This week, Student Senate announced their achievements of the year, which revolved around connecting with students, partnering with administration, and cultivating community.
Some of the key achievements highlighted included the revision of Student Senate Bylaws, which hadn’t been revised since 2021, and the creation of the Senate website, which aims to provide students with information about the Senate’s mission, composition, and related resources.
“I think if I had to think of the few big things that we’ve accomplished, I would say spearheading Dear Democracy: Spring 2025 Letter Writing Drive with OC Votes,” Senate President and College fourth-year Natalie Dufour said. “[We are] trying to get Oberlin as a campus to write as many letters as possible to elected officials to help promote civic engagement outside of just voting.”
Senate launched Dear Democracy to help engage students with local and state politics and voice their concerns to officials. They hope that this initiative can become a semesterly event.
“I feel like it could really foster Oberlin student involvement in politics,” First-Year Representative Gideon Hurtado-Sher said. “It was a bipartisan event, and I think that it’s also really important in recognizing the diversity of views on campus.”
One of the other key achievements was Constituents Week, held Nov. 18–22, 2024. Senate received 240 survey responses about the student experience on campus, an increase of 100 responses from last year. This feedback helped the Senate advance its goals by directly responding to student concerns.
“I feel like one of our main accomplishments was the success of Constituents Week, which happened during the first semester,” Hurtado-Sher said. “It was a great event where several of the deans and President [Carmen Twillie] Ambar were able to meet and connect with students on a more personal level. It was a great example of the kind of connectivity that Student Senate is hoping to foster between the administration and students.”
Defeat the Deans, which was hosted at The ’Sco, was one of the most well-attended Senate events. It sought to help students connect with the administration and senators more personally by challenging them to play different interactive games. Senate hopes that Defeat the Deans can be institutionalized as a recurring event.
Another Senate achievement highlighted was their improved collaboration with student organizations in the form of joint events, including with Survivors of Sexual Harm & Allies, International Student Scholar Services, the Bonner Center, and the Office of ESOL.
Senate also began forming Senate Committees, consisting of students who sought to aid senators in their work and tabling weekly to gather student feedback. Senate formed a bridge between the students and the administration by hosting two town hall meetings to get student opinions and feedback about the Student Bill of Rights, which was sent to the Office of the Dean of Students.
A key partnership with Student Health and Wellbeing provided free menstrual products in all campus bathrooms, with the aim to help make the campus a more equitable place for everyone.
This week, Senate announced the results of the elections for the 2025–26 Senate. The new Senate will consist of College third-year Lily Gonzalez, student body president; College third-year Kana Sakamoto, vice president of academic affairs; College first-year Gideon Hurtado-Sher, vice president of student life; College second-year Zaire Robertson, vice president of student finance; College second-year Frankie Mizikowski, director of operations and communications; College second-year Ari Marrero, racial equity representative; College first-year Ava Firestone-Morrill, disability equity representative; College third-year Eli Ramer, housing and dining representative; College second-year Koosh Nadkarni, health, safety, and wellness representative; College first-year Swaranya Sarkar, international students representative; Conservatory third-year Peyton Avery, Conservatory representative; College third-year Alira Allen, athletics representative; Juwayria Zahurullah, final year class representative; Madison Block, third year class representative; and Eric Nkurunziza, second year class representative.
“We are your representatives,” Dufour said. “We want to represent you. That’s our goal. If you have something going on that the administration is dismissive of or is ignoring, bring it to us and we are going to … do everything we possibly can to make sure that your issue either gets resolved or gets brought to a place that it can get resolved. Just contact us, join a committee. Our committee is open every fall to anyone in the student body. Then you can either help plan events, help brainstorm, bring issues to the table, work really closely with that senator, who then goes to the plenary to represent the interest of that committee. But you can have your voice heard in Senate and in the administration without being in Senate.”
