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.
Hey Swat Student Body –
My name is Victor Brady and I would like to represent you on Student Council as one of your Campus Life Representatives.
I love our Swarthmore Community, and beyond working as a tour guide and with our Swarthmore athletic teams, I would love to have the opportunity to meet and interact with more of you on a personal level.
We’re all concerned about issues on the Swarthmore campus and issues around the world, and by allowing ourselves to intertwine and interact on a personal level rather than simply as a community of 1500, we allow ourselves to become better at affecting positive social change, here and around the world.
I would like to act as a link between you and the Swarthmore Student Council and Swarthmore administration so that we can address the issues that we each care about. A concern for one is a concern for all of us as we work to build an even stronger community. You and I both care about all of the members of this community and I want to work so that everyone has an outlet to express their beliefs, opinions and ideas.
Several issues are very near to my heart here at Swarthmore. The economic downturn has reached each and every one of us, and I remain worried about how Swarthmore’s financial future and allocation of funds will impact our life on campus. Having an immediate family member who lost their job in the past year, I understand how much is at stake if we are not increasingly efficient in our use of funds.
Entering a new age at the College with the implementation of a strategic planning process, it is critical to me that we maintain essential aspects of Swarthmore life within our budget. Need-blind financial aid, which helps to ensure that the Swarthmore community remains diverse across all boundaries and is one of the biggest reasons that Swarthmore is one of the most diverse liberal arts colleges in the country, cannot be sacrificed.
We must be efficient with the programs that we have – though cable boxes were in storage on campus for months after the digital switch last year, it took hundreds of calls and visits to Workbox to finally have them installed on campus this past October, allowing students access to the cable which we were already paying for. We cannot allow this to happen and sacrifice other programs as a result.
It is also critical to me that we continue to expand our green efforts, especially through composting and energy efficient machinery, to reduce the carbon imprint that we have as a campus community. Living on the campus of the Scott Arboretum, we have the daily privilege of experiencing nature, and in tandem with the Scott Arboretum, we can continue to grow in our environmental efficiency.
As Campus Life Representative, I would look for new ways to hear, represent, and live Swarthmore. Allowing students the opportunity to evaluate organizations like Dining Services or the Health Center, student groups, and Student Council – just as students have the opportunity to evaluate courses at the end of each semester – will allow everyone on this campus to share their individual voice in the shaping of the campus community. I look forward to bringing every idea forward.
I also believe that we as a community can become more efficient in a lot of our current practices. When technological issues prevent Blackboard or our Swarthmore emails from functioning, the College could send a text message so that we are aware– like through the emergency alert system – as opposed to an email which we cannot access.
We have the creative solutions to solve major issues on campus and around the world, and I hope to have the opportunity to work with you so that we as a community can collectively devise these answers.
My door, and my ears, are always open, and I would love the chance to work as your link to our own Student Council.
All the best,
Victor Brady