By Bridget Johnston || News Editor
Last Tuesday, April 12, the Diplomatic Congress (DipCon) hosted its annual elections for the rising sophomore, junior, and senior class president positions. Christiana Jueng ’17 was elected senior class president, Ryan Tabris ’18 was elected junior class president, and Jacquie Koob ’19 as sophomore class president.
Amongst their other responsibilities, the class president is ultimately “charged with planning events and activities for their class,” says Molly Cadwell ’16, current vice president of DipCon. “They also have a vote on DipCon, though, and are responsible for representing their class on the congress.”
Koob explained that she intends to utilize her position as president, in part, by “working with the Ware Institute in order to plan events for the class involving community service.” She believes that through working with the Ware Institute, the sophomore class could take further advantage of the expansive opportunities to reach out and get involved within the Lancaster community.
In preparation for the elections, DipCon altered the pre-existing Elections Committee by changing it from an ad-hoc committee to a standing committee. This change gives committee members the means to operate and organize for the election year round. This action was taken as a result of the sheer amount of logistical planning that is typically involved in orchestrating the electoral event.
In addition, DipCon also took steps to emphasize student outreach and advertising for the election. In doing so, their goal was to ensure that F&M “would have lots of students running and voting in both officer and class president elections,” said Cadwell. “Student government is the best way that I know to communicate student need and desire to the administration… In this way, student government can really try to make changes on campus by advocating for students.”
As the Vice President of DipCon, Cadwell also believes that student government, and in particular the class president, operates both as a focal point for campus-wide discussion and as a means for student opinions to come to fruition. In particular, the weekly DipCon meetings and their F&M Forum series allow the student government to host discussions though which passionate students can make a difference.
Similarly, Koob believes that the effect of increased student involvement and discussion through student government
is ultimately a positive one at F&M.
“The more ideas that are expressed on campus allows for more discussion and ideas in order to create conversations on campus,” Koob said.
Koob encouraged students to reach out and become involved with the student government. She also encouraged any student who is considering running for student office to speak with those currently working on DipCon
or to attend a DipCon meeting. She hopes that the discussions being held and the work being done will inspire students to get more involved within the student government and to have their voices heard.
Sophomore Bridget Johnston is a layout assistant. Her email is bjohnsto@fandm.edu.