Samuel Casey
News Editor
On Monday, Feb. 25, Secretary of the College Angela Johnston, released the results of the Campus Council (CC) election via email to the student body. CC is one of the two student-run governing bodies on campus, and is responsible for creating legislation in the areas of student life and extracurricular affairs, while also making recommendations to the President, Board of Trustees and other divisions. Nine CC student members were elected by students during the election which took place Feb. 20-22.
Matt Mayes ’20, Emmy Todd ’22, Seven Townsel ’22 and Annays Yacamán ’22 were elected as At-Large representatives.
Mayes is currently the Student Government Administration’s co-chair for student advocacy but decided to run for CC to take more of a direct role in creating legislation and having the opportunity to meet regularly with administration. “CC is a great organization because it acts as a bridge between students and administrators, which I think is something we dearly need with new challenges emerging in recent years,” he said.
The political science major also addressed a few of the projects he would like to see accomplished during his upcoming term. “I’d like to raise the student activity fee to a level comparable with colleges similar to Wooster,” he said. “A larger pool of money for allocations would give groups on campus more opportunity to contribute to the Wooster community and make groups more accessible for low-income students.”
Mayes also added, “I’d like to continue advocating for changes to mental health services on campus, including more options for students who need [it].”
At-large member Todd decided to run because she believes she can represent the student body and their interests because of her involvement in multiple clubs. Her platform was focused on bettering sustainability efforts. “During my term, I hope to accomplish an increased awareness of sustainability on campus,” she said. “I also want to turn that awareness into action and have the student body more involved.”
Townsel was encouraged to run as a self-described double minority who often knows what it is like to not have your voice heard. “I plan to be one of the unifying voices that connects the student body to the administration,” Townsel pledged. “My first plan of action is to strengthen the relationship between students and CC to really understand what they need from us! Every opinion matters.”
Yacamán ran for the position because she felt like there was disconnect between representation and marginalized groups on campus. “The administration at The College of Wooster has done a great job recruiting this diverse body of students, but they have not done an adequate job securing the livelihood and retention of these students,” she explained. “As a college student identifying as Latinx, Middle-Eastern, first-generation, low-income and queer, I have felt first-hand inequities that have yet to be dealt with [in] a meaningful way on this campus.”
Yacamán has several goals for her term, which include creating programs that would allow first-generation, low-income students to travel home for breaks and helping their families visit Wooster during events like Black and Gold Weekend, flagging first-generation low-income students to prevent them from paying late fees for tuition, sending payment information to first generation, low-income students as early as possible, creating affordable housing and meal options when the College is not in session and hiring more counselors of color.
Additionally, five other students were elected as representatives in particular areas: Halen Gifford ’21 for Service and Civic Engagement, Stachal Harris ’21 for Racial and Ethnic Diversity, Rondell Mackey, Jr. ’22 for Gender and Sexual Diversity, Gargi Mishra ’20 for International Diversity and Pragya Mittal ’22 for Selective Organizations. Gifford and Harris were re-elected.
Gifford described her decision to run for re-election. “[Members of] CC [have] a historically high student turnover rate with many of our elected student [representatives] being seniors. As a sophomore, I am in the position where I was able to continue my work on Council.”