Whitman students elected eight new senators and re-elected four current senators in ASWC elections on Monday, April 16.
Rising seniors elected four new senators to ASWC. Al-Rahim Merali received 42 percent of the Count 1 vote, while Caroline Carr received 26 percent and Matt Tesmond and Eric Schmidt received 13 percent each.
“I’m very humbled by all the support I received. It’s very overwhelming,” said an enthusiastic Merali. “I’m very thankful that the current junior class invested so much trust in my ability to serve them on ASWC without formal ASWC experience. I’m also very appreciative that they deem me a qualified candidate from my other experiences.”
Rising juniors also opted to elect two new senators to ASWC alongside two current senators. Veterans Fernando Medina and Brian Choe each received 25 percent of the vote while newcomers Rania Mussa and Claire Collins received 20 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
“I’m feeling very excited,” said Mussa. “I think there will be a lot of learning which I’m looking forward to, but I think I will be able to catch up and learn from everybody and maybe bring in something new.”
Mussa and Merali also commented on the increase in female and non-Greek senators. There will be four female upperclass senators next year, compared to two this year.
“I actually think [the increase in the number of women senators] is great this year. I want to try and advertise ASWC to females in the future,” said Mussa.
“I think diversity is strength in that respect,” said Merali. “I think it can only make it stronger to have students involved and not involved in the Greek system. You can make more holistic decisions, and it will make for a more interesting senate.”
Next year’s sophomores will also see some new faces in their senators. Newcomer George Felton received 26 percent of the vote followed by Mcebo “MC” Maziya with 19 percent. Felton and Maziya join re-elected senators Nate Higby, with 20 percent of the vote, and Tatiana Kaehler, with 19 percent of the vote.
“It was definitely a great run,” Maziya said. “I could not ask for a better group of people [to work with]. . . I’m excited for the future.”
Turnout was yet another high for this term. Sixty-four percent of rising seniors voted, 70 percent of rising juniors voted, and an extraordinary 77 percent of first-years voted in the senate election.
“We feel good about turnout. It’s actually remarkably high,” said acting ASWC oversight chair Jack MacNichol. “Typically there’s an inverse for age and turnout, but nearly two thirds of the junior and senior class voted which is remarkably good.”
After the excitement of winning wore down, future senators had time to look forward to the future.
“It’s going to be an interesting year,” said Mussa.
