ASWC officially kicked off the 2014/15 year with their first senate meeting this Sunday after an eventful first month back on campus.

ASWC President Tatiana Kaehler––who began her leadership during a storm of controversy over economic diversity at Whitman––admits that, despite her election on a strong platform, she has made more progress on some platform points than others.  Kaehler was voted into office last spring on a three-point platform that focused on increasing student input in the tenure review process for faculty, establishing the allocation of credits for academically related summer internships, and encouraging the development of a long term plan to address rising costs of higher education.

In light of the current campus climate, Kaehler’s main priority has become issues of economic diversity at Whitman.

“I think that’s what’s on student minds right now” Kaehler explained.  “A good President responds to the issues that students are focusing on, and right now, they’re focusing on the recent New York Times article and Whitman’s ranking.”

In September, ASWC held an open forum that focused on relaying information on economic diversity at Whitman and in higher education to the students here on campus.  According to Kaehler, ASWC’s next move is to organize another meeting to enable students to further engage in these discussions.

“What I’m looking into right now is having some sort of event to hear student input on how they could be better supported financially,” Kaehler said.  “I’ve spoken with [Trustee] Brad McMurchie and he’s extremely open to student suggestions.  It seems like what the Trustees and administration want is to know what students want.  I’m hoping to facilitate that.”

Despite continued commitment to seeing a change in economic diversity at Whitman, Kaehler has somewhat revised her stance on education accessibility from what she promoted during last year’s campaign.

“It’s a very complicated issue that cannot be easily solved” Kaehler said.  “I ran on a platform that was really related to tuition, but what this economic diversity issue has drawn attention to is the fact that it shouldn’t just be a discussion about tuition.  There are so many other factors that influence whether or not higher education is accessible, and I’d like to broaden that discussion.”

While attempting to facilitate discussion between students and the administration, Kaehler is also considering a new step in first-year Orientation that would focus exclusively on financial support at Whitman.

“I’ve heard students requesting a separate orientation for students from FGWC (first generation, working class) backgrounds” Kaehler said.  “I would like to look into how the information given to them could be expanded to the rest of the student body.”

This idea––similar to the FGWC pre-Orientation idea put forth by senior Sayda Morales, ASWC Vice President, in her election last spring––would focus on getting jobs on campus, financial aid packages, scholarships, paying for textbooks, and summer jobs, among other methods of making a Whitman education more affordable.  While this sort of small-scale change is a start, Kaehler is adamant that larger policy changes will have to follow.

“It’s a very small change, but because it’s a small change I think it could happen very quickly––that would be a first step” Kaehler said.  “Obviously that isn’t going to solve the fact that Whitman has been ranked lowest in terms of economic diversity on that list of top schools.”

To assist in managing the goals and demands of her role as President, Kaehler appointed senior Jack Percival as ASWC Faculty Liaison.   Percival is focusing on furthering Kaehler’s first platform point––increasing student input in the tenure review process for faculty by advocating for the creation of student testimonies.

“His job is to be my boss regarding tenure issues,” said Kaehler.  “As President I’m trying to juggle all these different issues, whereas he has the time to focus on tenure, and that enables ASWC to focus on both important issues.”

Morales has also been active on campus in the month leading up to Monday’s senate meeting, further pursuing methods to address economic diversity at Whitman, as well as heading a new task force focused on sexual assault prevention tentatively titled, “It’s on Whitties.”

According to Morales, the idea for the task force came after a multi-institution conference call with staff of the “It’s On Us” campaign––a new national effort headed by the White House to combat sexual violence on college campuses.  Comprised of ASWC leaders, Greek presidents, athletic leaders, residence life staff, co-presidents of Feminists Advocating Change and Empowerment (FACE) and All Students for Consent (ASC), the group has listed its goals as identifying the gaps in Whitman’s sexual assault prevention and survivor support programs.

“It’s student led on purpose,” Morales said.  “The administration can set all the policies they want, but at the end of the day it’s the students that define the culture––it’s important we capitalize on that ability.”

As Student Affairs Chair, Morales is also focusing her efforts this year on inter-club and student collaboration in the face of on-campus issues like economic diversity.

“When big issues like this emerge, there are a lot of student projects that develop independently of one another, and sometimes they can conflict” Morales said.  “We’re trying to figure out a way of streamlining the process so that student groups can come together and do activism on campus that works well together.”

Morales says the Student Affairs Committee is also working on passing and presenting a Testing Optional Resolution to the administration, which would draw attention to the benefits of becoming a Test-Optional institution.  Should the administration choose to make the switch, students applying to Whitman would not be obligated to submit SAT/ACT scores, which could potentially open up Whitman’s applicant pool to marginalized student demographics.

With all these projects in the works, Kaehler and Morales led the first ASWC Senate meeting of the year on Tuesday.  New first-year senators Deepraj Pawar, AnnaMarie McCorvie, Emily Bowen and Emma Bishop proved to be a standout group, and are already in the process of drafting an amendment to a bylaw concerning the priority of ASWC representation over clubs in Town Hall meetings.  Also up for discussion were several clubs hoping to become ASWC-recognized: Racquetball Club, Whitman Teaches the Movement, and START (Students Teach Art)––as well as nominations of students to the Council on Student Affairs, Oversight, and Ombuds.

The evening wrapped up with words of encouragement and excitement from Senate leaders.  President Tatiana Kaehler commended the entire Senate on efficiency, while former President Tim Reed gave advice to the first years.

“Don’t be afraid to speak up––your viewpoints are so valuable, I can’t stress that enough,” said Reed.  “You have an outside perspective, please use that.  Speak up.”