Get election results, learn more about running for office, and read ASOC position descriptions.
Spring 2025 Candidates
Election Results
Frosh Class Senators
Julisa Menjivar -
At Occidental, I want to foster a community where every voice is heard and valued. My curiosity drives me to listen to diverse perspectives, and my caring nature ensures everyone feels respected. Together, we can embrace challenges and celebrate personal growth in an inclusive environment.
Jasmine Smith-Hughes -
I am a firm believer that while the academic component of college is crucial, your experience within it is truly what makes that time memorable and worthwhile. My goal as your FROSH senator is to start off your Oxy journey right! With your support, I plan to bring the class 2028: active collaboration within our community to target wants and needs for the year, meaningful communication with administrators to project our ideas, dreams, and suggestions & consistent cultivation of our class culture and livelihood at Oxy!
Senate Directors
Anna Challberg - Director of External Affairs
Hello lovely people, my name is Anna Challberg (they/she), as your Director of External Affairs, my primary goal will be to facilitate direct and intentional communication between Senate and the student body. To accomplish this, I will establish a Senate end of year event where the full student body will have a chance to get a larger picture of Senate’s accomplishments throughout the year and goals moving forward. Finally, I would like to institute bi-weekly club highlights on the Senate Instagram intended to amplify the wonderful clubs on our campus and emphasize cross campus connections!
Sabastian Luyen - Director of Finance
Honor Board Jurors
Adam Pildal -
Priorities:
Make the code of conduct more transparent in order to ensure that students are aware of their rights and responsibilities
Strengthen student support services by communicating with faculty and staff
Serve the student body equitably and impartially in student conduct hearings
Luke Wentzien -
You can find me in the library, in the MP, or Stewie.
I’m just a guy and I care.
Caring at the core for your justice.
[results initially emailed to the Oxy community September 27, 2024]
Executive Committee
Cecilia Grané - Executive Committee President
Danielle Levin - Executive Committee Vice President of Finance
Senate
Zahra Noorani - Senate Chair and Director of Internal Affairs
Siena Jarrin - Senate Director of Academic Affairs
James Steinberger - Senior Senator
Hailee Silva - Junior Senator
Ozan Topolan - Sophomore Senator
[results initially emailed to the Oxy community April 8, 2024 at 11:41am]
Position Descriptions
Interested in being more involved and making a difference? Running for office might be the perfect opportunity! As a part of ASOC, you’ll have the opportunity to network, gain leadership experience, and be the voice for students campus-wide. Please refer to the Election Guidelines for Eligibility Requirements.
Students running for Class Senator must acquire 20 class signatures; all other positions require 40 signatures. Please make a copy of your petition document, save it to your Google Drive, and have people sign your petition directly with their virtual signature (name and A#). You cannot sign for them.
Please submit your virtual Google Doc petition by sharing it with the ASOC Elections Chair and ASOC Leadership Coach.
Immediately after petitions are due, there will be a short candidate meeting and campaigning can begin immediately afterward. Please note campaigning for positions cannot start until the candidate meeting has taken place.
All the info you need is in the Elections Guidelines but you can also contact the ASOC Elections Chair for more information.
- Serve as the ex-officio member of all Executive Committee meetings
- Is required to have previously served at least one semester on any ASOC branch.
- Attend and chair all meetings of the Executive Committee, including moderating discussions and facilitating voting;
- Set the agenda and send it out to the Executive Committee and the student body at least 24 hours prior to the meeting;
- Meet with the Executive Committee Advisor regularly;
- Set Executive Committee House Rules;
- Serve on the Senate Internal Affairs Committee
- Create special committees contingent on the approval of the majority of the Executive Committee;
- Facilitate appointments to the Executive Committee;
- Work with the Senate Chair on the application and appointment process for student leadership positions across the Board of Trustees, campus committees, councils, and working groups, when appropriate;
- Develop ASOC training sessions;
- Organize the ASOC All-Branch Retreat;
- Meet with the President of Occidental College, the Dean of Students, and other
- senior staff on a regular basis.
- Serve on the College’s Budget and Strategic Advisory Committee
- Be elected in the Spring to serve for the following academic year;
- Attend and chair all meetings of the Executive Committee, including moderating discussions and facilitating voting, when the President is absent;
- Work alongside the Associate Director & Finance Manager for ASOC and each of the branch treasurers of ASOC to oversee the overall direction of ASOC finances,
- Chair the ASOC Finance committee which consists of the Senate, DEB, and Sustainability Fund treasurers and well as non-Executive Committee members if the ASOC Finance Committee deems appropriate;
- Work with the Executive Committee and each ASOC branch to review, publicize, and enforce the funding guidelines and funding processes;
- Serve as an advisor for each branch about funding allocations, processes, and questions if requested;
- Work with the treasurers of each branch and the Executive Committee to develop one ASOC funding guideline;
- Communicate and meet with the Associate Director & Finance Manager for ASOC at least bi-weekly about funding allocations, reversals, and questions;
- The ASOC Vice President of Finance, in consultation with the ASOC President and Associate Director & Finance Manager for ASOC, will perform a periodic review (3&9, 6&6, 9&3 quarterly assessment) to monitor actual and projected revenues and expenditures.
- Upon completion of the budget review, the quarterly assessments are presented to the Executive Committee for verification, adjustment and approval.
