Last semester, when the new organization “Students United for Veterans” was brought onto campus, it gave Iona students the chance to become activists for a cause they believed in. This semester, a few students are providing a new outlet for activism, but for a very different cause.

The Iona College Animal Rights Coalition (ARC) is a new interest group currently going through the process of being an officially recognized organization through the Office of Student Development.

Valerie Ammarito and Chelsea Champion began the group as a response to the need for an organization to represent the concern many students have for the wellbeing of animals.

 “Last semester, word was going around about a pet shop selling puppies downtown across from Applebee’s,” said Champion. “The talk about the store was very negative so Valerie and I, being animal lovers, investigated the situation.”

“The conditions of this shop, the ‘New Roc Doggie Spot,’ were indeed very poor,” she said. “The animals were kept in small, dirty enclosures and did not appear to be very healthy. The shop also had a very unprofessional feel. Other students noticed this and were concerned as well, and efforts were made to contact the appropriate organizations to take action on the situation.”

The two main purposes of ARC will be to organize students who feel passionately about animal rights, as well as to educate the Iona community on the many issues surrounding animal endangerment.

The founders hope to begin informing through outreach and advocacy, raising money for an animal shelter or similar organization and hopefully volunteering at the Humane Society alongside Campus Ministries, the service project currently run by Campus Minister Jennifer Pietrofer, also a hopeful member of the new organization.

They hope to work not only with current groups, but also the New Rochelle community as a whole, and current animal advocacy organizations.

Before these events can take place, one of the requirements to being a recognized club is a strong interest base. The interest group has held one meeting at this point in order to gauge interest and explain the group.

Champion said that they had a much greater turnout than expected, but that they could always use more members.

She said, “The only requirement for being in the group is having a love for animals, so I hope that we can establish a large and diverse membership in the future because with more people we will be able to accomplish bigger and better things.”

The other requirement to becoming a recognized group on campus is working with the Student Government Association to develop and have approved a group constitution.

ARC has been hard at work in this process, developing their group’s mission so that they can officially begin programming and inspiring change.

Their constitution preamble states, “Iona College Animal Rights Coalition is a student organization that aims to address existing animal rights issues and to promote a more humane environment in Iona’s community and world-wide. We plan to facilitate our mission through educational programs and philanthropic endeavors such as fundraising, volunteering, moderating discussions, and disseminating literature both on and off campus.”