Due to his small margin of victory, this board believes that if David Herbstritt is to fulfill his duty as the incoming president, there are several steps he — along with the rest of the union — must take in the upcoming year to effectively maximize student representation. 

First, the Union should establish a senate position that represents the international student population at Brandeis. While there is an existing position for a racial minority senator, currently no existing senate positions are designed specifically for the questions and needs of international students, causing this vulnerable student group with unique concerns to lack a voice in University politics. International and minority students have different interests, and the racial minority senator should be able to focus on their area of concern. It is likewise unreasonable to expect any of the existing senate positions to specifically represent the unique challenges faced by the international student body. The cultural and acclimatization challenges faced by international students are unlike those faced by any other community on campus, and they deserve a dedicated senator addressing these concerns.

Equally, if not more critical, is the clarification and refinement of the Union’s Constitution and bylaws. There are multiple cases in which an ambiguity in the governing laws of this body has caused opposing or inefficient approaches to a situation, such as the current ambiguity around the role of the presidency itself. Both candidates this year stressed the importance of the president being a neutral facilitator between the student body and the administration, as did this board in its Dec. 8 editorial. However, during the Ford Hall 2015 movement, incumbent president Nyah Macklin ’16 compromised her neutrality by adopting the role of student activist as a leading negotiator for Ford Hall 2015. Macklin was technically not at fault, as the constitution does not outline the necessary neutrality of the role, nor does it in any clear language discuss the detailed role of the president.

The Union must also proactively reach out to members of the student body to identify their concerns. In his campaign, Nunez strongly advocated for the president to sit down with club leaders on a one-on-one basis to get an in-depth sampling of student concerns across various demographics. In the same vein, more widely publicizing presidential office hours would enhance outreach. Although published on the Union’s website, the president’s office hours could be further displayed through inclusion in the president’s email signature, for example. 

Further, as of press time, the most recent minutes available on the Union website from any activity dates to Oct. 9, 2015. This file, along with the six other made available, is inaccessible. The Union’s news page, updating constituents of their representatives’ work, hasn’t been updated since Jan. 22 of this year. These factors, along with others such as the lack of a public record of each representative’s senate vote, fails to achieve transparency. While the union has made other efforts to further this goal in the current year, there is still a long way to go, and this board encourages the Union, under Herbstritt, to commit to  publishing prominent and up-to-date voting records for each Senator so students can accurately judge representatives’ capacity in voicing their interests.

While this board would like to congratulate Herbstritt on his victory, we hope that he will lead his new Student Union in a direction that will enhance representation of various communities of the Brandeis student body in a clear and transparent manner.