Having chosen Amherst because he always wanted to attend a liberal arts college and, as he said, “Amherst was the best one,” Pastan has come to value how the College mixes a “high level of intellectualism with a culture that is really laidback.” “[Relationships with professors] can be formal when they need to be, but informal as well,” he explained, still sweeping beads of sweat off his face left over from his ball game with Professor Alves. “I love that part of Amherst—talking with professors, getting to know them well.”
Still, no matter how much he has valued his time at the College thus far, Pastan hopes to use his AAS presidency to help leave Amherst even stronger than it was when he found it. To Pastan, this means promoting social justice and service issues, as well as making sure the College stays true to its mission, “not just in one way, but in all ways.”
But it also means engendering in students both the self-confidence and drive to take ownership of their school. As Pastan told the class of 2012 in his Orientation welcome address, “This incredible group of administrators, faculty and staff can and want to do more for you than you can even imagine. I’m here because I want to work with all of you, help push this incredible group of people and make sure that everybody has the ability to make this school everything that they hoped it would be.”
Equipped with a strong background in anti-oppression and diversity work and fresh off a summer of advocacy, policy and organizational work in his native Washington, D.C. for the Campus Progress arm of the Center for American Progress, Pastan knows first-hand what young people working for the common good means—whether it may be students at the University of South Carolina lobbying to cap the ever-soaring price of textbooks or students at Colby College trying to install energy meters in all dorms so students can curb their energy expenditures while measuring their progress.
“This summer made me realize how many amazing things young people are doing at campuses across the country,” Pastan said. “It got me very interested and energized about what kinds of things this campus is capable of … Students at this college are in a great place to hold the College accountable to its mission statement. We’re talking about a college that believes in social justice and values.”
For example, Pastan has teamed up with Amherst’s Endowment Transparency Coalition to “work with the College to make sure where we make our investments respond to the mission,” and he also wants to help further instill a “culture of conservation” in the school. With the help of Dean of Students Ben Lieber and organizations inside and outside the College, Pastan also envisions a voter registration drive that delivers Election Day turnout upwards of 90 percent of the student body. “Part of having an engaged community is having a community that votes,” he explained. “I think that’s a very realistic goal here.”
Yet Pastan is quick to point out that he does not mean to say that every student must be an activist in the traditional sense of the term. “Every student doesn’t need to be out there marching for something,” he said. “That’s not what we’re here for. But everyone should be interested.”
Ambitious in his social service goals, Pastan is also adamant about improving the day-to-day function of the AAS and its image at the College. While he trusts that under the helm of the treasurer, Peter Tang ’10, the Budgetary Committee will become “more transparent, more inviting,” Pastan wants students to see the senate and the E-Board as more than just a bank.
“The truth is money is very important at this College, but we have influence that goes beyond money,” he said. “I want to make the organization more inviting so that students don’t just come to us when they don’t know where else to go, but want to come to us because we can really help further their interests.”
Pastan points to the AAS’s involvement in faculty and trustee committees as evidence of how the College council serves a purpose greater than simply lending money to other campus organizations. Pastan counts expanding both student input on upcoming housing and facility renovations, and access to the trustees among his top priorities.
“Those are not the things we convey to people and that’s a problem,” Pastan related. “I want to stress transparency not only so people know that we are getting stuff accomplished, but transparency because we want to get people involved.”
Pastan encourages students to actively pursue the change they want at this College, if any at all. He eagerly relates how ready, willing and able most faculty and administrators are to help students accomplish their goals. “Make a meeting. They will respond to you,” he advised.
Nevertheless, Pastan highlights the AAS’s role as an instrument of change just as important as direct contact with the faculty and administration. “If at the end of the year people are no longer so turned off by the senate, I will feel like this was a very successful year,” he said. “I want people to feel like they have ownership of the school and working with the senate is a great way to exercise that ownership.”