The 5Cs completed their student government election cycles this week, bringing a diverse group of candidates with varied experiences and goals to each presidency.
Miguel Delgado — ASPC
Miguel Delgado PO ’20 has always known he wanted to be ASPC president.
“I’m a student government nerd,” Delgado, who has served as senate secretary, elections commissioner and chief of staff, said with a laugh. “I’ve been doing this since 7th grade, and I’m finally in the driver’s seat.”
Delgado said one of his main goals is to make ASPC a facilitator between the administration and students. In addition, Delgado intends to work with the other 5C student governments on the issue of mental health.
“We need to leverage our collective power on this issue,” he said. “If we all are demanding change, there’s no reason that change shouldn’t be met.”
After a year of high absenteeism on ASPC — half its senators have been absent from most meetings — and administrative tension at Pomona College, Delgado also hopes to build a stronger community within ASPC.
“We have to hold ourselves to another higher standard than other organizations,” he said. “We’re lucky enough to be compensated for our advocacy and our labor, and we can’t take that for granted.”
Dina Rosin — ASCMC
Winning the position of ASCMC president after serving as a senator and a dorm president, Dina Rosin CM ’20 aims to increase accessibility and advocate for student voices to be heard.
“ASCMC wasn’t doing enough to advocate on behalf of students,” she said. “I want ASCMC to be a platform for elevating student voices.”
Since being elected, Rosin has already appointed a presidential advisor for mental health and has begun passing resolutions.
According to ASCMC’s constitution, the senate retains the authority to vote on and pass resolutions that reflect the opinion of the student body on campus issues. However, ASCMC has not passed any such resolutions for the duration of Rosin’s academic career at CMC, she said.
“ASCMC hasn’t fully utilized its role as a body that advocates on behalf of student interests,” she said. Rosin intends to “[reframe] the conversation about what ASCMC can do and [try to] make it feel like a place where people feel empowered.”
Kyle Grace — ASHMC
Kyle Grace HM ’21 has big plans for ASHMC. After serving as sophomore class president, Grace saw an opportunity to make ASHMC a more efficient organization.
“I saw some ways to build off of what people have done before me and to make strides,” he said. “I hope to increase transparency and availability of information.”
In his term so far, Grace started a weekly newsletter, updated the current website and made plans to possibly rebuild an ASHMC website separate from Harvey Mudd College’s website.
He also hopes to institute a new system for evaluating mental health services, which other 5C student leaders also said is a priority for them.
Looking ahead, Grace hopes to streamline processes so that members of ASHMC can accomplish their goals.
“Whether its diversity director or dorm president, I want it to be as easy as possible for people to work on the issues they care about,” he said.
Disclaimer: Grace is a TSL staffer.
Niyati Narang — Scripps Associated Students
Niyati Narang SC ’20 will make ending Scripps College’s contract with Sodexo, Scripps’ food service provider, the primary goal of her presidency.
“I have been working with some incredible student organizers on the Drop Sodexo campaign,” Narang said. She has also served as Scripps Associated Students junior class president and a student representative for the board of trustees.
“When I was looking at my senior year, and I was thinking about how I could be most effective with the campaign, I figured that having a foot in the door with the administration would be extremely beneficial,” she said.
Narang promised that every conversation she has with administration will begin with dropping Sodexo. In addition, she hopes to increase mental health resources and develop a mentorship program for academic departments at Scripps, an initiative started by outgoing SAS President Irene Yi SC ’19.
“Some of the other schools have mentor hours, in which older students are able to help out younger students in classes they have taken before,” she said. “I really benefited from having these mentors, and I think instituting this program would be really great.”
Though Narang is currently studying in Washington, D.C., through CMC’s D.C. program, she looks forward to reconnecting with the Scripps community and working with the administration when she gets back to campus.
“The biggest challenge is going to be proving to the administration that just because students are graduating does not mean efforts [to drop Sodexo] are going to be diminished in any capacity,” she said.
Clint Isom — Pitzer Student Senate
After serving as vice president of external affairs, a member of the alumni board and a senator, Clint Isom PZ ’20 is confident that he can use his experience to bring Pitzer Student Senate to the next level.
“I really know how the system works,” he said.
Isom plans to advocate for the establishment of a mental health coordinator for Pitzer College, a position the school currently lacks. He also hopes to work toward establishing a unified government board across the 5Cs.
“If we could pass campus-wide resolutions together on issues that affect all of us,” he said, “that would be really effective.”
In the wake of the College Council’s vote to suspend the Haifa study abroad program and Pitzer President Melvin Oliver’s subsequent veto of that decision, Isom is prioritizing unifying a divided student body.
“The biggest challenge is going to be working towards to unifying the student body,” he said. “My biggest job is going to be trying to help administration and the student government unify the students.”