This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Why did each of you choose to run for Student Senate president?
ND: This is something that I’ve been passionate about since before my time at Oberlin. I ran for first-year rep my freshman September. There’s so much available on this campus and so many people just don’t know about it because of a lack of communication. And I said, “I think I can fix this, and improve the situation for my fellow first-years.” And then it turned into, “Wow, Senate can do so many cool things and I want to continue to be a part of that and grow my role.” So I ran for Vice President of Academic Affairs my sophomore year, and I think from there, I really got to be able to see more of the inner workings of Senate. But that also exposed a lot of disparities and a lot of inconsistencies, which pushed me to think, “Okay, I want to be president my senior year because I want to help make Senate a governing body that actually responds to its constituents and accurately represents them to the administration.” So it was really a love of the students and of the campus and the desire to make Oberlin a better place through making our governmental representation better, more transparent, and more accessible. Those have been my big two things for the past year, and I think we’ve done a really great job of that. I’m really extremely proud of Senate. It was a love of the campus and also a desire to improve for the future.
LG: I’ve been a treasurer for a long time, so it just seemed a natural thing for me to try to apply for the VP of
Student Finance position. From there, I fell into a bit more of what felt like a back-end, supporting role, making sure that I can help support the great work that senators are doing, at least with the treasurer side of things. But I think the big thing was that I just wanted to be able to support everyone else on Senate because I saw all the cool things that they were doing. And I wanted to be the one there delegating whatever they needed. Like, anything that they need, I’ll be there.
What would you say is the biggest achievement in your time as president?
ND: I think that the biggest achievement is just the presence of Senate on Oberlin’s campus as a whole. At almost every plenary (our weekly meetings), we have departments, organizations, and clubs reaching out with questions or for collaboration. My biggest thing is students knowing that they can come to us when they have issues. I think that is what has started to shift, and I think we are on an upper trajectory. Do I think we’re perfect? Absolutely not. But I think that I’ve helped lay the groundwork with this Senate of where we want to go. And I’m really excited for Lily to be coming in and continuing that work — supporting senators, increasing community engagement and collaboration, and so I think that that can just keep growing in the future.
What were the biggest challenges?
ND: I think setting a new standard comes with organizational challenges and holding everyone accountable. But that’s also part of the job. I think another challenge was navigating negativity and navigating people who wanted to tear down Senate and speak poorly about our accomplishments, and I understand that’s freedom of speech. If you think that we’re doing a bad job, you are able to express that. But it was hard at times to get up and talk about our accomplishments and everything positive that we did with those negative conversations swirling. I think that part of being an elected representative is dealing with people who want to tear you down, and you just have to keep going and doing what you believe to be in the best interest of your constituents.
What are some of your biggest goals for next year?
LG: I don’t like the title of president. Some kind of organization is always necessary. But I think making it a strict power structure is a little bit challenging for me to accept. So when I was thinking about what I want to do next year, I was really trying to emphasize centering people, not power. I think Senate this year did a really great job of being open to anyone who wanted to come and speak or who had an issue they wanted to bring up. But I think one thing that we can do moving forward is to be a little bit more proactive in how we reach out to them. That means going to them rather than them coming to us. We have an open door, we do, but it also goes both ways. So I think that’s the big thing I want to emphasize for next year. When it comes to more specifics, I know that students have a lot of ongoing concerns from this year that I think are definitely gonna roll over into next year. I’m really excited to see what happens next and I’m just keeping an open mind.
What do you see the role of student senate being on campus?
ND: I want Senate to be a group that facilitates access and communication with the administration and among students. We have more access than the average student because we are senators and meet with administration. And that is our role — of being not only a liaison but an advocate for students. I want Senate to be able to help students and push for their interests.
LG: I joined Senate thinking that when there were difficult conversations to be had, it would fall on Senate. But I think that’s a negative way of thinking about it because it implies that something has to be wrong for Senate to be productive or effective. I came in, and I saw how Senate has a lot of institutional support, and we can make a lot of things happen or we can at least help make a lot of things happen. I’m really excited to see Senate transition into more of a governing body of institutional memory, preserving not just the work that we have done but the work that the different communities we represent have done.
There are just, unfortunately, some things that we can and cannot do. But I’m really interested in pushing those limits as much as possible. I want to make sure that we’re representing the students in the best way that we can. If that means we get a little pushback, it will be okay, because I think that’s the whole point. Sometimes you need to push a little before you see some really impactful change. So I’m really excited to start pushing those limits and seeing what we can do to really bring a new support system to Oberlin.
