Drew University is known for its bustling student life and diversity, with dozens of events and club meetings occurring every week. However, one organization’s presence has been greatly missed on campus over the past academic year: the Sexuality and Gender Alliance.
This club not only provided a necessary safe space for Drew’s LGBTQ+ population, but it also encouraged solidarity and created allies across the student body. Without it, many have been left in the shadow of this once active organization, wondering what the future holds for SAGA—but in the background, three students are working hard to bring this community back to life.
President Sabr Keres-Siddiqui (‘27), Secretary Skyler Sarnoski (‘29) and Vice President Jules Domitrowsky (‘29) have partnered up to reestablish SAGA, advertising the new club on campus as LGBTQ@Drew.
While discussing their plans and motivations, Keres-Siddiqui, who attended a SAGA event last year as their first introduction to campus life, explained the disbandment of the previous organization: “What I saw from the outside is it used to be run by someone called Victoria Vermilye. They graduated I think in ‘24 or ‘25, and there were still events being held last year. But I think when Victoria graduated, it disbanded because they were the person who was holding a lot of it together.”
Keres-Siddiqui attempted to revive SAGA during the fall semester, but was met with no responses from the original start-up group. Despite this, Domitrowsky reached out with interest in joining, recruiting Sarnoski (their roommate) along the way, and this marked the beginning of LGBTQ@Drew.
When asked about their vision for the club, Sarnoski expressed her desire to assert their place on campus. “Right now our goal is just to have people know that we exist. We’re here, and we’re also here to listen.” Keres-Siddiqui elaborated on this, saying that they want to emulate the kind of safe space that many of the other student-run organizations have successfully created, but for the queer population.
Much of the club’s development is still in the works, with interest flyers being distributed and an official email currently under clearance. To spread the word, LGBTQ@Drew has been connecting with other campus clubs such as SASA and StuGov in hopes of recruiting new members and garnering attention. In regards to future meetings, the group has been brainstorming ideas: “I’m looking forward to having events on queer education, different identities, highlighting different experiences, orientations, genders— that kind of stuff,” Keres-Siddiqui stated.
Sarnoski conveyed LGBTQ@Drew’s message to prospective members, putting an emphasis on fostering a community that maintains a well-balanced attitude and welcomes everyone. “I love to talk to people; about serious topics, about anything they want, and we’d love to be a comfort space. Nobody should be ashamed of who they are or what they want to talk about.”
Jadelyn Villa is a junior majoring in English creative writing and minoring in teaching.