oropezamc a ndrew w illiamsbrooke
By GENEVIEVE COLEMAN a ssistant managing editor
s ophomores p ablo o ropeza and g riffin mc a ndrew are seeking to build stronger connections between the student body and student government if elected student body president and vice president, respectively.
The pair is one of three tickets running for notre d ame student government president and vice president in the 2023 election cycle.
o ropeza is a political science and sociology double major. he currently serves as the vice president of s tanford h all, a member of h all p residents c ouncil ( hpc ) and a leader of the i rish for i nclusion initiative.
mc a ndrew is a political science and French double major. o n campus, he is the Knott h all senator and presides on the constitution and health and wellness committees.
w hen asked about his work as s tanford vice president, o ropeza spoke on his positive experiences with hall leadership in s tanford as
By BELLA LAUFENBERG notre dame news editor
d erick w illiams and h unter b rooke, two sophomore students campaigning to be n otre d ame’s next student body president and vice president, respectively, plan to “get sh*t done.”
c urrently, the pair are both student senators for their dorms; w illiams for Keough h all and
b rooke for c arroll h all. a dditionally, w illiams is a chemical engineering major and French minor, and b rooke studies marketing and political science. i n addition to being a senator, b rooke also serves on the committee on the constitution.
b oth w illiams and b rooke hold leadership positions outside of student government — w illiams is on the engineering leadership council and b rooke is a part of the French club and works for s outh d ining h all as a student manager for safety and sustainability. Their campaign slogan, “ r eal ideas, real
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Under student life improvements, the duo plan to initiate “Fresh Fruit Fridays” at the dining halls, provide an online place for students to self-schedule Ucc appointments and host a fine arts week.
When it comes to enhancing campus and community, Jungrezner wants to partner with Uber or Lyft to deliver affordable travel options for students, create a “Let’s make it happen” form for students to pitch their own event ideas and publicize a database detailing local volunteer opportunities.
To advance diversity and inclusion, the ticket wants to institute a Title IX continuity policy between academic years, bring a variety of diverse speakers to campus for the “standUp speaker” series and offer first-year first generation, low income students a tailored advising experience.
Across all their initiatives, the ticket hopes one message rings clear.
“The number one word in our slogan is Listen,” said rezner.
“That’s the foundation of this entire campaign,” Jung added.
Communications Perspective
current hosts of the “stuGov scoop” and Instagram reel creators, Jung-rezner emphasized their strength in communication and listening to students.
rezner said the ticket’s perspective as communications sub-directors, rather than senators, gives them an edge over the competing tickets.
“That gives us a big advantage, because we get to see how the initiatives are implemented in the student body,” Jung said. “We’re in charge of disseminating all of the initiatives and receiving feedback about how the initiatives are being received by the students, so we get to hear from the students a lot.”
If elected, Jung-rezner plans to take an active role in communicating with students.
“multimedia is kind of our thing,” rezner added. “We believe an organization works best with great relationships… and when hearing great perspectives.”
student Life: Campus dining
Perspective
one of the ticket’s “ambitious yet achievable goals,” as rezner describes, is campus dining improvements.
Jung added that past administrations have met friction and flex point caps when working with campus dining, but their initiatives are designed to circumvent these obstacles.
“We’re trying to find workarounds,” rezner said, explaining the platform’s plan to offer fresh fruit in the dining halls every Friday and create more equitable meal options in the grab-n-go.
“We want to really, really bring some more healthy options. We want to bring some more nutritious options, and we want it to be equitable to the $17.50 that we’re actually paying,” he said about the grab-n-go.
“We really do believe that the students deserve fresh, nutritious fruit at least once a week,” Jung said. “students fundamentally need healthy fruits and vegetables, and they deserve it.”
In addition to dining adjustments, the ticket references supplemental digital student Ids, spotlighting student creatives and reallocating leftover executive funding to clubs.
diversity and Inclusion
Jung-rezner say they have designed their platform to prioritize diversity and inclusion, partly because of their backgrounds.
“We fully understand we are white straight males. We just want to put that out there. We fully understand that, and we know that our perspective is
happen in our term [but] it will help others in the future,” o ropeza said.
a first-year and noted his desire to continue helping other students find their community at the University.
“It’s a way to help freshmen find a home at n otre d ame,” he said.
Griffin added that of all of the candidates, he and o rpeza have “the broadest range of experience” from their work on senate and h P c
“We bring the most to the table,” he continued.
When discussing the feasibility of some of the ticket’s goals, o ropeza noted the importance of advocating for progress, even if it takes more than one administration to achieve goals.
“[We want to] push the needle. It might not
not the perspective of the entire student body,” Jung said. “It starts with building a good cabinet, but then it also starts with the initiatives that we have outlined. We know we have to make this such a priority. one of our three main pillars of our campaign is diversity and inclusion.”
