Student Senate

Previously published article I wrote a couple of weeks ago for the paper I work for. Nothing terribly interesting but I feel guilty for not updating with new stuff.

Fact: Sarah Palin beat Barack Obama in the election… the student senate election. Both politicians were written in on the ballot (though disqualified since neither are current students) and Palin’s eleven votes outnumbered Obama’s two. Then again, Batman, Flava Flav, and Wonder Woman also earned themselves a vote each.
For a campus as politically active as Oberlin, the student body does not seem to care much about student government. Take September 24 for example, students packed themselves into Finney Chapel to hear former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speak as part of the convocation series, yet there was hardly any fuss made over the conclusion of the latest student senate election, which was also finalized the same evening.
“I think that there is a distinct difference between being interested in and caring about politics and knowing how to make a difference,” said junior Brett Foreman, a first-time senator. “The student body has always loved politics but only recently have they begun to understand the power this position entails.”
Many senators are concerned with getting the student body more involved with student senate. Previous senators have turned to creative measures in order to garner more input from their peers. Lillie Chen, who graduated in the spring, sometimes held office hours during Quarter Beers at the Sco, hoping to catch students.
Despite interesting endeavors like Chen’s, students rarely visit senators during their office hours. Senior Leah Pine, who is a third year senator, said she has only had three students visit her during office hours held twice a week. Of those three, only one had a senate related question to ask her. Sophomore Luke Squire, now serving his second term, also admitted to having very few visitors during his office hours.
“I’ve had two people come in total, but neither was for senate related issues. This year we may be working on abolishing office hours altogether and having students make appointments to talk to us about specific issues,” said Squire.
This would be a huge change because senators are usually paid hourly for their work, and would incentivize them going out to meet and talk with students.
Previous efforts by senate to get students interested in their projects have been unsuccessful. Despite efforts by last year’s senators to reach quorum on the referendum, the minimum number of voters was never reached. Thus, while 70 percent of the students who voted were in favor of a campus-wide ban on non-fair trade chocolate, the chocolate situation on campus remains the same.
“I would be really upset if I could no longer buy a Kit Kat bar on campus. I know it’s not my right to implement my views on the rest of the student body disagrees with me, but we’re going to look at this issue and it will probably be brought up in future referendums,” said senior Ben Klebanoff.
The question about chocolate was brought up by first time senator Shannon Ikebe, who also pushed for reforms in the senate election process with a proposal to move to the Single Transferable Vote system. This method allows voters to vote for multiple candidates and give a more weighted vote to their first choice than their second choice and so on. Currently, if a student votes for three candidates, each is given a vote each regardless of what order the voter selected the nominees in.
While Ikebe’s proposal was also voted on positively by the student body, it also did not satisfy quorum. Though, even if quorum had been reached, his wording was not definite enough to mandate this new practice. Klebanoff and Ikebe, among others, are pushing to make this project plausible.
“Single Transferable Voting cannot be implemented by the student body. It’s a matter of the constitution. We’re going to work on having someone write a computer program to explain how this system would work. We would in turn draft legislation to change this policy,” said Klebanoff. None of these plans have gone into effect yet and are some of many new projects slated to kick off the new school year.
The new senators also have ideas to push senate in a different direction. Last year’s plenary sessions concentrated on internal politics.
Freshman senator Brandon Gaoiran, who came in 24th place out of the 28 students running for student senate, was granted a slot due to Article II, Section 5, Clause G of the senate constitution that mandates that the top vote getting conservatory student get a spot.
“I think it’s unfair [that I was chosen] because if I was the person with 158 votes and not in the Con I’d be pretty upset, but if there aren’t any Conservatory students in Student Senate it is too geared toward the Arts and Sciences. Con students would feel awkward to participate in student government activities. Having a conservatory student on senate will show that that it is not intimidating,” said Gaoiran.
Gaoiran hopes to report back to fellow conservatory students in a more accessible format, by holding general get-togethers and by advertising activities like a conservatory coffee night that would allow students to give him input on issues that matter to them.
Sophomore Alix Simonson, also a first time senator, has similar plans to reach out to the students. She plans to host more open forums and events like the Coffee with Krislov program Squire helped to establish last year. Both senators are keen on continuing the senate newsletter, updating the senate website, and possibly starting an online forum to serve as a direct form of communication between the student body and senate.
“I want the students to know that we are the servants of the student body, servants that exercise digression,” said Pine. “Senate is a portal between the student body and the college that gives the student body leverage on requests. I want us to be the first group students come to with issues they have, rather than the last.”