Unbeknownst to many UCSD students, each of the six colleges requires their senators on A.S. Council to complete a project for each year they serve in office. The parameters are not very specific; it only needs to be a project intended for the betterment of the university.
As Eleanor Roosevelt College’s senior senator, Wendy Ho participates in many projects. Among her favorites is a program she started this fall to bring together the ERC seniors living off-campus.
“”You know once you move off campus, you just don’t see a lot of the people anymore,”” Ho said. “”I wanted to reconnect people, and just enjoy ourselves and have a good time.””
According to Ho, the happy hour social held at TGI Friday’s in February was extremely well-attended. About 60 or 70 ERC seniors attended the evening event.
“”Everyone who attended really loved it,”” Ho said. “”So many people came up to me and said it was like a reunion of our freshman year.””
Ho also organized a finals break at El Cerrito in March that was also successful, if not as well-attended. Potential future plans include a trip to a Padres game and a night at Dave and Buster’s.
“”The program is run by a committee of five random seniors, including myself,”” Ho said. “”These people aren’t senators, just seniors who decided they have an hour to spare in their week. Starting this quarter, we are trying to recruit more volunteers to help organize the upcoming events.””
John Muir College Sophomore Senator Jeremy Cogan developed a project within the college council systems, the Senator Exchange Program.
“”This was something I kind of invented because I saw so much rivalry between the different colleges last fall quarter,”” Cogan said. “”The college councils shouldn’t compete with each other; they should help each other as the leaders of each college.””
The exchange program took place during the second and third weeks of winter quarter. Cogan coordinated with each of the councils to have two members excused in exchange for two visitors during both of the meetings.
“”The goal was for all participants to experience aspects of a different college,”” Cogan said. “”We all have the same basic interests, which are parking, student organizations and just general student interests.””
Each participant analyzed the college they visited and wrote a short, follow-up report. Cogan encouraged people not just to praise, but to offer constructive criticism as well.
“”I received a lot of comments to the effect of, ‘this was terrific,’ and ‘thanks for setting this up,'”” Cogan said. “”It was a big success.””
A concrete example of the program’s impact is the fact that the Thurgood Marshall College Student Council has since adopted a positive way of closing their meetings that they learned from a visitor from Earl Warren College Student Council. In addition, according to Cogan, Warren council members learned how other colleges such as Muir handled their budget that in turn gave them fresh ideas for their recent restructuring.
In a similar effort to Ho’s senior program, Warren Junior Senator Jessica Kepford initiated a Commuter Outreach Program for Warren College. Kepford saw a lack of programming focused on the Warren commuters, as this is her second year commuting to school.
“”We’ve held two study breaks at TGI Friday’s during finals week,”” Kepford said. “”We gave people free appetizers and about 150 people showed up each time.””
According to Kepford, a free commuter breakfast was also distributed on Library Walk. The event was successful, with about 250 participants. However, Kepford speculated that everyone who took a breakfast burrito was potentially not from Warren.
Kepford also teamed up with Warren Senior Senator Lauren Lee to rewrite the Warren College election bylaws. The effort was part of a larger effort last quarter to change Warren College Student Council.
“”We put together a Constitutional Redraft Committee,”” Kepford said. “”The constitution and bylaws have been completely restructured.””
According to Kepford, this was not a senator project, but was a good example of the overlap that frequently occurs between their duties as council members and their individual projects.
Lee’s favorite senator project was a last-minute affair that she arranged in September 2001. With the help of the A.S. Council support staff, Lee organized a candlelight vigil during the first week of school to commemorate the victims of 9/11.
“”It was an awkward time for a lot of us,”” Lee said. “”I felt like people were in this bind of dealing with the tragedy and starting the school year, especially the incoming freshmen.””
