The Fractor Factor: What does new ASLC President offer?

By Noah Foster-Koth/// Senior Staff Writer

Three years ago, Adam Factor began his freshman year at Lewis & Clark with the intention of majoring in Political Science. Fractor is now a senior at LC, and he has changed his major to Economics (with a minor in Political Science.) However, politics still play a major role in Fractor’s life: he is the new president of LC’s student government program, Associated Students of Lewis & Clark (ASLC).

Fractor became interested in joining student government during his sophomore year at LC. “By my second year of school here, I really wanted to get more involved,” he said. Fractor originally considered running for senate, but he changed his plans when the previous ASLC president, Daniela Lopez, asked him whether he was interested in being the ASLC Chief of Staff. Fractor applied, received Lopez’s nomination and was subsequently confirmed by the ASLC Senate. He took office as Chief of Staff in May 2015 and held the position for the entirety of his junior year. “The Chief of Staff position was largely secretarial,” Fractor said. “My main role was to record minutes during our Cabinet and Senate meetings.”

While serving as Chief of Staff, Fractor worked closely with Daniela Lopez. He said that collaborating with Lopez influenced his decision to run for the presidency. “I was inspired to run for ASLC President after working closely with Daniela last year,” he said, “I wanted to build upon her successes and improve ASLC’s public relations.” Last semester, Fractor began campaigning for the presidency and was eventually elected to the position by the LC student body.

“To prepare for the presidency, I worked with Daniela at the end of last semester and earlier this summer, gaining insight into the position’s regular work and duties,” Fractor said. As this year’s ASLC president, one of Fractor’s main goals is to work more closely with student unions.

“In the past, many union members have felt that ASLC is an uninviting space for them,” Fractor said. “One of the things we’re trying to do is to reach out to them more.” In order to do so, Fractor plans to attend more student union meetings. “We definitely want to show that we have an interest in their communities,” he said. “We want to make sure that their interests can be represented in ASLC, especially in the legislation that passes.”

Senior Nick Lesage, the ASLC Vice President, shares Fractor’s interest in reaching out to student unions. “Oftentimes, folks will come to us asking about issues relating to minority groups on campus, or social justice issues,” Lesage said, “What we would like to do is engage student unions and get their input first, instead of unilaterally deciding something as ASLC.” However, Lesage also said that student unions are not required to have ASLC representatives attend their meetings. “If they say other community members welcome, then we will gladly attend, but if they’d rather keep it within a certain community, we completely understand and we want to respect their wishes.”

Student union outreach is one of the Fractor’s main priorities as ASLC president. However, Lesage said that Fractor “stands out” amongst ASLC presidents because he does not let his personal projects detract from the rest of his work at ASLC.

“While we’ve had wonderful presidents in the past, they tend to get caught up in their own little pet projects and neglect the rest of student government. Adam, however, has not done so,” Lesage said, “He has managed to push projects as well as work with other members of the Cabinet, and I imagine that’s the same attitude he’ll carry over once the Senate starts.”