Student government elections underway

Julianne Herts News Editor

The Vassar Student Association (VSA) spring elections began yesterday, April 30. The new VSA Executive Board, class and house officers and student committee members will be announced on Monday, May 4.

Though three positions on next year’s VSA Executive Board are uncontested- Vice President for Student Life, Vice President for Activities and Vice President for Operations-there are three contenders vying for the role of President: rising seniors Summer’s-Grace Green, Jimmy Kelly and Maryrose Myrtetus.

Green and Kelly both serve on the VSA Executive Board as Vice Presidents for Activities and Operations, respectively, and Myrtetus is the current President of the Class of 2009.

Summer’s-Grace Green

Green’s candidate statement describes her experience serving on the VSA Council. As a VSA executive, Green worked to clarify by-laws and increase communication across the campus.

Green pledges to create a community resource audit to improve the College’s relationship with the Poughkeepsie community, create inclusion initiatives to fight intolerance and increase the VSA’s transparency by publishing frequent reports.

“I’ll try to increase a more sustainable outlet for voicing the ways in which student leadership is working for the student body,” she said in an e-mailed statement.

Green feels that through experience she has learned which methods of communication are the most effective. If she is elected President, Green pledges to use online newsletters to keep students up-to-date with the VSA.

Green emphasized the need for student input in the coming years, when new deans will be selected, buildings will be renovated and professors’ course loads will be restructured.

“I’m not complacent, and I realize how far we really need to go, especially in areas dealing with student inclusion and accountability,” Green said. “I also understand the dedication that will be needed to accomplish these initiatives, and I’m ready and willing to commit myself to them.”

Green noted that her time on VSA Council has taught her that perseverance, dedication and attention to students’ needs are the essential qualities of a student leader.

“When it comes down to it,” Green wrote in her candidate statement, “I simply really want to be your Student Body President to represent the students of our College here on campus and outside of it.”

Jimmy Kelly

Kelly’s campaign is centered on community inclusion, access and sustainability.

Kelly pledges to involve students in VSA decisions by hosting forums, sending e-mails, publishing Council reports and updating the VSA Web site. He also wants to give voting power to the student representative on the board of trustees and to make the campus more sustainable.

While Kelly said that he has gained a lot of experience in his three years on VSA council, he sees room for improvement.

“I haven’t necessarily been in harmonious lock-step with every decision that the Council has made,” Kelly said, admitting that the Council often spends more time talking than taking action.

Despite these reservations, Kelly noted the positive contributions that the VSA Council has made to the school in recent years, including the push for gender-neutral housing and the community shuttle.

“The unique thing about our community, though, is that together we are stronger than the sum of the individual parts—we make each other better people every day through our interactions,” wrote Kelly in his candidate statement.

In the spirit of community cooperation Kelly believes that students have more influence on the actions of College. He feels prepared to challenge administrators when necessary in order to ensure that the voice of the students is heard.

“I hate that any decisions are made behind closed doors,” said Kelly, who noted as an example that little student input went into the College’s decision to move the bookstore off campus.

Improving interactions between the College and the Town of Poughkeepsie is one of Kelly’s main goals.

“There’s a great tendency for the College to ask itself, ‘How can we help Poughkeepsie?’” Kelly explained. “I would ask, ‘How can we be Poughkeepsie?’”

Maryrose Myrtetus

Myrtetus’ platform centers on increasing student involvement in the VSA.

“VSA issues and policies need to be vetted by public opinion before implementation,” she wrote in her candidate statement. “For example, while I think the new budgeting process will generally benefit student life, I would not have tried to implement it without significant feedback from a wide range of students first.”

Myrtetus stresses the importance of student input regarding major College decisions, including dorm renovations, changes to the All Campus Dining Center and the appointments of new deans.

“I will work to make the agenda of the College, which is oftentimes unclear and compiled without enough student input, parallel the needs of students,” her statement explained.

“The College exists for students, and we can never let administrators and faculty lose sight of that fact.”

Myrtetus feels that students can not relate to the VSA Council because of its tendency toward bureaucracy. She plans to send out monthly e-mails explaining the VSA’s work and to hold meetings in which Council will explain the issues it is addressing and solicit student opinions.

Myrtetus has spent two semesters working as a Student Activities Recource Center intern for the Campus Activities Office, which, along with her work on the VSA, has led her to feel that the student government should be more accessible to the student body.

“I saw the confusion that student organizations go through while trying to run their organizations, schedule and put on events and find adequate funding,” Myrtetus explained. “That system needs be streamlined and un-bureaucratized so that organizations can access all information in one place.”

In addition to the President, the VSA Executive Board includes five vice presidents who oversee various aspects of student life.

This year, Gil Wasserman ’09 and Camille Friason ’09 are the contenders for Vice President for Academics, while Marcelo Buitron ’09 and Tendai Musakwa ’09 are running for Vice President for Finance. Alexandria Dempsey ’09, Caitlin Ly ’10 and Nate Silver ’10 are running uncontested for Vice President for Activities, Operations and Student Life, respectively.

Camille Friason

Friason has been President of Strong House for two years and was also on the Academic and Student Life Committees this year. According to her candidate statement, she wants to make a course pertaining to social justice a requirement for all students, as well as help to plan the upcoming renovations of academic buildings. Friason pledges to continue Council discussions about major’s committees, professor course loads and students’ evaluations of professors.

Gil Wasserman

Wasserman, according to his candidate statement, believes that his “charisma, wit, patience and verbal ability” will serve him well as a VSA executive. He feels that he is able to communicate with students and faculty members across campus, and said that he will always be willing to listen to students’ ideas. Wasserman was Treasurer of Lathrop House last year and served as Treasurer for the organization Democracy Matters for two years. He has also worked in the VSA office and served as a student representative on a few of its committees.

Marcelo Buitron

Buitron is the former Treasurer and current President of Noyes House. He is also on the VSA Finance Committee, which he feels has prepared him for the position of Vice President for Finance and given him a familiarity with supplemental, capitol and annual budgeting procedures. Buitron explained in his candidate’s statement that he is ready to guide VSA organizations through new budgeting procedures and special purpose funds.

Tendai Musakwa

Musakwa represents Ferry House on the VSA Council and is a member of the Committees on Finance, Activities, Arlington Special Events and Sustainability. His candidate statement declares that, if elected, he will work to dole out money in a transparent and fair way. Musakwa hopes to use the new budgeting process to minimize organizations’ need to charge students to attend events. He also plans to have frequent financial audits and help new organizations understand the process of applying to the VSA for funding.

Vote!

Elections end on Friday, May 2 at 8 p.m. All candidate statements are available on the VSA Web site (vsa.vassar.edu).