Tag Archives: President

FEATURED
Students Reflect on 2016 Election

campaign-2016

With yesterday’s conclusion of the seemingly endless 2016 election, some Wesleyan students reflected on their experience deciding who to vote for. This article contains interview excerpts from several students who were interviewed separately before the election results were known. These students included Michelle Fisher’19, a Co-Chair for Wesleyan Democratic Socialists, Simon Korn’17 and Aimee Wilkerson’17, Co-Chairs of Wesleyan Democrats, Mathias Valenta ’20, Treasurer of Wesleyan Republicans, as well as Posse Veteran Scholar Brian Barkman’19. Of the five students interviewed three of them (Fisher, Korn, and Wilkerson) were planning to vote for Clinton, meanwhile Valenta, though not a U.S. citizen, supported Trump. Barkman was undecided at the time of the interview but was adamant that he would not cast his vote for Trump.

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Voting Open for WSA Pres, VP, Senior Class Officer

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Voting is now open for the following elections:

  • WSA President and Vice President
  • Senior Class President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer

Voting will happen at wsa.wesleyan.edu/voting, closing at 11:59:59 p.m. on Friday, April 26.  All class years (including seniors and students abroad!) can vote in the election for WSA President and Vice President.  Only members of the Class of 2014 can vote in the Senior Class Officer election.

Why vote?

The students who are elected to these positions will technically represent the student body or significant portions of it.  They will be taken as the voice of the student body by administrators, outside bodies, and even fellow students.  They will occupy a critical space in dialogue with the administration, faculty, and other members of the community. They will have input on everything from assembly and university policy to budgetary issues, and almost every possible issue that affects students.

EVENT
WSA Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates

President and Vice Presidential DebateCome see your favorite presidential and vice presidential candidates verbally battle it out! Questions from any and all are welcomed throughout the debates (and in advance by email).

The President and Vice President set the direction for the Assembly, and bears a great deal of influence as the representative of the student voice. They occupy a critical space in dialogue with the administration, faculty, and other members of the community. They have input on everything from assembly and university policy to budgetary issues, and almost every possible issue that affects students.

Presidential Debate
Sunday, April 21st, 5:30PM–1st Floor of Usdan
Moderated by current WSA President Zachary Malter ’13, this debate will be a showdown of the three current candidates: Keith Conway ’16, Mari Jarris ’14, and Nicole Updegrove ’14.  Join the event on Facebook.

Vice Presidential Debate
Monday, April 22nd, 5:30PM–1st Floor of Usdan
Moderated by Elections Committee member Nicole Brenner ’15, this debate will be a showdown of the two current candidates: Chloe Murtagh ’15 and Andrew Trexler ’14.  Join the event on Facebook.

Also, show that you’re voting by joining this event.

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Run for WSA President & VP, Senior Class Officer

Want to make an impact on the Wesleyan community? Elections will be taking place from Monday, April 22, 2013 to Friday, April 26, 2013 for WSA President, WSA Vice President, and Senior Class Officer.

WSA President & Vice President
2014-2016 can run; 2013-2016 can vote

“It is a lot of work, it is a lot of time, and it is a lot of responsibility,” said Michael Pernick ’10, who served as WSA President for two years.  “But at the end of the day, there is nothing more satisfying than knowing that you’ve had an impact – even if it’s a small impact – which makes life better for other students.  The President and Vice President do more than merely run the operations of the WSA – they have a responsibility to serve the best interests of the student body as if it were an institution in and of itself.”

Senior Class 2014 President, Vice President, Secretary, & Treasurer
Only 2014 can run and vote

Serving as a Senior Class Officer also involves time commitment and thick skin, says Adam Rashkoff ’13, Senior Class Vice President.  “Being a Senior Class Officer is a great opportunity for any student who wants to gain experience with large-scale event planning, or simply for anyone who wants to give back to their class by facilitating ways for it to bond as a collective.”

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EVENT
Open Discussion with Roth: Research at Wesleyan

ROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHROTHFrom Andrew Trexler ’14 comes an opportunity to spend some cozy-time with President Roth tomorrow at noon, before this weekend’s Board of Trustees meeting:

I am writing to invite you to participate in a new form of student engagement with President Michael Roth and the Board of Trustees. Over the past several months, I have worked with the President’s Office to organize a face-to-face discussion with the President on an open question about Wesleyan’s future direction, shape, and character.  Board meetings (in which WSA representatives participate) usually address one such question, and this time around I am pleased to announce that the question is also being posed to the student body as a whole.
President Roth’s question:

We often talk about the scholar-teacher model as being at the heart of Wesleyan’s educational experience. I believe very strongly that much of the work that our faculty do to advance their own fields makes their teaching sharper and more vital. But not all research finds its way into the classroom, and at many universities there is a strong feeling that research serves some larger cultural good — not just the good of the students. This is much less true at most liberal arts colleges. Many professors at institutions that value research express that they want time “to do their own work,” and this often means work that serves their disciplines, not (necessarily) the university.

