Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Anthony Alvarez of KU’s GPeeps for GIA. Alvarez is a history major at the University of Kansas and has recently come out with an article for the University Daily Kansan, encouraging KU staff to consider what they can do with their individual power. 

Alvarez operates on the understanding that if one has a platform, they use it to speak up in times of distress. I had the chance to inquire further into his thoughts regarding his termination as an employee of KU Housing and his personal reflections regarding the GPeeps for GIA movement.

 Q: “Just starting out, how did you feel when KU Housing gave you a warning and suspended you for speaking to the press?”

A: “To be honest, I mostly thought it was funny because it was so ridiculous. I had quickly accepted that this warning that I was going to do things in the future, and I had already done things that would become viable offenses at that point. I had already helped put up a banner. All these actions are not illegal or not morally wrong. … I was really aware of everything I was doing. But the KCUR story in particular was very funny to me, because when I went into the meeting, they had printed out the articles I was quoted in and showed them to me as though I had a meeting with the CIA. They were like, “Do you recognize this?” It felt very funny. I think I laughed while I was in the room. 

“I think what I took from that experience was how strict the KU procedure is. They want to show you evidence, and it’s all because they don’t want to be held legally liable. But because of that, a meeting with the University of Kansas can very quickly feel like a secret police meeting. Like, thank you for showing me this evidence?”

Q: “How do you feel about this procedure-driven attitude coming to the University  of Kansas?”

A: “I think in general, university has become a lot more transactional. I think there’s a lot more students that go to college just to get a degree and aren’t really involved, even in their studies. I think you could try to get as good as grades as possible, and then you could graduate and get a job. But I think everyone is experiencing a level of disengagement. But I think for KU, I think there is a push coming from certain corners of really active students. … I think you go to school with some expectation of what it’s going to be like, and when it doesn’t match up with that, I think we have more of an incentive to make things better.

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“I often think the university is scared. … KU really wants to throw everything under the rug whenever any situation like [the GIA ban] happens. Like, we had a Palestine encampment, and I do not think that the university ever really addressed it. … I’m just talking [about] putting out a statement, acknowledging that they were there. 

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“It really is that universities in general have become a business, and that’s what they are primarily concerned with. turning a buck … .”

Q: “Correct me if I’m wrong, but in the past, you have been involved with speaking at the Kansas House of Representatives? Tell me how that’s shaped how you engage with these things nowadays.”

A: “I think definitely something that I’ve learned a lot is that … when you talk to people in upper housing or get closer to directors, you tend to think of them like how they portray themselves as the adults in charge. Like, they are understanding something that you don’t. And representatives do this too, but basically to all Kansans. But meeting Kansas representatives and talking with them can feel like, “Oh, this is just a regular person that can be convinced and also can be wrong.” One, It gives you a lot of confidence, as though you are making an impact that’s larger than you. And you know, that was what speaking to the legislators these past few years for gender affirming care has been to me.

“And then I’ve taken that experience of how you conduct yourself in meetings, how you speak to these people and how you’re supposed to portray yourself, like in my meetings when I talked to upper KU Housing. Like, if a Kansas Senator or Representative doesn’t really intimidate me anymore, and I’ve gotten that experience, why should I be intimidated by [that] person?”

Q: “Right. I know you were also involved with Loud Light while speaking at the House and the Senate. What do you have to say about organizations like that, rather than just the individual, in terms of how much impact they can have?”

A: “I mean, organizations like Loud Light are nonprofits, and are so tied up in a certain way, because they are getting funding from different places. For instance, Loud Light is a nonpartisan organization. But organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine or GPeeps for GIA …, I think, are very useful and do have a lot of power. … Because, the more people get involved in something, it adds something to how many voices and ideas there are, along with how many connections there are.

“Because there are so many people, we get connections to the Social Welfare Department, the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department, and the Physics Department. We’re able to talk to those people. We can delegate one person to talk to the city hall and another to talk to the [University Daily Kansan]. I think for the most part, a lot of people just show up to protests, and aren’t usually involved in bigger things like this. But I also think that for a lot of people, that makes sense. And even just showing up to the protest and being another person that gets counted, and how many people are there  is important.”

Q: “Another idea is that in our modern lives now, we’ve got these devices that can help bring us together, but sometimes we’re a little too focused on being brought together across the world rather than forming in-person connections. How do you feel about that?”

A: “It’s all really complicated, because obviously we are all using it to educate ourselves. … If you’re concerned about the Israel-Palestine situation, there isn’t a lot you can do if you’re in the United States other than donations and things like that, right? So oftentimes, the feeling that you get from it tends to be more hopeless than anything else. I mean, for the most part, unless people are really activated and galvanized, you can get a lot of support online but then not a lot of people actually show up. I would say that when we had our first protest, which did have a bigger amount of people, we had less Instagram followers, [but] now we have about 500 and we had about the same number of people and definitely less enthusiasm last protest.”

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Q: “So, after being let go from Housing, what is it you plan on doing now? What do you want to do next?”

A: “I’ve been really galvanized and activated by this whole experience, and also the amount of people that have shown up and helped us out. [Especially] organizations that I was tangentially involved in or knew about, like [the Episcopal Campus Ministries,] which is a very good campus resource …. They’re involved in tons of stuff: they would host punk shows here, they have a bunch of community service classes, they do Food Not Bombs here… Things like that. They’re the people who offered me a place to stay. … Hopefully, I’ll continue to work with Loud Light in the future. So yeah, I think my next steps are to become involved in my community more, especially the stuff that’s outside of KU. So, over the summer I would ideally be working with the Latino population around here in Lawrence, and hopefully just continue being able to make good trouble and help people out.”

Edited by Jeremy Ford and Morgan Albrecht.