Policies under this pillar include, the “stand-up speaker” series, expanding the race and resilience Initiative, advocating for AsL accessibility, creating resources to help LGbTQ+ students feel safer abroad and improving the Title IX process.
In addition, the proposed “Let’s make it happen” form is designed to foster a line of communication between student government and students from diverse backgrounds, Jung said.
“I love notre dame, and Aidan loves notre dame, and we want everyone on this campus to feel comfortable and with who they are and love notre dame all the same,” Jung said.
The platform also mentions understanding the needs of students who are not catholic by expanding and raising awareness for the Interfaith council. Jung and rezner said they are both catholic and understand that notre dame will likely not bring other faith services on-campus.
“We can’t bring the places of worship on to campus, but what we can do is allow paid transportation to the places offcampus and have people know that there are a lot of places off-campus that they can visit,” rezner said.
many of the ticket’s initiatives regarding diversity and inclusion, including Indigenous Peoples day, focus on celebration.
“I think if you find a way to celebrate different cultures and find ways to celebrate the indigenous culture here on campus, it can do wonders for the community,” Jung said.
o ropeza said.
When planning to work with student publications, o ropeza explained wanting the student body to know what he and m cAndrew are doing in their term, whether it be positive or negative.
“I’m not going to shy away from people. s ometimes I mess up and sometimes I do good things, but I own it either way,” o ropeza said. “People should know what the president and vice president are doing.”
In addition, o ropeza noted the importance of beginning conversations with s aint m ary’s and h oly c ross s tudent Government Association leaders.
“It’s as simple as getting lunch or dinner and seeing how we can connect,”
“We want to go beyond just acknowledging it. We really want to celebrate and that’s a big, big part of it,” rezner added, discussing plans to bring an Indigenous person to campus to speak on local issues.
“We want to make sure that every voice and every person feels loved and respected at this University,” rezner said.
tri-campus and title IX recalling backlash over saint mary’s students entering the lottery for Wisconsin football tickets in 2021, Jung said, “That type of mentality can’t exist on this campus. It has to be that we are one tri-campus community. Their needs are our needs. Their pains are our pains. What they celebrate, we celebrate. We just have to be more unified as a group moving forward.”
“Unfortunately, there’s a little bit of a rhetoric at this University that we’re not a tricampus and that notre dame is the pinnacle, and then there are two other universities that are next to it. And I don’t think that that is correct,” rezner said, seconding Jung’s sentiment.
The candidates want to remedy this rift by meeting with saint mary’s and holy cross leaders and ensuring that all students of the tri-campus feel welcome to attend student government events.
specifically, Jung-rezner mentioned including both the women of saint mary’s and the men of holy cross in their planned celebration of Women’s history month.
“I think it’s a shame that it’s not already happening,” Jung said. “We don’t acknowledge Women’s history month in student government at all.”
The ticket hopes to host a service-oriented week celebrating women and highlighting the accomplishments of female faculty.
In another initiative, the candidates said they would work to make Title IX policy more transparent by publicizing how
it works to the first-year class during Welcome Weekend and pressuring the University to release more details about what goes on in Title IX hearings.
“We want to make the resources available and accessible and easy to learn,” rezner said. “The only document out there is the Title IX document, which has about 100 pages, and unfortunately, for a lot of students, it’s just not digestible.”
one specific goal highlighted in their campaigning is to create a Title IX continuation policy. currently, students who file for a non-legally binding issue, such as stalking, lose all accommodations or rulings at the end of the campus year, rezner said.
“so when they come back to campus and they say, ‘I’m still feeling unsafe,’ they have to refile,” he added, describing how in many instances, the second filing is rejected or takes a long time to process. If elected, Jungrezner plans to expedite the filing process between academic years.
This initiative, along with many others, will rely on building relationships and allow for continuity between semesters for students.
“That’s how we’re going to advance any initiative is creating positive relationships and working environments,” rezner said. “And I think we have good experience doing that in our previous history.”
To accomplish their goals, the ticket ultimately leans into their communications experience and a desire for transparency.
“We want to be a very transparent administration if we were to win,” Jung said. “We aren’t perfect and we recognize that, but we are going to be so open about it when we mess up. We’re going to apologize. We really want to be the most transparent administration to date.”
Contact Maggie Eastland at meastlan@nd.edu
When asked to elaborate on their plans for being more counselors of diverse backgrounds to the U cc , m cAndrew emphasized student government’s role in advocating for students.
“We are student government. We can’t force n otre d ame to make any changes but we can make sure admin knows the student body wants this,” m cAndrew said.
o ropeza drew on his own experiences as a member of the LG b TQ+ community when outlining the significance of advocating for changes in the University non-discrimination clause, including in dorms.
