A crowd of roughly 100 students gathered on the Mallet Assembly’s front lawn for a potluck to show support for not only Mari Boroff, the victim of harassment on campus last week, but to all women in the LGBTQ+ community.

Boroff, a sophomore majoring in social work, said the harassment she experienced last week was triggering.

“It happened in high school a couple of times, and in middle school it was a big thing before I was even out,” Boroff said. “But this event is to show everybody that we don’t hate anybody. And this is to invite everyone in the greek community in like this is our family.”

Henry Perkins, a senior majoring in New College and student leader for UA Stands, said this was a way to celebrate with the campus, but more importantly to make a point.

“This is for members of campus to show their solidarity with the harassed and to take a stand against random verbal abuse and general hoodlumism,” Perkins said. “And if you’re not for that then come have a hamburger, and if you’re part of that, then I don’t think you should have a hamburger.”

Mallet and UA Stands are not anti-greek, Perkins said.

“We want to be friends,” he said. “This is heavy outreach. We are trying to broadcast an image of inclusiveness and that our student body is unified.”

William Gonzalez, a member of UA Stands, said he attended the potluck Wednesday to combat The University of Alabama’s culture of silence.

“We let stupid members of our organizations taint the image for all of us,” Gonzalez said. “And as a member of Blount and a member of the concerned Alabama community, we can’t let these people be the voice and what people see of our organizations.”

Gonzalez said the people who met at the event probably had never seen each other before, especially not in that particular context.

“When you have SGA execs mingling with Malleteers and you have sorority women mingling with GDIs, it’s always going to be a good thing,” he said.

Other students said they showed up because it seemed like the right thing to do.

“I heard about what happened in the paper and I thought, well, that’s just wrong and terrible,” Michael Decremer, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, said. “And when I heard they were having this party, I thought OK, I can be supportive about being against what happened and I can have free food, so it’s a win-win.”