David Herbstritt ’17, a politics major, is the new vice president of the student body. Less than a week ago, however, he was still the executive senator to the Student Union. Herbstritt’s rise in the Union has been steady since he first won the seat of Castle quad senator in his sophomore year.
Dennis Hermida-Gonzales ’17 served as vice president last semester, but stepped down to “practice self-care and love for his family,” according to an email sent to students on Jan. 13. The now-vacant role of executive senator will be filled after the upcoming Student Union elections.
Herbstritt originally joined the Union due to the fact that in his first year, he couldn’t find a club that he liked enough to make a long term commitment. He explained, “I tried a good number of [clubs], but I never found the groove I was looking for. I play in jazz band, but I get credit for that. The Student Union is where I found myself settling in.”
Finding satisfaction in providing club support, Herbstritt became the Club Support Chair for the Union. Last year, during the spring semester, the previous executive senator stepped down from their position. “I had done a lot as club support chair, so someone nominated me,” he recalled. The executive senator is selected by a secret ballot taken of the entire senate of who they would like to serve in the position. The position is the Brandeis Student Union’s equivalent of the U.S. Speaker of the House, representing the face of the body.
Describing his responsibilities of late before his move into the vice presidency, Herbstritt spoke largely about the amount of organizing and behind the scenes work that he does. On a weekly basis, his work consisted of writing agendas for meetings, working on the bylaws committee that recently passed a constitutional amendment pertaining to the restructuring of the A-board, creating a budget for the Union, communicating with Union President Nyah Macklin and being a go-between on any number of other general Union matters.
Since assuming the vice presidency, Herbstritt didn’t see a reason to adopt new goals that he didn’t already have. He intends on making sure that the senate is as equipped as possible of the next semester, and he has a number of goals that he wishes to continue working on that carried over from his tenure as executive senator.
One initiative he hopes to pursue is a solar panel construction project that has been on his agenda since last summer. Wishing to install solar panels atop a building (such as the Admissions building), Herbstritt has been working with a class of 2017 senator, Matt Smetana, in an attempt to make it happen. Additionally, Herbstritt wishes to work towards better Union organization, increasing communications between the Union and the student body and creating a smoother system of Union procedures.
As an example of a successful change he worked hard to implement, he noted the hard work and consideration that the bylaw committee put into “solving many of the problems that had been pervasive with the A-board,” by taking such actions as expanding the number of board positions, and staggering the seat elections.
Herbstritt notes that much of what he does “isn’t the most exciting”; however he is still passionate about doing it. Currently, he’s working with Senator Lorenzo Finamore ’18 to reformat many of the standardized club documents, such as the Union petition forms, in hopes of cutting down on the number of forms necessary to start a club.
An additional area of interest for Herbstritt is implementing improvements in how club leaders are trained for bystander intervention. “It makes sense for us to ask our student leaders to be leaders on that kind of thing. It’s more than fair, more than necessary and a good thing. Hopefully before I’m gone we’ll see campus-wide bystander training,” he explained. Herbstritt continued, “We’re working with the Office of Prevention Services to create a refresher course for someone who’s had the training before. It’s helpful to do it a few times, but having something tailed for someone who’s had the training before and giving reinforcement is a good idea.”
Looking at Brandeis’ student politics, however, Herbstritt recognizes areas for improvement. “It’s incredibly important to get people out to vote,” he explains, speaking in regard to the low voter turnout of recent Union elections. “I think that people don’t really know how much we do, but if we can explain to people how we fix various things or talk to Sodexo or communicate with the Board of Trustees—if we can get that across better and make people more aware of what we do, that’s the key to [increasing turnout.]”
Valarie Timms ’16, the Charles River Apartments Senator, expressed the sentiment, “David is an amazing person. He cares so much about the school and the community of people, and I have full confidence in his ability to lead in this capacity.”
Emily Conrad ‘17, the junior representative to the Board of Trustees, made an additional comment about Herbstritt, saying, “The entire Student Union has a great deal of gratitude for the work of David, who will always take on new initiatives—even the most boring or difficult tasks—for the sake of the function and efficiency of our Union and student body. HIs work often goes unrecognized, and he continues to keep at it, day in and day out.”
