News
Student Assembly candidates bid for top spots as executives say farewell
By Emily Eisler ’17
December 8, 2016
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At Monday’s Student Assembly meeting, candidates for Student Assembly President and Vice President for 2017 spoke to the community members gathered about their campaign platforms. After some withdrawals, the two tickets going into this weekend’s election are Jonathan Kirshenbaum ’19 and Samantha Gordon ’19 against Jonathan Stanhope ’18, Maggie Horne ’19 and Gillian Mak ’18.
Kirshenbaum was the first to speak. He began by advocating for his running mate, Gordon, who is not currently on Student Assembly. Kirshenbaum explained the value he saw in bringing students that are not currently involved with SA into the fold as SA officers. He also extolled the personal virtues of his running mate, making a strong case for her qualifications for the role. Kirshenbaum then went on to lay out his and Gordon’s platform, which they said entails three categories. The first involves “improving the de facto partnership we have with the administration and with the faculty.” This would mean more interaction and conversation between SA and the administration in order to expand the Assembly’s reach and positive influence. Since the College is still just starting out with new president David Wippman, Kirshenbaum felt it was crucial to begin this process right away.
Gordon picked up from there by detailing their plan to improve the course registration system. A large part of this plan would be to publicize student evaluations of professors so that students are able to get a more comprehensive look at professors and their courses before they choose to enroll in them. She emphasized that this would be a discussion forum, not a place created to criticize professors needlessly. She and her running mate also want to move the registrar forms, such as add/drop and course change forms, from paper copies to online submissions. Kirshenbaum added their desire to reinstate the website PlanitHamilton, which allowed students to easily plan their schedules each semester but is now defunct due to its creator graduating.
Finally, Kirshenbaum ended their address with their last category: “campus social vibrancy.” On the use of that term, Kirshenbaum elaborated, “This is purposefully vague. We chose that language so that it could include social movements that allowed for the march to take place before Thanksgiving Break, that allowed for the Crucial Conversations to be started, but also day-to-day social activities.” He went on, “We believe that, again, with the new incoming Dean of Students, with the new structure of executive faculty and the new relationship SA will have with that executive faculty, there is a lot that can be done to provide for students on a social level, whether that be what they do on the weekends or the activist movements that do take place on campus. A lot can be done to open more avenues for things like that, in addition to giving clubs more utility to plan their own events.”
Stanhope and his two running mates, Horne and Mak, were the next to present their platform. They also put forward a three-part proposal as their platform: discussion, action and fairness. In terms of discussion, Stanhope explained, they hope to open up a dialogue about what they felt were three key issues at Hamilton: “One is the way sexual assault is handled, and the fact that sexual assault is handled in the first place. The second is stigmatization of mental health issues on campus, we want to work closely with the Counseling Center. And the third is the inclusivity of marginalized groups on campus, which on a very white campus, a very privileged campus, can be improved.” Stanhope then talked about his campaign’s student outreach efforts to find out what people want to change on campus.
He continued onto the second tenet, “action,” which he explained would involve he and his running mates working to make sure concrete changes were made on campus to alleviate these issues. He elaborated, “Part of that will include appointing special committees to work closely with different groups, such as the DMC, the Counseling Center or even S.M.A.R.T., to be liaisons between student groups and the administration.” In terms of their third tenet, “fairness,” the campaign feels strongly about making sure SA remains an unbiased organization when working with different student groups instead of pushing some sort of their own agenda. To accomplish this, Stanhope plans to solicit feedback from different student groups and their leaders throughout their administration to improve how SA interacts with such organizations, including in funding processes.
Horne and Mak, who are running on the grounds of each being VP to Stanhope for a semester, then addressed the Assembly. Mak discussed her experience in the past as an SA member and all that she has learned from her time there, a sentiment echoed by Horne. Both VP candidates also made a point to mention the inspiration they would be taking from the administrations they had already served SA under.
The meeting then opened up to questions and comments for the candidates. They ranged from questions about individual leadership styles to general advice for the campaigns. When asked about changes to the funding process, Mak advocated allowing more time for funding meetings to ensure that organization leaders and those allocating funding are as prepared as possible and able to understand what they are voting on in these meetings. Both presidential candidates also answered questions about how they would run their first meetings as well as specific questions about their proposed policies.
Monday’s meeting ended with farewells from the outgoing executive board members as the new administration is ushered in. Most executive members gave short statements thanking the Assembly for their welcoming and cooperation. Vice President Lizzi Tran ’18 said her goodbyes by thanking each executive member individually and lauding their work this semester. She also emphasized what she felt were the two most memorable moments of the semester for her: a retreat the Assembly executed as well as the open forum on sexual assault policies held earlier this semester, both of which, she stated, made her proud of what SA does. SA President Kureem Nugent ’18 echoed her sentiments by thanking the entire Assembly and encouraging members to continue the good work they do.