After a two-vote victory over Christian Nuñez ’18, current Student Union Vice President David Herbstritt ’17 is preparing to take over as president next semester.
“We all agree there are things that do need to get done and getting them done is my first priority,” said Herbstritt in an interview with The Brandeis Hoot.
Some of Herbstritt’s main areas of focus are inclusion and diversity, bystander training, sexual assault prevention and environmental sustainability. “Something I’m really passionate about getting done next year [is] making sure we can create a safer campus environment,” said Herbstritt explaining his hopes to increase bystander training.
This year, Herbstritt has been involved in discussions with Jim Gray, the vice president of operations, about implementing solar panels and other forms of green energy across campus.
In addition to his three main areas of interest, Herbstritt plans to continue to make the Student Union more visible and accessible to students. “The executive branch of the Student Union … is a direct tie to administration, it’s a direct back and forth, a conversation, with administration that is usually quite open and regular,” said Herbstritt. “It’s important that that not be forgotten.” Herbstritt feels that the Student Union is important and can have an influence on Brandeis administration.
While in office, Herbstritt plans to be publicly accessible by email and to hold office hours for five to eight hours each week. Transparency has been a major goal of Student Union President Nyah Macklin ’16, whose administration created the website and Student Union Facebook group.
The Union president must appoint students to fill various executive roles, including Chief of Staff, but Herbstritt has ideas for several new positions. He plans to appoint a Director of Community Engagement, to help “figure out ways to increase [voter] turnout and increase visibility of the Union so that more people so that more people realize that the work we do is actually meaningful and affects people on the day-to-day.” Approximately 30 percent of undergraduates voted in the most recent round of elections which included voting on presidential and vice-presidential candidates, compared to less than 25 percent in the midterm elections for class senators occurring in January.
Herbstritt also plans to appoint a Director of Digital Media and a Director of Academic Affairs. According to Herbstritt, the director of digital media would work with Facebook and other social media to keep students up to date on Union activity. This director would also help to make the Student Union website better. Certain parts of the Student Union website fail to be updated on a regular basis. The “Initiatives” section of the website, for example, still includes the Student Union Initiatives from last semester.
Herbstritt hopes that a Director of Academic Affairs will allow the Student Union to work with academics “more directly than just through our Curriculum Committee.”
“This is a big year for academics, the [Undergraduate Curriculum Committee] is currently reviewing gen-ed requirements” explains Herbstritt.
Herbstritt said that after the upcoming senate and judiciary elections on April 4 he plans on releasing applications for executive roles. “I’m excited to get to work,” said Herbstritt.
