When I ran last spring, I'd only served on the senate for one year, but felt I knew the responsibilities of the top job. When the 2001-02 senate rewrote the Constitution, they purposefully made the presidency a relatively weak position due to abuses of presidents prior to that time. Since then, the AAS presidency has become a super lobbying position and bully pulpit. Of course, this person can work on smaller programs that he or she can achieve on personal time.
Some of mine and my predecessor's, Ryan Park '05, accomplishments illustrate the roles. To name a couple, he responded to student concerns by working with the administration to improve advising by reviving Scrutiny. He also joined student efforts to bring permanent supplies of The New York Times to Valentine. Similarly, I collaborated with dedicated student activists in lobbying the administration to create a binding divestment policy in response to the ongoing genocide in Sudan, and made available opportunities for them to do various types of humanitarian relief work over the summer. I also teamed up with a group of students to recreate and expand Re-Think, the student think tank, to create a venue for intellectual leadership and engagement outside the classroom; we worked with President Marx to develop the think tank so that speakers will be more frequently invited to campus to ignite dialogue.
In order to serve in the presidential capacity, a candidate must be able to think big, and ideally should be in touch with many different sections of campus. Ideally, a president should be eager to stand for meaningful causes important to students; this person also must be able to persuade authority and be diplomatic. Essentially, this person serves as ambassador for 1,600 students; in committees these skills yield palpable results-with Park, an Honor Code; with me, several provisions in the CAP (Committee on Academic Priorities) report that are colored with student input. Conversely, by attending senate meetings, I act in the same capacity as a tribune in the ancient Roman government. My job is to speak up for the entire student body and to exercise veto power when the senate has passed something that somehow compromises student rights or interests as a whole.
I should make a distinction. While the president is the legal chair over the corporation of the student government, with its several hundred thousand dollar budget-not a patty cake figure-drawn from student activity fees and reserves, the current Constitution designates the president as an advocate for the entire student community. So it is probably more accurate to call the job student body president as opposed to student government president. Except for the veto and the pulpit, the statutory power is just too minimal. Incidentally, the awkward acronym "AAS" refers
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to all 1,600 students. Thus the AAS president is president of all students, not necessarily of the AAS "senate," and thus, interestingly a candidate need not be an incumbent, just in touch with students, and a quick study. Learning the committee systems and parliamentary procedure is not hard.
On the senate side, there is unbelievable power within the faculty-student committee system. Much criticism about the AAS in general amounts to casting stones in the dark. An example: last April, The Amherst Student accused candidates of being "dishonest" in their campaign materials. That stance bespoke a chronic misunderstanding of how the AAS operates. For example, many complain when candidates offer to work on extending hours in Valentine. A process like extending cafeteria hours takes years of sustained lobbying in committee (Dining Services Committee), as do promises like protecting theme housing, and modernizing the culture of writing. Indeed, while sitting on CAP as a senator, I was able to represent issues, concerns and interests of the entire student body. I was able to bring my own sensitivities to this panel about what students want from writing instruction, how the advising system can be revamped, and how we should shape opportunities for community based learning, among much else. Similarly, on College Council, senators and the president can speak for or against theme housing, dorm damage policies and extracurricular regulations. Senators on the Physical Education committee can lobby for changes and improvements in athletic policy. And if a president has a good relationship with senators, he or she can offer guidance on how to effectively represent those issues to the respective faculty committees, thus expanding his or her pulpit power. The symbiosis of the senate, president and the administration is a complex process that involves many small steps that eventually yield big results. An example: The recently completed CAP report which carries far-reaching policy provisions to be voted on by the faculty. And I was one of two students-elected by the senate to this panel-charged with speaking up on behalf of all students. This is tremendous power. The administration relishes student input and shapes policy accordingly in many instances.
Some students sense committee power and would like to be involved, but don't wish to run for senate and deal with the often tedious meetings dominated by budgetary polemics and fuzzy math. (One jaded student recently commented that we should install a NASDAQ sign in the Red Room). Fortunately, the Rothschild amendment proposes to split that power between the senate and the student body by making some of the committee seats open to the student body; unfortunately, her amendment also shrinks the senate by eight seats, which I believe is dangerous because it diminishes the number of voices within the senate, and thus unwisely limits representation of many students. Thus, I do not support her amendment in the form that it was presented at referendum.
So I want to ask all students to give some thought to joining the senate. Working closely with faculty and students within committees will develop crucial skills for you that are some of the most valued in the marketplace: a sense of structures and organization, interpersonal savvy and self awareness-I think almost all of us leave the AAS sharper in these areas. I hope many of you who are mildly interested, but bear misimpressions that the AAS senate is nonfunctioning or irrelevant, will give it a go. So long as your ambition never exceeds your focus, your service on the AAS senate will be mutually rewarding between you and the people you serve. Hopefully this piece will help to inform your vote, or even better, convince you to run.
Simmons can be reached at mjsimmons@amherst.edu