Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
My name is Luis Peñate and I am running to represent you in Student Council as the Student Events Advisor. Student Events Advisor is a position that takes a lot initiative, planning events that represent the interests of the student body—this means that I must be in touch with the needs and desires of a diverse student population. I have a relentless commitment to have everyone’s voice heard, no matter how arduous and long the process may take. By no means does that make me indecisive; rather, it makes me a fair decision maker. Moreover, as a member of various groups that have hosted events on campus, I have an excellent idea of how things work here at Swat; I’ve successfully applied for and received funding from SAC and know how to plan and advertise a well-attended event. Both my commitment to representing student needs and my experience as a member of various campus groups makes me excited to run for Student Events Advisor.
As the Student Events Advisor, I would like to bring Student Council’s voice into the planning of campus-wide events such as Class Awareness month, APIA month, Black History month—and Women’s History Month—which at Swarthmore is often not planned or celebrated. I believe that these major campus-wide events need the support of student council to promote attendance and funding. I would also like to create a stronger connection between StuCo and various groups on campus, so that StuCo can play a more active supporting role in the events those groups choose to hold. I will also try to increase student attendance to each event, which is especially important this year given Swarthmore’s limited budget. In that same vein, I think it would be helpful to create a position or have a student liaison to strengthen the relationship between the academic departments and the student body, so that departmental events can be well-attended, and more student events can have support from departments. I also believe that the best way for StuCo to cater to the needs of the student body is to host multiple events to respond to incidents that happen on campus, such as the vandalism of the SQU room and concerns and debates that happened around issues of safety on campus last year that happened earlier this year.
Another issue that is very important to me is to increase the amount of students who try to host events, as this will create a greater diversity of events that can help to educate and increase the amount of FUN on campus. Another one of my projects would be to increase the amount of advertisement for tri-co events so that Swarthmore students can utilize the resources of the other schools in our consortium. I also want to make sure that money is not cut so that students keep the same amount and frequency of events.
As a member of StuCo, I would like to push for a more active student role in budget cuts so that these cuts don’t affect students’ financial aid, along with other programs that benefit student experiences. As stated before, I would also like Student Council as a whole to have a student response to event that happen on campus, keeping the student body better informed.
Sincerely,
Luis Peñate