Courtesy of ASB
On Oct. 1, students elected four new Associated Student Body (ASB) Senators — Zeynep Irmak Ozcan ’29, Manhattan Doles ’29, Alexi Kremer ’29, and Peya Kalimba ’29 — along with the new Health and Wellness Committee Chair, Destiny Garza ’26. The new senators, all first-year students at Lewis & Clark, campaigned with a sense of hopeful optimism, presenting enthusiasm to enact change on campus.
In a joint interview with the Mossy Log, Senators Ozcan and Kalimba emphasized the importance of advocacy and empowerment in their campaigns.In her campaign statement, Kalimba had revealed her vision if elected to ASB Senate:
“To see a Lewis & Clark where voices are heard and students feel empowered to shape the campus,” she said.
Kalimba elaborated on this statement, emphasizing her desire to enact change based on issues that the student body cares about.
“I think that a lot of the time, people come to campus and they just go along with everything that has already been set up, and they have a lot of complaints and a lot of things that they feel like could change and be made better,” she said.
This focus on public advocacy continued. Kalimba then noted that school should feel like a comfortable place where student voices are heard. In response to Kalimba’s statement, Ozcan shared why she believes transparency in student government is important.
“If people do not know what’s happening in the background, they just tend to follow what others say,” she said.
When asked if she had any ideas to address this issue, Ozcan emphasized her mission to promote stronger communication between ASB and the student body.
“I’ve been trying to pay attention to how these decision-making bodies can connect to the student body, so people can actually see the transparency and know what they’re paying for, where their tuition fees go to, and what kind of actions they can take in order to make some changes within the school,” Ozcan said.
Within ASB, decision-making is not a linear process. Ozcan described how discussions at ASB meetings are often filled with contrasting ideas and approaches to effecting change on campus.
“The discussions are always quite heated, and there is always a lot of really constructive feedback,” she said. “I think from the last two meetings that we had, I could see that people are really engaged within the community, and they actually know what they’re trying to say.”
The senators hinted at a variety of plans for ASB in the upcoming months, but could not provide specific details on their execution.
“Right now our current topics are getting sexual awareness education on the website, creating volunteer opportunities and Indigenous land recognition. That was also a very heated topic that we’re trying to change,” Kalimba said.
According to ASB meeting minutes from Oct.16, This new land recognition will expand terminology to include federally unrecognized native tribes and will take Indigenous perspectives into account. This new recognition will replace the current recognition read at the beginning of each ASB meeting.
Doles noted that there have been discussions about a possible rescue training program for students through Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET). NET is an emergency management program where Portland Fire & Rescue as well as the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management will train emergency preparedness to Portland residents. NET will partner with LC to train students in many topics such as fire training, emergency evacuation training, and basic first aid. ASB met with Kevin McVeigh, the emergency management director at LC where they discussed the possibility of making this course a PE credit that would involve some lectures but primarily hands-on training.
“There will be a class you could take, where you’ll be able to learn how to be a rescuer. Then after that, you’ll get a certification, basically saying that you’re able to do it professionally. Right now, we’re working with the rescue group and we’re talking about plans to make it a full course,” Doles said.
The newly elected representatives are hard at work, learning from the more senior members of ASB and helping to implement action, with a hope of focusing on their own projects soon.
“As new senators, our main goal is coming up with our own projects. It’s going to take a while, because there’s a lot they’ve been discussing since a couple months ago, but I’m really looking forward to working on what we campaigned for,” Kalimba said.
After only a month in their elected positions, these new senators have yet to enact their own projects. As the semester continues, ASB’s initiatives will continue to develop into new programs and opportunities for students.
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