Sam Klein, Editor

PHILADELPHIA – The early morning stillness of Nov. 6, 2024, was disrupted by a wave of emotion from nearly every American citizen on both sides of the political spectrum. Donald J. Trump was declared the 47^th president of the United States, beating out former vice president Kamala Harris.

The results of this election were enough to bring many to tears and others to a celebratory victory. For some, however, Trump’s reinstatement into the Oval Office served as ignition to light a previously burnt-out fire amidst the ashes of a dormant organization.

La Salle Democrats is back on La Salle’s campus and this time with a much different agenda.

The organization was originally founded in 1993 during the Bill Clinton administration and operated until the COVID-19 pandemic when the organization was forced to take a hiatus.

Now, in 2025, La Salle Democrats President Lilly Geneva Billarrial believes an organization to discuss the current administration under a lens of honesty and criticism isn’t only helpful to La Salle, but necessary.

“Our agenda is spreading democratic values on La Salle’s campus and making sure that Lasallians, even if they don’t fully agree with us ideologically, understand that the Democratic Party is trying to rebuild our country in the fear of how democracy is acting right now,” Billarrial said.

The group meets every other Monday in the La Salle Union Compass Club with the intention of educating members and fostering a welcoming space for political conversation that many students do not have otherwise.

“I feel safe,” Billarrial said. “Safe with people who understand the same thing I do and are fighting for the same thing I do, because right now, there’s ideological battles against all of us.”

Vice president Jose Bruno is grateful for the opportunity to express his passion for politics and the desire he has nurtured to have a voice.

“I come from a place where my friends told me to my face, ‘Hey, I don’t care about politics,’ so I would just shut up about it,” Bruno said. “But I feel like here I can have a voice, have a say, and  [can] work towards a greater goal.”

This goal: discussing the difficult. This means raising questions about the political atmosphere that suffocate news outlets and holding one another accountable to staying informed on issues in a non-biased, open-minded way.

Each member of the executive board aimed to assert despite the organization’s title, there is no anti-Republican agenda, nor are the majority of stereotypes about liberal-leaning organizations true.

“We’re not all blue-hair liberals,” Billarrial said. “We’re people with honest opinions and people who believe that the Trump administration is hurting us. But we’re not anti-Republican at all.”

Secretary of La Salle Democrats Patrick Malloy also attempts to reduce the stigma surrounding his organization and many like it.

“We’re actually hard working, normal American people who love our country and love what we’ve come to know as America,” Malloy said. “We just want it to have a better tomorrow.”

An ideology exists that lies rampant in the minds of many American citizens that current events do not pertain to them, that they are in some way exempt. Bruno, however, wants to negate this way of thinking.

“It’s important that we stay active on what’s going on in our government, in our country,” Bruno said. “Every decision that Congress makes affects us in some way or another.”

Just this past year, new legislation was signed to remove “radical” Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs from the Foreign Service, leaving many Americans, like Billarrial, fearful for what is to come.  

“I’m a Latina woman. I’m a third generation Mexican American. My father lives in Texas,” Billarrial said, “I’m scared.”

Despite the uneasiness, La Salle Democrats was reinstated for that purpose: informing, educating, supporting and minimizing the polarization that exists in the world today one unified, passionate club at a time.

“We’re tiny, but mighty,” Billarrial said as she looked to the rest of her executive board with pride. “And I wish people would know that we’re open to everybody.”If you would like to learn more about La Salle Democrats, follow them on Instagram @lasalledemocrats, or you can attend their next meeting on Apr. 28 at 5 p.m. in the La Salle Union Compass Club.