A Look Into the Inner Workings of Student Union, and the Challenges Next Year’s Representatives Will Face

Evelyn Shaw ’29

Recently Student Union sent its End of Year Letter, which illustrated the many things they’d accomplished this year. There were many fundraisers, events, and implementations over the years. However, we only see the product of the Student Union endeavours, not the work that goes into it, so I have gathered the testimonies of three Student Union representatives, Sammy, Lulu, and Reviva, to hear what they have to say about the inner workings of meetings, advice for candidates, and the surprising things about student union that we might not know about.

In listening to Sammy speak I learned that at each meeting there is one designated representative to lead the meeting and another to take notes, roles that rotate each meeting. The meetings - like any other club - start off with a sign in sheet. However, it soon transitions to grade reports from representatives, in which SU members voice concerns on behalf of the grades they represent. This ideally leads to discussion, and then action. We see this in the removal of cohorts for next year’s classes–SU members took complaints about the cohorts to the meetings and met with Aaron Little, the school registrar, and abolished cohorts. He emphasized that Student Union members need to be a “liaison” between students and school leadership.

When chatting with Reviva she brought up a very important point: that SU members are meant to “improve school spirit and make all of us feel more connected to Bard, especially after stressful days or during busy parts of the year”. Being a Student Union Representative is a challenging load to manage along with the heavy course load, no matter what you’re in. Anyone running for SU needs to be up for this challenge, as Reviva puts it, “something that seems simple, like a bake sale or spirit week, something someone can look past actually involves lots of communication with administration, budgeting, scheduling, publicity…and obviously, teamwork”. (A point Lulu also strongly emphasized). The most important piece of advice Revivia has for anyone running for Student Union: be reliable! She says this is what keeps meetings running; it is the prerequisite for being a good communicator and collaborator.

In my discourse with Lulu, she provided some invaluable information on how to structure a campaign. She highlights that it should not be about you and what you would gain by being on SU, but how you can serve the students. She also says that what distinguishes a candidate with potential from one without is their ability to argue for what you believe in: to be a force of change as opposed to someone who complains about issues instead of thinking how to fix them. If there is an issue, you can talk to your SU representative, or leave a note in the suggestions box located by the ID scanners! Being a member of Student Union is all about problem-solving, providing feedback, and creating a better environment for BHSEC students.

Hopefully this article provides some insight into the commitments of an SU member, and more importantly educates the BHSEC community on what to expect from their SU members moving forward. Interestingly enough, “next year marks a significant restructure of the SU — members are expected to be more visible, engaged, and active across the full life of the school than in previous years,” according to Ms. Micha’s SU guidelines. As you can see, a lot goes into being an SU member, and more is going to be asked of them next year. Will our representatives be up to the task?