2015-2016 Student Council Executive Board Announced

This Tuesday, the student body voted in uppers Rebecca Ju and Jun Park as next year’s Student Council (StuCo) president and vice-president. They will join lower Joel Lotzkar, who was elected in the preliminaries as secretary, to form next year’s Student Council Executive Board. Voting for president and vice president took place from 10:45 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday and was open to the whole student body.

The campaigning process started two weeks ago after the candidates collected 350 signatures and began displaying posters across campus. While only two candidates ran for president, a total of three ran for secretary and four for vice president, which made this year’s elections highly competitive.

Senior and current StuCo President Benjamin Cohen described the candidate pool this year as “very strong.” He was impressed with the final selection of the three finalists; he has known each before to be excellent leaders. He has high hopes for the new board and the upcoming year.

Cohen went on to explain some of the strengths of the new president, specifically concentrating on her uniquely delicate and empathetic personality.

“I think she is well-spoken and hardworking,” he said. “She is someone who is extremely understanding and empathetic of other people. That is really going to help her tackle the issues on campus, especially her goal of mental health.”

Senior and Head of Policy Committee Emily Lemmerman praised Ju’s strength as a leader as well. She said that she is able to facilitate and lead discussions not by “trailblazing it herself, but by listening to what other people want,” which she thinks is a really important quality in student leadership.

Ju’s older sister and former Student Council President Alice Ju of the class of 2014 also commented on Rebecca’s selflessness. “Rebecca cares about others on a very deep and genuine level. I think Exeter elected someone who is not only an extremely hard worker who holds herself to the highest standards, but someone who will always apply that  work ethic to helping others first, rather than helping herself,” she said.

According to Alice Ju, these qualities will be especially important as she addresses the complex topic of mental health, which will require patience and dedication.

Indeed, Ju’s main focuses for the upcoming year will center around educating the health center on issues of transparency and mental health. She would like to see more panels, forums and assemblies relating to the topic along with a StuCo newsletter each week to convey their progress on the issue.

On top of that, she would also like to set up an anonymous feedback system for the Health Center and counselors there so students who have had negative experiences don’t feel afraid to speak up about them.

“I have heard stories of people who had to wait hours to speak to a counselor or encountering nurses at the desk who did not know how to handle it,” Ju explained. “I want to provide as many opportunities as possible for students to learn about the health center and give their own input on it.”

Like Ju, Park would also like to focus on transparency over the next year. However, his main concerns will be more focused on disciplinary cases and StuCo itself. According to him, many members of StuCo are often clueless to what the Executive Board is doing. Similarly, many students outside of StuCo also feel lost on what the whole board is working on.

“There is this disconnect between the student body and the student council which shouldn't be there, because ideally we should be a representation of what the school is like,” Park said. “We could definitely do that through better publicity.”

This same pattern applied to the disciplinary committee (DC) as well. After talking to members on DC, Park began to realize that many members of the committee feel the student body needs to know more about the process itself and what constitutes a DC case.

Park said that although he will be helping Ju push for bigger picture changes, he also wants to work on smaller changes with easier fixes that were brought up in the strategic planning meetings, so as not to stay completely at a “stalemate.” For instance, Park said he plans to  work toward creating a greater support for the arts and harnessing school spirit at Exeter.

Lotzkar said that his goal is also consistent with Ju’s in its hope to “enhance the work life balance on campus so that Exeter is a happier and healthier place for everyone.” He hopes to achieve this goal by increasing access to academic support and improving the work life balance at Exeter. He said that the three will meet before the term ends to discuss their plans for next year and is looking forward to begin his time as secretary next year. “I am very excited to be a member of Executive Board and work alongside Rebecca and Jun,” Lotzkar said. “I believe I will be able to contribute to StuCo in a meaningful way and help bring about positive changes at school.”

Current Vice President Robert Connor commended Lotzkar and his time this year as lower rep.

“Joel is a trustworthy, organized and well-respected individual. Because of these traits, he has been a successful lower rep, and I am beyond glad that he will serve as secretary next year,” Connor said.

With all three sharing similar plans and discussions already beginning between them, many Exonians have high expectations for their upcoming work and believe the three will work very well together. Although the three members of the board have differences in their agendas, their common threads will link and create a successful dynamic.

“I think the student body dissected the strongest platforms out of the candidates and picked three that have similar views and different areas they want to improve,” St. Pierre said. “Together, I think they will be one of the most productive Student Councils in recent years by promoting change across a myriad of areas in student life.”