Dear Wellesley Community,
I hope all things are well with you this midterms season! As we have just wrapped up this round of Elections, I just wanted to extend a warm thank you to all candidates, campaign teams, and members of the Wellesley community for making this Elections cycle a smooth one for the Wellesley community. There is still a lot to be done in order to improve Elections and student body engagement with College Government more broadly, but I hope that through this process, we’ve shown that we can really make College Government elections be focused on the candidates and their platforms, instead of procedural drama with elections rules.
This year’s tone and spirit of elections should be the new normal for Elections moving forward. I genuinely hope that as a campus, we can lend our support to the newly elected Cabinet members and work with them to make Wellesley a much better place for all. Do also watch out for an email from me about Elections feedback; we really do want to hear from the student body about what events worked, what went well and what could have been improved for the next Elections cycle.
Elections are also not fully over. We will have to run a special election after Spring Break from April 3 to April 10, due to current proposals to restructure the College Government Vice President (CGVP) role which will only be voted on at the March 18 Senate. For those who are unclear, this restructuring includes creating a new Cabinet position that will primarily support student organizations, while the CGVP will support student representation and appointments to various college committees. If the vote passes, the Special Elections will elect two new Cabinet positions; if it does not, we will simply elect the CGVP position. So do keep this on your radar! In addition, our upcoming Senates will include more proposals for the restructuring of other College Government committees – we want to ensure that the new Cabinet starts off on a much firmer foundation than we did and will be leading committees that have a clear purpose and structure.
I will end this column by bringing a little bit of home into this. Some of you might know that I am an international student from Singapore and can talk about policy all the time; recently in the Singapore Parliament, a major change in education policy was announced, whereby a model of middle school education that had been in place for close to 30 years was abolished. Widely seen as slaying a sacred cow and attracting incredible debate online; the current Speaker of Parliament made a comment about this that really stuck with me:
“I know that the slaying of sacred cows sounds bold, it sounds daring, even romantic perhaps. Dramatic changes always seem exciting, but I think it’s useful for us to also remember with a sense of perspective that that is not the objective. Change is not the purpose. Better outcomes are.”
Change is not the purpose. Better outcomes are. I hope that the newly elected Cabinet members keep this in mind while looking to carry out their platforms for the upcoming year. This applies to the current members of College Government too, as we continue to push through some changes to our internal structure. With that, I wish everyone all the best for midterms – Spring Break awaits!