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FEATURED
Middletown Election Ballot: Here’s What’s Up

Hey guys, the election! If you’re off-campus or an alum and still don’t know where to vote tomorrow, check out Find Your Fucking Polling Place. Just type in your address; it’ll tell you where the fuck you can vote and who the fuck you can vote for, including third-party presidential candidates. It’s that simple.

Voting in Middletown? Cool. Most Wesleyan students will be voting at the Senior Center across from Broad Street Books, which is conveniently only a few blocks from Usdan. Your sample ballot looks like this. If you live in La Casa, Interfaith/Light House, or Full/Writing House, you’re an exception. Your polling place is Macdonough School, where you will have the same ballot as other students, except that your state representative candidates will be different (one of them is a former Wes student), for reasons probably only Elvin Lim understands. Click here to see it. If you need a ride, there will be shuttles going to the polls every ten minutes between 8:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. from the Wyllys Avenue Usdan entrance.

I was going to fill the rest of this post with either an inane rundown of my favorite Mike Gravel–related YouTube videos or an analysis of the Wesleying election poll, which gives Giant Joint more than twice as many votes as Romney, but then Gabriela De Golia ’13 sent in this fairly extensive Guide to the Middletown Ballot for Dummies, which includes senate candidates, local elections, and Middletown ballot questions. (As a disclosure, De Golia is former Vice President of WesDems—this isn’t necessarily a purely objective overview.) Click past the jump for De Golia’s summaries.

As always, this is a crucial election, because if your guy doesn’t win, then the other guy might.

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EVENT
Final Presidential Debate and Post-Debate Discussion

If you are looking for a place to organize your binders full of women, Alexandra Ellerbeck ’13 has got you covered:

Come watch the final presidential debate on Monday. It will be our last opportunity to see Barack Obama and Mitt Romney face off. Two experts on political communication and campaigns, the Government Department’s Professor Lim and Professor Dancey, will attend the debate and will participate in an informal discussion afterwards. Wesleyan’s Roosevelt Institute, WesDems, and ResLife are hosting the screening.

Date: Tomorrow, October 22
Time: 9pm
Place: 41 Wyllys Ave.
Cost: Free

FEATURED
“Look, It’s the First Debate”: Another Wesleying Liveblog

“Look, it’s the first debate, which many people would argue is the most important of them all.”

The Onion is reporting that Obama is psyched for the very first presidential debate tonight. We’re psyched, too! For another Wesleying liveblog! Now that Wesleying has finally recovered from last Thursday’s sober/drunk/high Vice Presidential adventure, we’ll be following tonight’s debate in real time. We’ll all be sober this time, though. Probably.

If you’re looking to watch the debate online, CNN is a reliable destination. This one will be Town Hall-style, meaning voters will be asking the questions, which might call to mind this classic 1992 debate moment, except not: Slate is reporting that both campaigns have agreed on a restrictive set of debate rules that basically prevent either candidate from having to answer follow-up questions or interact with audience members. As the rule sheet requires: “The audience members shall not ask follow-up questions or otherwise participate in the extended discussion, and the audience member’s microphone shall be turned off after he or she completes asking the questions.” Full memorandum of understanding here. Democracy in action after the jump.

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FEATURED
From the Argives: Doug Bennet ’59 Becomes Wesleyan’s Fifteenth President

Ah, 1995: the year of the OJ Simpson trial, the fourth busiest hurricane season on record, and my 1st birthday (yeah, I’m a youngster, but I rocked those 90s children’s overalls so hard). More importantly, this week in 1995, Douglas Bennet ’59 was inaugurated as Wesleyan’s fifteenth president.

Bennet is more than just the new name of Fauver (or if you’re anyone who isn’t the class of 2016, the name of the dorm is in fact still Fauver). He has been involved with Wesleyan as a student, a parent, an alumnus, and an administrator.

During his time in the Oval Not-Very-Oval Office, Bennet had his share of ups and downs. Though he greatly improved several important aspects of university life (like nearly doubling the size of the endowment and overseeing the construction of many buildings on campus), he was criticized by some students for the lack of student involvement in Wesleyan’s decision-making process. Eventually, student dissatisfaction with Bennet culminated in a 250-person sit-in outside his office in 2004.

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