The polls closed on Monday, marking an end to the weeklong first-year Senate and Sustainability Director ASWC campaigns. The new faces joining ASWC this year include first-years Emily Bowen, Emma Bishop, Deepraj Pawar and AnnaMarie McCorvie, along with the sophomore split-ticket Sustainability Directors Margo Heffron and Dani Hupper. Heffron will serve in the fall semester, and Hupper when she returns from Semester in the West in the spring. The junior senator position remains unfilled as no juniors decided to run. Seven out of the nine first-year candidates were women, something that ASWC has not seen in recent years.
With the end of elections and the removal of posters and Facebook pages, ASWC President Tatiana Kaehler is excited to welcome four new members to the Senate as ASWC gets ready to tackle its goals and initiatives for the year. These include increasing student input in the tenure process, allocating credit for summer internships and fostering a discussion with the administration about tuition increases.
“Recent events have made that third point extremely viable, and we are already starting those discussions,” said Kaehler.
ASWC Faculty Liaison Jack Percival, speaking before the election, was enthusiastic about the campaign.
“I am excited to see how much interest there is among the freshman class about ASWC,” said Percival. “I am excited to see who will be elected to represent their class, and I am sure that whoever is will do so to the best of their ability.”
The sustainability director is a new position that was created last spring in hopes of helping make Whitman a more environmentally friendly campus. While the precise roles and responsibilities have yet to be ironed out, Heffron and Hupper have high hopes for the position.
“[Our hopes are] to communicate to the student body on how sustainable the college is, what needs improvement and what sustainable changes are happening now. We want to be the liaisons between the student body and administration around the topic of sustainability,” said Heffron.
While some candidates were undoubtedly disappointed with the election results, the time spent on the campaign trail was not a waste. All of the candidates who were interviewed emphasized the connections they made and the experience they gained from this election season.
“The important thing is if it doesn’t work out in your favor, don’t let that stop you from doing what you want to do on this campus. There are so many other ways to get involved both in ASWC and in advocacy at Whitman,” says Kaehler.
If the variety of posters, platforms and campaign strategies this year is indicative of anything, it’s that these newly elected senators and sustainability directors are ready to get involved.
Newly elected first-year senator Deepraj Pawar is anxious to begin her work with ASWC.
“I can’t wait to get started,” she said. “Between the four [first-year senators], we had a pretty wide variety of issues [and platforms that we’re more than ready to address].”
