What is your role on campus? I am the old lady of Barnard’s Student Government. Nah, I am the Representative for College Relations, which is a new position that was created last year to work with the Career Development office, Alumnae Affairs, Double Degree students and the General Studies Student Council. Additionally, I sit on the faculty and student academic policy committees. I am the “webmistress,” although I don’t like the name, for the new Seven Sisters Student Coalition!
How did you get involved? I got involved in SGA during September of my first year. I am the only serving member who has held an elected position all four years and that makes me super proud. I’ve held on to this organization so tightly because the women and men that I work with are the most passionate, creative people that actually care. SGA sometime gets a bad rep, but significant progress has been made during the three and half years I’ve observed. Our relationships with administrators and faculty are more open and our work is more collaborative. We are using social media more and trying to keep up with the current issues on campus, rather than trying to address everything. We’re a much more flexible organization lately.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your position? As a student government representative, there are infinite projects and opportunities to be involved in. I have had the privilege of meeting and conversing with such a wide variety of powerful and knowledgable people because I am a representative. One year ago, I was at the Women in Public Service colloquium taking photos with Hilary Clinton and listening to Madeleine Albright speak. I wouldn’t have had a chance of being selected to go to D.C. if Barnard’s staff didn’t know me for my interest in public service and government!
Being a founding member of the Seven Sisters Student Coalition is by far the coolest thing I’ve ever done for Barnard. Some of the women I’m working with have been with me at all four Seven Sisters conferences the remaining schools have been hosting. Our mission is to create a network for students and alumni of our schools and host events so that our student bodies can connect. Discussing and planning with this group has brought me so much closer to Barnard and makes me excited to continue building community as an alumna. Check out http://sites.google.com/site/sevensistersstudents — it’s totally a work in progress but we’d love feedback!
What is the most challenging aspect of your work with SGA? Being a student representative is all about being unafraid to speak your mind. We no longer speak off the record and we started recording our meetings for YouTube. I am so conscious of the proverbial soapbox Rep Council provides every Monday night and wish more students would show up and use it. It can be difficult to question or criticize a college I love so much, but we have a responsibility to respond to and improve on the things students care about. When students doubt the work that representatives and committee members do every single day, I want them to know how helpful it is when students work with us on the things they care about. SGA is truly only as powerful as the sum of our members- all 2,450 of us.
What is one change at Barnard you would have liked to see during your time here? I would love to see every single person get excited about Greek Games. This spring, Greek Games and Spirit Day will be Spirit Week–be there. These traditions are so special for our history and for our atmosphere. Everyone should show love for Barnard and watch the class of 2013 kick some ass! On a more serious note, I’ve always wanted Columbia students to be happier and more relaxed, and these Compliments and Admirers Facebook pages are helping that happen, so I’m currently seeing the change I always hoped for. I’d like to start working on how to bring that appreciation offline to an in-person format.
If you could meet anyone, dead or alive, who would it be? I would spend the day with Jean-Michel Basquiat. He’s this painter from the 80’s and he was so brilliant and focused. I fell in love with him in Downtown 81, this movie where he plays himself. He was friends with Keith Haring and was Andy Warhol’s muse for a while. Really crazy stuff. That would be amazing. I would watch him paint. I would admire his crazy haircut. I would ask him what it’s like to know what you’re going to do in life and love it all the time. He was homeless on the Lower East Side, which was a really common thing during that time period and this dude was making a living off of paintings that almost look like a child made them. They’re actually incredible intricate and have cryptic messages in different languages and symbols. Yeah I’m obsessed.
What are your plans post-graduation? I have lived in the city for 21 years now, so I wish I could get out, but it looks like I’ll be staying. I want to work in government or a non-profit and do outreach to get people involved. I’m really interested in social media activism and engagement, like how Obama’s campaign took making memes really seriously and it actually worked in terms of getting out the youth vote. I should start applying to jobs. So glad to be reminded of that.