“If you’re a gay person, you don’t know if you’re going to find a home here,” he said.
“[It would be] a small step for n otre d ame.”
o ropeza also described being a first-generation student and the need to create more resources for others like him.
“It takes a lot to get here,” o ropeza said. “I didn’t have the resources to find opportunities after college.”
In response to plans mentioned in the ticket’s plans to partner with r ight to Life, m cAndrew stated the ticket will still partner with other organizations on campus, including more global health clubs.
“Abortion is a contentious topic. We plan to continue partnerships with clubs on campus,” he said. “Advocating for a political agenda does not mean a club should not be heard.”
o ropeza addressed the significance of the “disconnect” between hall government and the student government executive cabinet to explain
the ticket’s dorm-wide and community-wide initiatives.
“It’s not one or the other,” he said. “We can do two things at once.”
To this end, m cAndrew described the importance of getting clubs the funding resources they need.
“c lubs are being neglected in favor of student government groups,” he said. “ s tudent government does not mean the most in the day-to-day lives of students.”
Looking outside of n otre d ame, o ropeza stated the ticket wanted to host more fundraising events to support s outh b end causes.
“We want students to see how beautiful s outh b end is,” o ropeza said.
Contact Genevieve Coleman at gcoleman01@saintmarys.edu
The observer | tuesday, february 7, 2023 | ndsmcobserver.com 2 IN focus
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change,” embodies the pair’s platform of bold goals and complete transparency. The two also emphasized their connections with administration and their previous student government experience in an interview with The o bserver.
“I think one thing that h unter and I really bring to the table is experience and being able to work with student senators,” Williams noted. “[ c ampaigning] is really exciting and it’s really grown my passion, the more that I’ve gotten able to talk to people.”
In their platform — which is 18 pages long and contains 98 “key points” in their A bc ’s: advancing the student experience, boost campus groups and activities and change the course of student government — Williams and b rooke outline their extensive plans for how they would lead n otre d ame’s student body. “ n otre d ame is great. n ow, let’s roll up our sleeves and make it even better,” the platform says. “Key indicators continue to show that much work must be undertaken to make us all happier, safer and healthier. The trick in these cases is to present (and, importantly, to sincerely implement) real, feasible solutions that will genuinely alleviate issues, rather than leave us worse off.”
s ome ideas in the “student experience” portion include increasing flex points/ changing meal plans, opening s t. Joe’s beach in warm months, guaranteeing g ateway/transfer housing, lowering/subsidizing textbook costs, offering cheaper summer classes, supporting student demonstrations, offering free self-defensecourses,sustainability efforts around campus, working with Access-A b L e to solve accessibility issues
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concerns about student union funding and political polarization were brought up. r ezner said that his ticket would make it a priority to segment student union funds properly at the start of its term.
“For example, the communications department is a little under budget, and some of that money could be used to go to the clubs in the ccc that genuinely need them because ultimately, that money goes to you,” r ezner said addressing the students. “You guys are
and advocating for sign language interpreters at masses.
Williams- b rooke’s plan to “bolster campus groups and activities” starts with providing aid to improving residence hall gyms, building solid infrastructure for better club finances (including s A o updates) and helping to provide student organizers with easier logistics and funding to put on events.
o verall, the ticket aims to “work with our fellow students to understand the things you care about and would like to see fixed — so that we’re pursuing problems that actually plague the student body, rather than things a small group of people think ought to change,” the platform says.
t itle IX issues and initiatives
In an interview with The o bserver, Williams commented on how their team would hope to push the u niversity to publish sexual assault data and noted the need for more conversations with survivors. b rooke also spoke about a personal connection to Title IX and how he worries for his friends at n otre d ame.
“[The u niversity] is an uncomfortable environment, at times, for the survivors of sexual assault. And so, we do want to find ways to support them,” Williams said. “In a perfect world, what we’d like to see is having the conversation gets something going, gets the wheels turning on a wide range of issues.”
The ticket also outlined plans to develop a “sexual assault peer advocates” program where they hope to match students with others who have been through the Title IX process previously.
“ o ur goal is to find the best people we can, and I think that this is something that a lot of people who are familiar with the process would want to be
the clubs. You guys are the students who are in the clubs who are going to see the benefit from that.”
The final general question of the night had to do with how the tickets would exemplify ethical leadership in the student union. o ropeza spoke about student government’s stereotype as an “elite club.” r ezner said that a “huge part” of ethical leadership is receiving feedback directly from students to know when policies are not working.
Williams thought that building up a “strong
involved in, because we think a lot of people who have unfortunately had to go through [Title IX] have found that it’s not transparent, very confusing, unreliable, can take ages and there are times where you’re just left kind of wondering what is going on,” b rooke said.
f iscal responsibility
Williams- b rooke told The o bserver about their plan to establish fiscal responsibility in their cabinet by being transparent and specific on what their budget will look like.
