When Rachel Toepfer is playing in the fantasy realm of Dungeons & Dragons, they tend to play the role of a paladin, a holy knight who fights for a cause.
In the real world, the Rutgers University-New Brunswick senior has taken up an advocacy role, too, advancing the cause for LGBTQ+ rights.
Toepfer, who identifies as nonbinary, attends the School of Arts and Sciences and is majoring in political science with a minor in women’s gender studies.
“I felt like the best way I could help somebody was working in legislation, trying to work on policy and make this world a better place,” said Toepfer, who also is an Honors College student.
The Monson, Mass., resident began to heed the advocacy call as a high schooler.
“Back in 2016, when America was having a lot of tumultuous times, I kind of got woken up a little bit,” said Toepfer. “I had been trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I was still in high school, but 2016 really inspired me because I was scared. A lot of people were just unbelievably frightened of what was to come. So, what genuinely inspired me was that I felt like I needed to do something.”
They added, “I grew up in a very accepting bubble where it was normalized for me as it should be for everybody else, but it wasn’t any different for me to have two moms than it was for someone to have a mom and a dad.”
Toepfer, who hopes to pursue a law degree, has been advocating for the LGBTQ+ community – at Rutgers-New Brunswick as well as in their home state of Massachusetts. Their efforts include being a presenter during the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Time to Thrive summit in 2020 and volunteering for Democrats to elect progressive representatives for Massachusetts.
In fact, Toepfer spent the summer as an intern in the Springfield, Mass., office of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (who earned her juris doctor degree from Rutgers Law School).
“It was only one intern in the Springfield office, and I just so happened to get it,” said the 21-year-old, adding that they learned “pretty much how to be a staffer” under the U.S. senator and her staff.
“She was a teacher in her past life before she became a lawyer, and then before she became a senator,” Toepfer said of the politician, who they met during a state convention before becoming an intern. “And she very much gives off those teacher vibes. She wants you to learn, she wants to answer your questions, and then some. She wants to give you so much.”
Toepfer said the internship granted them better insight into how the federal government works.
“It’s a very slow process when it comes to certain federal things, and I can only imagine it’s even slower when it comes to state policies and proceedings as well,” they said. “From an advocacy perspective, it makes me understand that nothing’s going to happen quickly when we protest or when we riot or when we ask things to change. I think people get angry when they don’t get an immediate response. But I think working on the federal side, working for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, I’ve realized that things don’t change very fast. We got to do things by the book, by the rules, and I understand that now.”
They added, “I need to play the long game.”
An opportunity to step out of their bubble drew Toepfer to Rutgers.
“I grew up in a very rural part of Massachusetts, like 95% white, no diversity,” they said. “So, I wanted to get out. I needed to see the world. I didn’t get very far – I ended up in New Jersey. But I wanted to go somewhere with much more diversity, LGBTQ+ inclusion.”
A recipient of multiple scholarships, Toepfer added that Rutgers “enabled me, an-out-of-state student, to at least afford to go somewhere other than a home state college.”
Toepfer has assumed leadership roles throughout their time at Rutgers, including serving as an Honors College Changemaking Mentor, a student leader for the Honors College LGBTQ+ Affinity Group, the lead videographer for the Honors College Media Team, a learning assistant for the Honors College Cross-Cultural Competency course and a resident assistant at Demarest Hall.
“They have dedicated much of their life here at the Honors College to mentoring fellow students in various leadership roles,” said Donel Young, who, as director of marketing and communications at the Honors College, oversees the media team. “Always ready to jump in where needed, they have contributed so much to our community through their positive energy, creativity, strong organizational skills and deep caring.”
When they have some free time, Toepfer enjoys drawing, honing their photography skills and catching episodes of Dimension 20, a Dungeons & Dragons-focused role-playing show airing on the Dropout streaming service. (Speaking of D&D, Toepfer tends to play a tiefling in campaigns, including as an oath of the crown paladin. The class “really speaks to me,” they said.)
And what are Toepfer’s aspirations down the road?
“I want to be working for some advocacy group as a director, as somebody who has experience in that area,” they said. “I want to say somewhere in the human rights, working as an executive director somewhere, and then maybe in another 10 years I’ll run for office.”
