On Oct. 1, Associated Student Body (ASB) released the results of the most recent senate election. Three senators were elected — George Steene ’25, Julian Orozco ’27 and Tanvi Shukla ’27.
Senate elections took place from September 23-30. There were various polling booths around campus to encourage students to vote. Prospective senators were required to get 25 signatures from students to enter the election. Candidates then typically campaigned through social media, flyers and word-of-mouth.
Steene believed his biggest strategy in the election was gaining support from friends.
“If your friends can share with their friends that you’re running or post on social media … that can go a long way,” said Steene.
Orozco was involved in the Student Advisory Committee last year and wanted to take on a bigger leadership role this year. His biggest campaign strategies also included raising campus awareness.
“I went to all of the polling booths I could go to, (distributed) flyers and I told all my friends on social media.”
Elected ASB senators are assigned to committees, which then meet independently and organize events. These committees include – Finance Committee, Campus Activities Board and Student Academic Affairs Board, among others. Each senator is also required to organize a community outreach event.
Orozco was motivated to run for senate to help students learn about issues on campus.
“There’s a lot of stuff that goes on in this school that many people turn a blind eye to,” said Orozco. “I just want to, not only make everybody feel heard, but also bring these issues to light so that more people can put their input on it.”
One of Steene’s main interests in running for senator was to better understand the school’s financial system and push for financial transparency.
“I served as the finance chair for the Spanish club for two years. And so I’m very well acquainted with the allocations process, and I think I was kind of disillusioned by that process,” he said. “I’m very passionate about making our campus feel informed.
Steene expressed a desire to make sure students understand all changes on campus, beyond finance.
“I think another big, kind of important thing is demystifying what (the protest policy) says and helping students understand fundamentally, what their rights are and how they can continue to exercise their free speech,” Steene said.
Orozco also wanted to stress the importance of students voicing their concerns and ideas for Lewis & Clark to ASB representatives.
“If students have any issues, don’t hesitate on coming to senators or the president of the student body … We’re here to work for a better campus for everybody, and to make all voices heard,” Orozco said.
An ASB student comment form can be found online under the ASB Senate page on the LC website. The ASB president holds office hours for students to express their voices in the ASB office, located in Fowler 258, on Tuesdays from 3 – 4 p.m. ASB Cabinet officers will also hold office hours in the future with specific times to be announced.
Leave a Reply