Fiat inclusivity

Dear Alfred University students, staff, and faculty:

June is Pride Month in recognition of a watershed moment in the advocacy of LGBTQ+ rights. On June 28, 1969, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons rioted following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a Manhattan gay bar in New York City. That riot helped to give rise to the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Rick Russo ’92 and his spouse, Luis Lifschitz, have provided an opportunity to recognize and help in the struggle LGBTQ+ students continue to face. In 2018, Rick and Luis established the Stonewall Fund to assist students in need who cannot rely on their families due to discrimination or intolerance with respect to their sexual and/or gender identity. The income from the endowed fund provides assistance with food, housing, healthcare, textbooks, transportation or other emergency needs.

Rick, who earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Alfred University, is dean of extended education and associate vice chancellor of undergraduate education at the University of California, Berkeley. He and Luis have committed to matching all contributions to the Stonewall Fund, up to $25,000, with the hope of reaching $50,000 by 2023. Currently, there is approximately $33,000 in the fund.

We are deeply appreciative of Rick’s and Luis’s generosity. For more information on the fund, and to donate, please visit http://plannedgiving.alfred.edu/?pageID=3&storyNum=21.

Fiat inclusivity!

Mark