“We want to initiate changes, and we think the status [of club funding] is poor,” b rooke said. “I think d erick would agree that student money should be used in ways students care about and from what we’ve seen, and from our experiences, students care mostly about dorms and clubs.”
They outlined specific goals such as shrinking executive cabinet “pleasantry” budgets, getting rid of unnecessary student government collaboration funds and rolling over leftover money directly to student groups.
Inclusion, diversity and tri-campus goals
As two male students, The o bserver asked how Williams and b rooke planned to represent the entire student body. In response, they explained that they want to start with building an “incredible executive cabinet of diverse people.”
“ o ne commitment to that we want to make is that when we go and meet with administration is bringing along students with us,” they added. Another goal they highlighted was including more diverse voices in the c ampus Life c ouncil ( c L c ), saying, “We think that’s a great way to really push those voices and elevate them so that they are heard by admin.”
student government” with cabinet members who work well alongside each other would aid in keeping his ticket accountable.
Finally, the three presidents were asked how they would “effectively utilize” executive cabinet departments and campus-wide council to remedy campus life issues.
Jung reiterated his ticket’s position about fostering open communication between students and the executive cabinet, while Williams said he’d appoint passionate people like himself willing to put in the “countless hours.” o ropeza added
Williams also noted that he was a part of the firstgeneration, low-income (F g LI) community, while b rooke is an international student from p aris, France.
When asked about their plans for the tri-campus community, Williamsb rooke said they planned to sit down with administrators and students at s aint m ary’s and h oly c ross to find ways to collaborate. They noted goals of shared programming such as brother and sister dorms across campuses and creating a “cultural shift” with an integrated, common community.
s tudent media relationship
In an interview with The o bserver, Williams and b rooke stated that they hope their relationship with student media is “strong and positive.”
“I would like to see a very strong relationship with student media. That’s why we’d like to try and establish or re-establish the role of the press secretary to really streamline the communication process with student media and make sure that there is one person who you all can go to if you have any question on anything at all,” b rooke said.
h e continued by saying that their administration will still be “completely receptive” to communications and talking about both positive and negative outcomes of their proposed goals.
“There’s a disconnect between students in the student body, and I think that student media like [The o bserver] is a great way to bridge that gap,” the pair noted. “We have to be willing to share the good and the bad, as well. And I think that’s the unfortunate nature of student government is that [they] loves to talk to student media when they have really good things, but when they
he would prioritize making his executive cabinet an accurate representation of the n otre d ame community.
“I want my executive cabinet to look like n otre
d ame,” o ropeza said. “I want it to feel like n otre
d ame.”
d uring the final statements of the evening, Williams repeated his team’s willingness to “roll up our sleeves” and “use our willpower” to boost campus groups and dorms.
r ezner stated how his campaign’s motto, “Listen, grow and flourish,” applies to student resources.
b efore the debate broke off, o ropeza took the
meet roadblocks, they shut off from student media, they don’t want to talk about it.”
b rooke’s senate acquittal
A bill of impeachment was brought against b rooke at the end of the fall 2022 semester for allegedly violating the c onstitution for advertising a “senatorial aide” position at the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year. It was alleged he did not receive permission from F ue L’s coleaders before offering the position.
u ltimately, the student senate chose not vote to impeach b rooke. Addressing b rooke’s previous public acquittal, the pair stated that they are committed to full transparency, communication with the student body and growing from their shortcomings.
“Firstly, the whole impeachment thing was absolutely not one of my proudest moments, and it was definitely a difficult time for me and something that I want to avoid in future. I think it taught me a lot about being as proactive as possible and communication,” b rooke told The o bserver. “ m y intentions throughout were genuine, but you know, I think execution definitely could have been better.”
Williams showed support for his running mate.
“I’m glad that I’ve supported h unter through this process, mostly because I think it’s an amazing growth opportunity for him… At the end of the day, the buck stops at us to keep each other accountable,” he said. “What I really enjoy about working with h unter is that every step of this way, we’ve been able to help make ourselves a little bit better because we’ve helped each other through it all.”
Contact Bella Laufenberg at ilaufenb@nd.edu
opportunity to bring up ethical leadership a second time, seemingly referring to the impeachment proceedings last semester against b rooke.
“We promise to follow the rules and not go for impeachment like some others,” o ropeza said. e lection day is Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
An email from Judicial c ouncil on 8 a.m. Wednesday will contain a link to ndc entral where students are able to log in to vote.
Contact Peter Breen at pbreen2@nd.edu
ndsmcobserver.com | tuesday, february 7, 2023 | The observer 3 IN FOCUS
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