Stanford’s ASSU elections are upon us. By the end of the weekend, we will know which candidates will have emerged victorious and secured a seat on the ASSU Undergraduate Senate for the 2016-2017 school year. But for all students in the running, it has been an eventful race with lessons learned along the way.

“Even if I don’t get elected after this – but I really hope I do – I’ve got a really better understanding and a unique perspective on issues that our fellow students care about, which was really valuable for me and my own personal growth,” said Ali Sarilgan ’19.

“The experience has been very meaningful for me, because, through my involvement in student government, I was very proud that I am actively involved in the community,” said Junwon Park ’19.

In interviews after the KZSU/Daily Senate candidate debates, the ASSU hopefuls spoke of their campaign processes, which involved posting flyers all over campus – often in the dead of night – and visiting dining halls to stump for students. The candidates felt a number of emotions as they looked back on their efforts, namely excitement and exhaustion.

“It’s a little stressful, it’s a little tiring,” said Shayla Harris ’18. “It’s not something that I think necessarily correlates with how good of a senator you’re going to be […] but that’s sort of the nature of political jobs.”

“It’s exhausting, but at the same time, you feed off of that exhaustion somehow, and it turns into excitement,” said Shanta Katipamula ’19.

Brooks Hamby ’18 said that, in his campaigning, he found that Stanford students “aren’t necessarily political animals.”

“It takes a lot more time to go out and meet students, because I think student government is a lot more foreign here,” he elaborated.

Indeed, one thing the candidates could all agree on was that the campaign process was that it took a lot of time out of their schedules.

“It definitely takes up a majority of my day,” said Carson Smith ’19. “Even when I’m not working on it, I’m probably sleeping and dreaming of my campaign.”

“I’d just like to say, thank God it’s Week 1,” said Jayaram Ravi ’19.

“Very, very time-consuming,” said Matthew Cohen ’18. “Boyfriend definitely not pleased,” he added with a laugh.

Much of that time was spent filling out endorsement applications. On the Stanford campus, endorsements can convince students who to vote for based on how their ideology lines up with groups such as First-Generation Low Income Partnership (FLIP) and the Jewish Student Association (JSA).

Katipamula was one of 14 candidates endorsed by the Students of Color Coalition (SOCC), an endorsement that she takes “very seriously.”

“I see the endorsement process as me making a commitment to keep those groups’ interests in mind,” Katipamula said.

Ravi agreed, saying that the process has “helped me learn about the issues that are important to communities across campus.”

“I think that’s important for elected officials especially to understand the concerns of their constituents and groups across campus so that they’re able to effectively represent them on the Senate,” he added.

Though he found the endorsement process “very important to getting name recognition,” Matthew Wigler ’19 stressed his commitment to election reform should he be elected.

“We need to focus on making sure that endorsements aren’t the most critical aspect of getting elected,” he said.

Experience can be every bit as important. A few candidates, such as Cohen, served on the 2015-2016 Senate and hope that their previous term will carry them to re-election. Others who have not held ASSU office before have engaged in Stanford politics in other ways. A number of candidates have served on Frosh Council, with Park having served one term as Communications Chair; Kathryn Treder ’18 shadowed Senator Leo Bird ’17 for much of the latter’s term, which saw the passage of their resolution to rename properties named after Junipero Serra.

Gabe Rosen ’19 spoke at length about his experience in New York City politics. Despite only being a freshman, Rosen claims to have spent “10 cumulative years” in various Democratic organizations in New York, serving as Chairman of the New York State High School Democrats and Executive Board Member of the New York State Young Democrats, among others. It was Rosen’s background in politics that inspired him to run for Senate.

“I have institutional experience in real-world governance that I want to bring to bear on behalf of my fellow students,” Rosen said. “I want to work in the Senate with that experience, bring a new, fresh perspective to the operations of the Senate and make it a very efficient and effective body.”

Other candidates looked at more local issues as motivation to join the race. Katipamula and Treder both called attention to their backgrounds and expressed a desire to see more diversity in the Senate.

“I’m a woman, and I’m a person of color; those are communities that, historically, have been underrepresented on Senate, so that’s part of my motivation to run,” Katipamula said.

“The gender imbalance in the Senate is completely appalling, so that was another motivation for me,” Treder said. “I’m really interested in representing the communities that I come from. I’m a first-generation, low-income, female student of color, so that’s the sort of background that I’d like to bring.”

Treder, a Native Alaskan, became interested in working with Senate after Senator Bird’s resolution, as did Smith, who lives in Muwekma-Tah-Ruk.

“I was really inspired by the impact that ASSU can make […] that there are these perspectives that are underrepresented, and really can be brought to light through the ASSU,” Smith said.

The general rise of activism on campus has led some candidates to want to stand up for activist causes and see that their interests are represented and recognized.

“I’d noticed with student groups on campus – namely activist groups – not really having a lot of support from ASSU leadership when it comes to getting meetings with administrators and getting direct communication,” said Harris. “These groups also want to directly speak with administrators, and a lot of times it’s hard to get administration to listen to you.”

“There are a lot of people at Stanford right now that aren’t having their issues addressed, and that’s why I ran for Undergraduate Senate,” Cohen said. “I followed through on the promises I made last year, and that’s why I’m running again for another term.”

All of the candidates can agree that the thrill of meeting new students on the campaign trail keeps them going.

“It’s exciting, it’s exhilarating, it’s democratic – I think it’s a lot of fun just to get out there and spread the word with people who also believe in the message,” Rosen said.

“It’s really heartening to see how many people care about the process, how many people care about Stanford, and being able to feed off of the enthusiasm of the community as a whole in this very, very exciting time of year,” Katipamula said.

 

Contact Jacob Nierenberg at [email protected].