Student Senate Forums Highlight Lack of Candidates

The AS Student Senate at-large candidates spoke at the forum on Thursday, Oct 24. From left to right: Koby Okezie, Sargun Handa, Connor Farrand and Kaitlyn Davidson. Joe Addison // AS Review

By Jack Taylor

Voting for the Associated Students Student Senate starts Monday, Oct. 28 and goes until Nov. 1. Students will get the chance to vote for two senators in their respective college in addition to two at-large senators. 

This past week the candidates for the senate positions had the chance to speak at the open candidate forums. The candidates answered general questions from the moderators as well as explained why they are running for senate. 

The potential senators also answered questions on how they would work with other student senators, as well as answered questions from the students themselves. The AS Communications office livestreamed the forums on the Associated Students of Western Washington University Facebook page, where students could watch the forums digitally.

Current Senate Pro-Tempore Adah Barenburg, gave her feedback on how she thought the election process was going in an email interview. 

“I am super excited, “Barenburg said. “I decided to run to be the Student Senate Pro-Tempore because I enjoy the work that I did as a student senator last year and it has been great to hear all of the plans that candidates have been sharing, [and] I think all of the candidates this year have invaluable perspectives and will make this university a better place.”

However, certain colleges do not have enough people running for senate as each college gets two people to represent it in the senate. Woodring College of Education, College of Fine and Performing Arts, Huxley College of the Environment and The Graduate School only have one person running for the senate. 

Barenburg spoke on the steps she will take to fill the senate. 

“Essentially, I am working with Ina [LaGrandeur, AS Elections Coordinator] on reaching out to the college deans and department heads of the colleges that have only one person running for the position in order to spread the word and encourage students to apply,” Barenburg said. 

“In addition, there will be a write-in box for colleges with only one person running and the person whose name is written in the most will have a preferred application if they decide to apply to be a student senator,” she said. “I will be reviewing the applicants with Dr. Leti Romo, the assistant director of student representation & governance, and Annie Byers, the AS board program coordinator and an AS board assistant.”

From there, Barenburg will choose an applicant and submit her choice to the senate for approval. 

However, some senators are running unopposed and are already discussing plans for what they intend to do while in office. For the at-large senators, which represent students who have yet to declare a major, there are four seats open and four people running. 

One of the candidates, Sargun Handa, a first-year student running for an at-large position, spoke about her reasoning for running for senate. 

“I am a queer, single, female person of color, and I have never seen anything like me in leadership, as a public speaker, as an author, in my English classes,” Handa said. “And so I always wish I had somebody to represent me and be a voice for me so I thought that I would be that person for people like me who are so diverse.” 

Koby Okezie, another student running for the at-large position, spoke on the importance of working together with his potential fellow senators. 

“There’s a lot of trust that comes with this job and it has to be earned, and I think with the senators and certainly myself, seeing that you guys are willing to work with people like us is a great way to start working to build that trust,” Okezie said. “I think you can’t really force that relationship in any sense, so it’s gonna take a lot of work on our part.”  

Barenburg gave her advice to the candidates in an email interview as the voting week commences.

“Be genuine and make authentic connections with people through this process. It is a privilege to be able to run for this position, almost nothing at Western happens in isolation,” Barenburg said.