess says has not always been present.
        “The issue of gender and power becomes easier to fight against when you respect yourself. If you are able to ignore magazines and T.V. adds that tell everybody that they are fat and need makeup and cosmetic surgery, and if you can convince yourself that the only thing that matters is what is inside of you, then you can better fight the forces trying to put you down. That is what I have tried to promote while I have been here.”
        Post graduation, Jess plans to put her Sociology major to use as a teacher with Teach for America in Louisiana. Her leadership and passion will be sorely missed, but the Bridge is not without hope for a solid future. There is a whole team of underclassmen, whom Jess affectionately refers to as her “minions,” waiting to take charge next year. She found the Bridge in shambles, but is leaving it a thriving forum for LGBTQ and allied support and activism. “We just try to dance and throw glitter and rainbows on everything we do,” she quipped. We all know, however, that her roll has been much more significant.