SGO 2020 Class Senator Platforms

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.

The Daily Gazette has reprinted these platforms in full without changes:

Joshua Siegel

Platform for Class of 2020 Senator

Hello Class of 2020! I’d like to introduce myself as someone first and foremost who loves Swarthmore College, and I believe the tight-knit atmosphere between students and faculty allows for great possibility in the arena of student government. When I first
visited Swat, I was admittedly turned off by its quant size and lack of liveliness on campus. I was worried that the work may too strenuous, the students too serious, and the school too isolated. However, this past year I have found Swarthmore to be uniquely rewarding, both academically and socially. I found myself stimulated by the collective teacher/student passion for applicable knowledge and meaningful conversations, and the contagious nature of this attitude on campus.

What I love most about Swarthmore is the opportunity to learn and develop relationships with people from all different backgrounds, and the many perspectives stemming off this exposure. Though Swarthmore shines in its diversity, its student body is steadily united behind a deep commitment to meaningful work. I hope to bring thecollaborative conversations I have every day with my classmates to work as a senator. I want my role as senator to be an outlet for students to raise any and all opinions or
ideas. I want to collaborate and work with anyone who would like to see revisions implemented into our everyday school lives.

Specifically, I hope to streamline a consistent connection between the school and the city of Philadelphia. This would come in the form of school-supplied transportation and a greater commitment towards the potential for recreational events, academic/internship opportunities, and more varied, exciting party spaces that are otherwise unavailable at
Swarthmore.

If you have any questions regarding my platform, or more importantly want to introduce yourself, I’d love to get to know you better and I am always looking to meet new people at Swarthmore. Feel free to contact me at jsiegel1@swarthmore.edu

Nagyon Kim

Hey 2020!

My name is Nagyon Kim, and I am seeking to become your class senator for the 2017-2018 Academic Year! I truly hope to have the opportunity to represent you on SGO this year, and to have your vote in the election this week.

Having watched and followed SGO over the past year as a freshman, I have appreciated the various activities and study breaks the organization hosted as ways to interact with the student body. However, I also see great amount of potential when it comes to making SGO a more transparent organization, and elucidating the purpose of SGO in its relation to the student body and the administration. If fortunate enough to be elected, I hope to work toward making SGO more approachable to every one of you, by bringing the organization closer to the needs and the wants of the student body, and by allowing everyone to have a clear understanding of every course of action SGO takes. In the process, I also hope to have a chance to hear from you through various platforms to get a sense of what you, as students, want from the SGO, so that I could try my best to deliver that promise to you as your senator.

While it is ultimately up to each of you to select who you want to be representing you at SGO, I will do my utmost best to work toward shaping SGO the way you want it to be shaped, if chosen. Thank you.

Nagyon Kim
Class of 2020

Tommy Dell

Senatorial Platform: Tommy Dell

My name is Tommy Dell, and I am running for senator of the class of 2020. My platform centers around developing greater cohesion between SGO policies and the student body’s ideas and desires. It seems to me that there currently exists a dearth of knowledge not only about SGO’s role in the community but also about how students can make their voices heard to the organization. Should I be elected senator, I would hope to remedy these issues by striving to improve SGO’s transparency as well as its prevalence within the community. I would work towards these goals by pursuing involvement in SGO’s Student Outreach Committee, which focuses on effective communication between SGO and the student body.

I believe that I possess all the characteristics needed to be a receptive and successful senator. Whenever I commit myself to a task, I work with the utmost intensity to complete it, and I will apply this drive to the realization of the universally-beneficial goal of improved student-SGO communications. While I have not yet held a leadership position at Swarthmore, I have held several leadership positions prior, ranging from sports captain to community service organizer. Furthermore, I have been involved with tutoring and athletics here at Swat; through these activities, my various classes, and my daily interactions with other Swatties, I have developed familiarity with a wide variety of people and student groups. Now that I have had enough time to become familiar with the Swarthmore community, I am ready to apply my leadership experience to a senatorial position.

Yin Xiao

Hi everyone,

I am Yin Xiao ’20.

I have been your Senator-at-Large for the past year.

Now I am running to be your Class Senator in your Student Government (SGO).

What I have done:

Conducted a communication survey to see which communication method is the most effective (1. Campus-
wide emails 2. Facebook events 3. Daily digest emails)
Created a report regarding extending ML/PPR shuttle hours and conducted a survey.
Worked with Speak2Swattie and Presidential Fellow to explore an option of creating a mental health week.
Supported cultural affinity groups during the Culture and Identity Appreciation (CIA) week
Helped with an ice-cream study break

Next year, I will continue to work on some of the projects mentioned above, but I also want to tackle some very
concerning problems within SGO:

8 study breaks in 1 semester were unnecessary and costly
Appointments to College Committees were done without oversight from anyone. There can be conflict of
interests involved.
Not enough communications between senators and chairs, between committees, between the senate and exec
board, and between the student government and student body
Meeting every 2 weeks did not give us enough time to discuss issues and actually do something about them.

Here are some ways to resolve the problems:

Create a Mental Health Week with Speak2Swattie and CAPS
- Continue to plan a weeklong event about mental health with Speak2Swattie and CAPS
- Increase the level of conversation about mental health
- Draw public attention to this under-addressed topic
Increase Transparency within SGO and with Student Body
- Set up weekly newsletters to let you know what is happening and what we have been doing
- Mandate in the constitution that committee chairs to report back to the Senate during meetings and
  students through weekly newsletters
Promote Student Groups in a Fair Way
- Combine study breaks with similar groups. For example, instead of hosting 3 study breaks with 3
  different CS groups, we can combine them into one.
- Promote under-represented groups, e.g. Conservative Society, Roosevelt, Marksmanship Society, etc.
- Study breaks with different themes, e.g. political (with SwatDem, Conservative Society, etc.), cultural
  (with cultural groups, IC, etc.), academic (with CS, physics clubs, etc.), service (with S2S, Global
  Neighbors, etc.) and sports (with club sports teams).
Give More Power to the Senate and Students
- Give the Senate oversight over how our budget is spent and how we appoint people to college committees
- Allow the Senate to confirm or reject an appointment or a use of money