Newcomers Take Lead in Whitman Student Government

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- For possibly the first time in the history of student government at Whitman College, five first-year students have taken office as elected officers of the Executive Council.

Jennifer Burgess, a junior transfer student from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, Calif., took office in January as president of the Associated Students of Whitman College (ASWC). Burgess, a politics major at Whitman, is a 1997 graduate of Steller Secondary School in Anchorage, Alaska.

In other ASWC voting in December, four Whitman freshmen were elected to serve with Burgess as members of the Executive Council.

The new officers include Casey Holland, vice president of activities, a graduate of Newport (Ore.) High School, and Dave Brown, vice president of committees, a graduate of South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard, Wash.

Meredith Johnson, who graduated from Sumner (Wash.) High School, was elected to serve as treasurer. The new secretary is Mario Cava, a graduate of Central Kitsap High School in Silverdale, Wash.

The Executive Council will serve throughout the 2000 calendar year.

Jennifer Burgess
President

As ASWC president, Burgess considers herself the "catchall" for all things important to the Executive Council. "First and foremost, I am here to support the other members of the Executive Council," she said. Other basic duties include sitting on Whitman's Policy and Student Life Committee and ensuring that ASWC Congressional legislation is enacted.

One of her goals for the coming year is enhancing communication between the Executive Council, various campus programming bodies and the college administration. She also wants to build relationships between ASWC and other academic institutions.

By year's end, Burgess wants to leave behind a "comprehensive new system of documentation and archiving that will improve the functioning of ASWC in the long run," she said. Also at the top of her priority list is a new interactive ASWC website that will feature "legislation, bylaws, updates and much more," she adds. "We are looking at the feasibility of online voting or polling. That would offer us the opportunity to consult the student body as a whole on issues such as speakers and performers."

Burgess also wants to establish ASWC congressional representation by class, among other criteria, and to hold open forums on a monthly basis so that students can make comments or express concerns.

It is important that students know how their ASWC funds are being spent and what resources are available to them, Burgess said. "We are considering a newsletter," she said. "Whether it will be online or a hard copy is yet to be determined."

The Executive Council is meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesdays in its Student Center offices. Associate dean of students Barbara Panzl is serving as the council's adviser. "We hope that various members of the college administration will join us throughout the year, and we were delighted to have (president) Tom Cronin at our first meeting," Burgess notes.

ASWC Congress meetings are held at 7 p.m. Sundays, approximately every other week. A schedule of Congress meetings is available at the ASWC offices.

In her first semester on campus last fall, Burgess made an immediate impact on Whitman's nationally-ranked speech & debate team, placing first in Impromptu Speaking at tournaments hosted by the University of Oregon and Lewis & Clark College. A competitor on the women's rugby team, Burgess is a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority, and she directs women's issues and philanthropy for Panhellenic Council of Greek Women. She also stays involved in national crime prevention initiatives.

While majoring in politics, Burgess is pursuing academic minors in rhetorical studies and Japanese language and literature. She has worked the past three summers in Washington, D.C., completing two internships with U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska and one with the Bureau of Justice Assistance.

International diplomacy is one form of government service that Burgess ponders as a possible career choice. As someone who "adores" the study of languages, she has already cultivated communication skills that seem well suited to working at the international level. She recently began studying her fifth language. Email: burgesjm@whitman.edu
ASWC office: 527-4768

David Brown
Vice President of Committees

Brown, who lives in Port Orchard, Wash., hopes to increase involvement in various college committees by working directly with the residential life office, sororities and fraternities, and student clubs. He also is spearheading an effort to create a new comprehensive ASWC website as a way to increase communication with students in general. Finally, Brown is working with the Pioneer student newspaper to make it entirely independent of ASWC. "We cannot have a free press that is funded by our own student government," Brown said.

During his first semester at Whitman, Brown served as ASWC congressional representative from Anderson Residence Hall, worked as a staff writer for the Pioneer, and became involved with the Whitman chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He also is working with other first-year students to start a Young Democrats club on campus. A member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, Brown plans to major in politics, possibly in combination with a double major or minor in philosophy or economics.

Email: browndb@whitman.edu
ASWC office: 527-4711

Casey Holland
Vice President of Activities

Holland, a resident of Toledo, Ore., begins his term with a focus on scheduling a greater variety of speakers, special events, bands and other performers. In a more general sense, he wants to establish a stronger foundation of communication between students and the ASWC Congress.

Holland is a member of the Coalition Against Homophobia, the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, the Campus Activities Board, and the Whitman chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He served as a representative to the ASWC Congress last semester, and he volunteers as a tutor at a local elementary school and at Blue Mountain Heart to Heart, an AIDS/HIV outreach and education organization.

Holland is considering a double major in German and sociology. His possible career goals include working for the German and Austrian consulates, or serving in the foreign service in a German-speaking country or the Netherlands. "I like those specific countries because of their culture and openmindedness," Holland said. "They are socialist countries, and I believe that the U.S. could learn a lot from their health care and higher education systems. They are pro-change. . .and there are huge political and social movements that will leave a long-lasting impact on all of Europe." Email: hollance@whitman.edu
ASWC office: 527-5115

Meredith Johnson
Treasurer

Johnson, a resident of Bonney Lake, Wash., wants to continue with recent improvements in ASWC budgeting and help that process run more smoothly. Another of her priorities is to work closely with various student clubs to help them find adequate funding for special projects and events, and to help new clubs obtain money for start-up operations. She also wants to improve the archiving system currently in place for financial information, especially the ASWC contingency fund.

Acting together, this year's ASWC officers will be exploring ways to increase the Treasurer's Reserve Fund, Johnson said. She also hopes the coming year will bring significant improvements in the ability of students to access information about ASWC.

Johnson, who plans to major in politics, was an ASWC Congress representative for Anderson Hall last semester. She also serves as a member of the Campus Activities Board. Her other activities include the Whitman chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Whitman Mentors program. She plays the clarinet with the Whitman Chamber Orchestra and Whitman Wind Ensemble. She serves as the philanthropy chair for the Delta Delta Delta sorority, and recently became involved with the United Methodist Student Movement. Email: johnsoma@whitman.edu
ASWC office: 527-4767

Mario Cava
Secretary

Cava, a resident of Bremerton, Wash., wants to improve communications between the ASWC Executive Council and students by working with new vice president of committees Dave Brown to improve the ASWC web page. He also plans to write a weekly column for the Pioneer student newspaper about the ongoing work of the ASWC Congress.

Cava began his term by taking nominations for ASWC Congressional Chairperson and by preparing for a congressional training session. To help keep the Executive Council running smoothly, he initiated a new archiving system for meeting minutes and devised a new coding system for management of by-laws, resolutions, contingency funding requests, and attendance.

In his first year at Whitman, Cava has put his voice to good use, as a member of both the Whitman Chorale and Whitman speech & debate team.

Cava is considering politics as a major at Whitman. For the moment, his long-range plans focus on a law career. Email: cavamm@whitman.edu
ASWC office: 527-4719

CONTACT:

Dave Holden, Whitman News Service, (509) 527-5902
Email: holden@whitman.edu