The following is a letter to the editor submitted by sophomore ASWC senators Emma Bishop and Emily Bowen.
Have you ever wondered what being on ASWC is like? As senators on the Student Affairs committee for the past two years, we feel it is time to unveil the mystery that is life in ASWC. In doing this, we also hope to debunk some common myths about the ASWC experience.
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Believe it or not, student representatives have an impact on this campus. Crazy, we know! We have had the ability to take campus issues into our hands and produce tangible results. We’ve considered issues as diverse as implementing the use of personal pronouns, dramatically upgrading the sexual misconduct policy, pushing the college for a testing-optional admissions policy and taking time to write letters of consideration and sympathy for regional schools that have experienced misfortune or tragedy.
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Participating in ASWC has allowed us to become part of a hardworking community of students who care about relevant and important campus issues. We also feel that ASWC is like our family … it’s pretty hard not become best friends!
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Every other … Sunday we enjoy dressing to impress for Senate meetings. There is no better way to spend a night than discussing issues on campus alongside some other dashing folk!
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As members of ASWC we serve as liaisons between the student community and the Board of Trustees, administration and faculty. We also have the credibility to reach out to higher level governing bodies (such as our state representatives) and write them slightly passive aggressive letters concerning things we care about. Amazingly enough, they do listen! One example is the creation of the Dean of Diversity position, which was based on a recommendation in an ASWC resolution. (yay Kazi!)
We hope this helped shed some light on the role of ASWC on campus and in our community.
Emma Bishop ‘18 and Emily Bowen ‘18