Welcome to Willamette

Stephen Lewis, who recently completed a term as the United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, didn’t mince words when he addressed Willamette’s new students at convocation in August. The fast-talking Canadian diplomat’s emotionally charged speech offered a mix of research and personal anecdotes to convey the tragedies of AIDS and gender inequality worldwide. His plea to the students was urgent: You, the next generation of potential activists, can do something about these problems.

Will Nevius ’09 was in the audience that day, but these weren’t new ideas to him. Nevius, a politics major, had already met Lewis earlier in the summer at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City — the latest in the student’s long list of activist efforts. It’s no surprise that Nevius calls Lewis one of his heroes.

“He has this amazing presence, and he’s not afraid to have this critical voice,” Nevius says. “He’s a change agent wherever he is, whether he’s inside or outside the machine.”

Those words could also apply to Nevius, who, like Lewis, talks fast when discussing the political issues that hold his attention. His leadership and continued advocacy for social justice were recently recognized with a scholarship from the Pride Foundation, a Pacific Northwest organization that makes grants to nonprofit foundations, awards scholarships to students, and supports grassroots organizing around lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues. Nevius is the first Willamette student to receive this scholarship.

Nevius has done extensive policy and community organizing for nonprofits, serves on Willamette’s Council for Diversity and Social Justice and is on the board for the Oregon Student Equal Rights Alliance. His research interests include the nation’s LGBT homeless youth epidemic, and last year he helped facilitate a group to support at-risk LGBT youth in the area.