On Dec. 8, the Student Union hosted their State of the Union address, an event which gives members of the union an opportunity to update Brandeis’ community on the union’s activities and accomplishments from the year.
Key points included introduction of the Director of Accessibility and Director of Sexual Assault Awareness positions to the union, as well as the addition of in-house counsel to provide Student Union members an advisor. The Student Union also worked to introduce free menstrual products in all first-year quads, a change that will be implemented over the winter break between the fall 2022 and spring 2023 semesters. It is a program which will soon be implemented campus-wide, although a time frame for campus integration was not provided.
The union is also working to place Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps (BEMCo) under the umbrella of Brandeis Public Safety to allow BEMCo to receive more funding and to offer BEMCo scholarships to increase access to the program. Additionally, the Student Union partnered with Capsule to give students easier access to prescriptions, and joined the Boston Intercollegiate Government (BIG) where Brandeis now sits on two boards.
Members of the union also announced their goals for the future, which include weekly town hall meetings to increase transparency and loading WhoCash onto all student IDs at Brandeis to operate printers with.
The union also passed a resolution to ensure junior and senior reps on the Board of Trustees (BOT) would return to the meetings. This semester, student reps to the BOT were given time to speak at committee meetings, but the meetings were scheduled at times that conflicted with reps class schedule. In these meetings, the junior and senior reps to the BOT had chances to discuss issues on campus such as dining and housing but had to sacrifice class time to make these meeting times. Student representatives were also removed from plenary sessions over the summer, and have not had their access reinstated. Members of the union expressed their frustration with the situation, and remarked that current students’ experiences with Brandeis’ administration will dictate future donations.
Individual members of the Student Union had a chance to speak about their accomplishments, too.
Ashna Kelkar ’24 led off this portion of the State of the Union by delivering her farewell address from the position of secretary. Explaining in her address that not only had the position offered a lot to her but taught her a lot as well, she said, “on a more personal note, communication is what has gotten me through these past weeks. Communicating to my loved ones about how appreciative I am for their time and love, communicating my needs to professors and seeing their desire for me to succeed and communicating with myself and how to best take care of myself.”
Noah Risley ’24, Chief Justice, spoke on the importance of their efforts recently to create a body of opinions so that future judiciaries can better understand how past justices made decisions. Tyler Carruth ’23, Chief of Staff and chair of the Community Enhancement and Emergency Fund Board. Carruth noted that, “…this semester has been incredibly exciting for me. As Chief of Staff, I had the honor to work with my fellow executive board members to help plan and put on events. Assist with logistics for policy initiatives, such as moving menstrual products to the union office as well as drafting resolutions with Inaara [Gilani ’23] and Shelly [Polanco ’24].”
Rani Balakrishna ’25, the Undergraduate Diversity and Inclusion Officer (UDIO), talked about her work with an ICC mural and the forming of an ICC coalition among all cultural clubs as well as a bi-weekly DEI newsletter. As a member of the softball team, Balakrishna also mentioned her role in the Athletes of Color Group on campus. Emma Fiesinger ’23, Director of Community Engagement, mentioned how she wanted “the union to be more present at events and for students to know exactly what we [the union] do for the school.” Her work allowed the union to table at Fresh Check Day, Pumpkin Walks, kindness day and collect funds for events to help students after the tragic bus accident. Bonnie Chen ’23, whose speech was read aloud by Emma in her absence, the Director of Academic Affairs, spoke on the new “take your professor out for coffee program” as well as the textbook drop-off box initiative around campus where students can donate their old textbooks.
Clay Napurano ’24, the Director of Health and Wellness, spoke to the impact of the shuttle accident on student mental health at the conclusion of the semester. Napurano worked with the Brandeis Counseling Center (BCC) to make them more accessible through social media, provide more counselors and “of course, more therapy dog availability.” Ana Delfina Mejia Cerdas ’25, Director of Sustainability and Climate Justice, discussed the launch of the Year of Climate Action (YOCA) and her hand in the creation of an HWL course designed to help students understand and fight climate change. Carol Kornworcel ’26, Director of Media and Outreach, mentioned the creation of group chats with similar clubs to promote their events. Hana Miller ’25, Director of Accessibility, spoke about the Capsule program integration and water quality testing on campus. Monica Aponte ’23, the inaugural Director of Sexual Assualt Awareness, mentioned emergency contraceptive access, Nightcap drink-protector kits and a WBRS podcast on sexual assault awareness that will launch next semester. Maggie Chang ’23 and Emily Adelson ’23, Co-Head Treasurers, spoke about the high number of incoming treasury members and about the integration of Campus Groups for club finances. Finally, Lauren Rifas ’24 and Lexi Lazar ’24, Allocations Board Co-Chairs, talked about their plans to begin an A-Board and ICC town hall to address funding concerns and the completion of the spring Marathon. Notably, the release of the Marathon funding scope showed that many clubs had their allocation requests shorted by 30 to over 50%.
