As a student body, we are beginning to pay more and more attention to representation. Who’s Teaching Us has recently spotlighted faculty diversity, and groups like the Students of Color Coalition (SOCC) and the First-Generation Low-Income Partnership (FLIP) have effectively offered endorsements for years in order to increase the diversity of representation on the ASSU Senate and Executives.  This year, we – the Stanford Women’s Coalition (WoCo) – chose to go through the process of interviewing and selecting candidates for endorsement as well.

From a representation standpoint, our choice to do endorsements was obvious and necessary.  This past year, we had two male execs, and only three of 15 senators were women.  In the years prior, the number of women among senators has hovered around four, and in the past four academic years there has been only one female executive (of eight).  Women have made up half of the undergraduate body during that time, yet they have made up between a fifth and a third of its representatives.

This matters beyond “fairness.”  The ASSU represents the student body, and its decisions are inherently influenced by the experiences of its individual members. From sexual assault to women’s underrepresentation in STEM, there are many issues at Stanford that particularly affect women. And the power that the ASSU holds – whether in granting funds, passing symbolic resolutions or garnering the attention of administration – should be used to address these issues.

As we chose our criteria for endorsements and invited all senate candidates to apply, we made sure to emphasize that our evaluation would be focusing on awareness of issues particularly affecting women, not each candidate’s particular opinions.  As a group, WoCo tries to understand that everyone’s feminism looks different; the important prerequisite is awareness and caring about the issues.

Unfortunately, not all candidates fit this bill.  We asked the Senate candidates basic questions surrounding these issues. Our first question was open-ended, with no “wrong” answers: What issues particularly affect women on campus? Others were more close-ended, but straightforward: What administrative offices and student groups work on sexual assault?

These questions seem basic, and we would hope that most students and anyone running for student government would have considered them. They are important and they can make a difference. The previous senate, for example, made real change when pushing the University to revise and re-issue the Campus Climate survey.

Although every candidate but one mentioned sexual assault as a key issue affecting women on campus, most of the candidates were not clear on which offices and student groups were dealing with this problem, demonstrating an overall lack of understanding about the work that is already being done. The ASSU exists to bridge the gap between administration and students; in order for this to occur, we need representatives that are able to navigate both.

We have chosen to endorse the following eight candidates: Shanta Katipamula, Hattie Gawande, Shayla Harris, Kathryn Treder, Caron Smith, Matthew Cohen, Jasmin Espinosa and Mylan Gray.

We ask the candidates – our endorsees and otherwise – to educate themselves on the important questions of gender that we experience as a student body.  We are not a special interest, we are not pushing a radical agenda and we are not asking for an unreasonable amount of awareness. We are asking to be represented.

Signed,

The Women’s Coalition Board of Directors

 

Contact the Women’s Coalition Board of Directors at [email protected]