Student organizations gathered on the Lory Student Center Plaza last Wednesday afternoon for the United Front for Freedom’s monthly Student Mass Assembly, where community members voiced concerns ranging from campus resource cuts to immigrant rights.

The event, held from 1-3 p.m. on April 1, was co-hosted by six organizations: The Young Democratic Socialists of America, Planned Parenthood Generation at CSU, Revolutionary Student Union CSU, Young Democrats at CSU, Students for Justice in Palestine and The People United. Organizers also accepted donations of food and clothing as part of a mutual aid effort.

The assembly opened with an open-mic style forum where students raised grievances about university resource allocation. One attendee criticized the university’s decision to build a new on-campus stadium, arguing that it came at the expense of an existing student community garden that had provided free, fresh produce.

Students also raised concerns about arts funding, with one speaker pointing out that student artists are required to pay for tickets to campus productions after attending four shows, while no such policy exists for athletic events.

“For people who have to work on this stuff, who put their heart into this stuff, their hours, their time, their everything — my roommate will be on campus from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. the whole week, … and she has to pay to go to this,” said Maya Denny, YDSA co-chair. 

Panel members representing the co-hosting organizations addressed how their groups are working to support marginalized communities on campus, particularly undocumented and transgender students.

Sophia Johnson, co-chair for SJP and development and retention chair for YDSA, spoke on the organization’s trans rights working group, which is pushing for more inclusive campus policies and supporting state-level legislation protecting gender-affirming care. She also noted that YDSA members testified before the ASCSU Senate in support of additional funding for the Pride Resource Center’s Lavender Cabinet.

“Especially now in Colorado, we need to make sure that we are providing a space for trans people to just exist,” Johnson said.

On immigration, Ant Albrecht, YDSA co-chair, urged students to verify Immigration and Customs Enforcement sightings through the Colorado Rapid Response Network before posting on social media, warning that unconfirmed reports generate unnecessary fear in undocumented communities.

“A lot of anxiety, a lot of fear comes from people who think they’re doing the right thing,” Albrecht said. “Go through (the network) first.”

Bereket Ahmed, a fourth-year biomedical mechanical engineering student and YDSA general member, said he is working to launch a mutual aid working group within the organization. He described mutual aid as a community-based system of resource sharing that includes food, clothing and skills and operates outside of profit-driven structures.

“Mutual aid would be for a community to come together and, based on the wants and needs, to offer that community to pull in resources for each other,” Ahmed said.

He framed the effort as foundational to broader organizing goals.

“We need to be able to support the people here if we want to expect them to unionize, to radicalize under our umbrella,” Ahmed said.

That emphasis on collective support carried throughout the event as speakers repeatedly returned to the idea that building strong, interconnected communities is essential to creating and sustaining change. Several speakers stressed the importance of including students in university decision-making processes and fostering collaboration across organizations.

The United Front for Freedom holds monthly mass assemblies to gather and discuss social issues. Ahmed said these gatherings serve as an accessible entry point for both students and community members.

“A mass assembly like this is valuable because it’s a great way for students, as well as anyone in the community, to come, voice their opinions, voice their concerns, not just about CSU but on a global scale as well,” Ahmed said.

Reach Maci Lesh at news@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.