Robbins, Kim And Parell Win StuCo Elections
Upper Matthew Robbins, upper Hojoon Kim and lower Jackson Parell were elected this spring term to serve Student Council (StuCo) as president, vice president and secretary, respectively. The new executive board will replace the 2015-2016 school year president Rebecca Ju, vice president Jun Park and secretary Joel Lotzkar. With 484 students casting their ballots in the election, the voter turnout rate stood at 44.6 percent, a slight decrease from last spring’s 50.6 percent turnout rate.
As president, Robbins said that he hopes to create a more democratic student government through reforms that call for a restructuring of StuCo itself. These proposed reforms include capping the number of select members in an effort to promote overall efficiency and to ensure that those who vote in StuCo actually hold legitimate voting rights. Robbins also wished to balance StuCo’s role in decision-making with the opinions of the broader student body by allowing students to force a referendum on any matter if more than half the student body signs a petition in favor of doing so. To further increase the general student voice, Robbins proposed the creation of 11 new positions in StuCo; the entire student body would vote for the recipients of these positions and those elected would oversee policy matters and hold greater voting power in policy votes. Furthermore, Robbins declared in his platform that he will hold a vote at the end of his first term of presidency in order to determine whether or not the council continues to place their confidence in him. If the vote suggests distrust, a new presidential election will be held.
In addition to these structural reforms, Robbins plans to address sexual assault, mental health, the advising system and Post Instructional Evaluations (PIEs). In regard to sexaul assault, he has proposed the enactment of an awareness campaign. On the topic of mental health, Robbins intends to create a committee devoted to bringing feedback and concerns from students to the attention of the health center and working with them to improve student wellness across campus. To address the advising system, Robbins plans to establish an anonymous feedback system between students and advisers. While he also wishes to repeal PIEs in favor of implementing a more holistic and comprehensive evaluation process.
“There will be a total overhaul to StuCo. The councilors that [Robbins] promised will be elected next year and there will be a lot of changes to the structure of StuCo itself.”
Kim’s platform stated that as vice president, he would work to support whatever changes the president proposed. Parell also plans to focus his efforts towards achieving the goals put forth by Robbins. All three newly elected officials expressed excitement at the opportunity to enact real change in StuCo throughout the coming year. In an address to the student body, Robbins stated, “I want to say to the student body that change is coming, Student Council will be reformed and your voice will be amplified as we go through the next year.”
Kim explained that he would take actions towards assisting Robbins in his plans for reform. “My goal will be to put as many things as humanly possible on the table that the president and the student body want addressed,” he said. Parell echoed the desire of his fellow board members to institute tangible changes, saying “we understand that there is a lot of change that must be made in our community, and we will try our best to see it through.”
Many students felt that the election results were not surprising, but rather were indicative of a desire for change across campus. Senior Michael Shao pointed out that the results reflect a mounting dissatisfaction among voters with the current StuCo and the pressing need for a “candidate who would bring the most fundamental change to campus.” He further explained, “it does not really matter to me whether or not it turns out well, change in and of itself is necessary to a StuCo that had gone stale.”
As a candidate who promised concrete change, Robbins certainly appealed to voters who believed that StuCo is much in need of reform. One such student, prep Taylor Robinson, expressed excitement for the changes that StuCo will most likely see in the coming year under its new executive board. “There will be a total overhaul to StuCo. The councilors that [Robbins] promised will be elected next year and there will be a lot of changes to the structure of StuCo itself,” he commented.
Voters were also attracted to Robbins’ “charisma and eloquence when speaking,” two qualities that contributed to prep Jimmy Liu’s decision to vote for Robbins. Likewise, postgraduate Mathias Valenta described Robbins as “an extremely intelligent and well-spoken political figure.”
Several students were disappointed by the lack of female representation within StuCo’s executive board. Though three of the eight presidential candidates and three of the six vice presidential candidates in the preliminary election were female, none progressed and voters were left with only male options for the final presidential and vice-presidential election. Upper Emily Robb, one of the original presidential candidates, said that she is “still not pleased that there is no female representation.
In many ways, this year’s election stood out as unique in comparison with past elections. Shao, who served as a member of Robbin’s campaign team—self-nicknamed the “war room”—pointed out that this spring’s election was the only one of the four he has witnessed in his time at Exeter in which active campaigning occurred. “As a member of Matthew Robbins’ war room, this is the first election where people ran around grabbing endorsements and had a team of staff to work and put stuff up for them,” he explained, noting that “it clearly paid off for Matt.”
Valenta, another member of the war room, considered this election a “rise of the anti-establishment.” He drew parallels between StuCo’s election and national politics. “The fact that populism through figures such as Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and our new president are gaining so much, well, popular recognition and patriotic support is really great,” he said.
Health instructor and StuCo adviser Carol Cahalane expressed excitement for working with the new board in the coming year. She explained that often when a new board comes in with a reform-centered approach, especially with such ambitious plans, it is necessary for them to think through the practicality of their ideas. “They have some great ideas and I think they are very ambitious, excited and wanting to work hard to make things better for students. I think that with those traits they will do a fine job,” she said. “It’ll be fun to watch and help them achieve what they want to do,” she added.