- Coordinate the annual budget review process and have a finalized budget for the following fiscal year ready for Executive Committee vote before the end of the school year;
- Provide recommendations to the Executive Committee for adjustments to the investment funds and policy;
- Meet semesterly with the Chief Operating Officer to offer a student perspective on the financial strategies, financial planning, and budget management functions of the College;
- Serve on the College’s Budget and Strategic Advisory Committee;
- Meet with Student Service Managers to discuss operations and report back to the Executive Committee on their achievement and address concerns. Ensure that they provide an annual detailed performance report.
- Serve as the ex-officio member of all Senate meetings:
- The Senate Chair shall not hold a seat or voting power on the Executive Committee;
- Is required to have previously served at least one semester on any ASOC branch;
- Facilitate the Internal Affairs Committee;
- Attend and chair all meetings of the Senate, including moderating discussions and facilitating voting;
- Facilitate the creation of the Senate Community Guidelines in conjunction with the Director of Policies;
- Meet with the Senate Advisor regularly;
- Create special committees contingent to the approval of the majority of Senate;
- Facilitate appointments to the Senate;
- Facilitate the application and/or appointment processes for student leadership positions across the Board of Trustees, campus committees, councils, and working groups, when appropriate;
- Develop Senate training sessions;
- Meet with the Chief of Administrative Affairs semesterly to discuss community building and communication with students, faculty, staff, and trustees.
- Facilitate the Financial Affairs Committee;
- Calculate the yearly budgetary provisions (Art. XI)
- Introduce each funding request at weekly Senate meetings and outline any questions or concerns with each particular request;
- Work with other members of the Senate to publicize Senate Funding Guidelines, funding processes, and funding availability;
- Communicate with the ASOC Finance Manager and the ASOC Vice President about funding requests, allocations, reversals, and questions; f. Review and draft changes to the Senate Funding Guidelines in collaboration with the Senate Director of Policies;
- Meet with Student Service Managers to discuss operations and report back to the Senate on their achievement and address concerns. Ensure that they provide an annual detailed performance report.
- Will visit each club meeting once in conjunction with the Director of External Affairs, each semester
- Facilitate the Senate Policies Committee;
- Create, review, draft, and propose changes to official Senate documents including but not limited to the Senate Bylaws, Senate Community Guidelines, and Senate Funding Guidelines;
- Facilitate the creation of the Senate Community Guidelines in conjunction with the Senate Chair;
- Meet with the General Counsel of the college as needed;
- Facilitate official Senate resolutions.
- Facilitate the External Affairs Committee;
- Manage publicity for Senate events and referendums, as well as provide regular information about available funding to the student body;
- Program campus-wide Senate and ASOC events;
- Support other members of ASOC in programming campus-wide events;
- Support Senate members in the hosting of town halls or other community events;
- Collaborate with other college campuses to share best practices for elevating student voices;
- Meet with the Vice President of Communications and Institutional Initiatives semesterly to develop the College’s visual identity and work on communication advice for organizations across campus;
- Facilitate Senate’s social media and post Senate meeting summaries to the @asocsenate Instagram account following each meeting;
- Regularly update The Occidental newspaper on changes to Senate membership or Senate affairs.
- Will visit each club meeting once in conjunction with the Director Finance, each semester
- Facilitate the Academic Affairs Committee;
- Act as a liaison between the Dean of the College and students on academic matters;
- Meet regularly with the Registrar and faculty concerning academic affairs;
- Maintains the right to attend faculty meetings and invite a delegation of students to attend, subject to the Dean’s approval;
- Coordinate with various academic programs and departments designed to support students.
- Meet with the faculty council president regularly throughout the semester.
- Serve as representatives to constituents of their class;
- Establish oneself as a resource to their constituents by hosting events and through other appropriate methods:
- Each pair of Senators shall host at least one event per semester specifically for the class/year they represent;
- Serve on at least two Senate committees as designated by the Senate; d. Three senators shall serve as the primary liaisons to DEB, Sustainability Fund, and Honor Board:
- At the beginning of each semester, the eight senators will meet and decide the three liaisons amongst themselves unless otherwise delegated;
- Each liaison shall serve as a representative on behalf of Senate to their respective branch for the entire semester;
- Each liaison shall be responsible for taking notes (using this template) at meetings, establishing relationships between branches, and reporting meeting summaries to the Senate at weekly Senate meetings;
- All Senate attendance rules apply to liaison responsibilities;
- Senators will work with the Chief of Staff to create a document detailing all necessary information relevant to their role at the end of the year;
- Perform other duties as assigned by the Senate, Senate Chair, or ASOC President.
- Have the power to cast one vote.
- Attend all official Honor Board meetings, training sessions, and relevant committee meetings.
- Uphold the mission statement of Occidental College and the high standards of honor that the Honor Board is designated to espouse.
- Report all hours spent outside of regular meeting times on ASOC-specific projects to the Secretary, including, but not limited to:
- Serving in a meeting for an ASOC Committee or Working Group
- Working any other branch-recognized tasks agreed upon by the Honor Board.
- Perform other duties as assigned by the Chair and/or Honor Board.
The mission of ASOC is to advocate on behalf of the student body, to promote discussions about how Occidental College can evolve to better serve the students, and to support and organize activities that enhance the educational, recreational, and social experience of students. All sections of ASOC serve to promote, regulate, and maintain the social and educational welfare of our student body through a student government that embodies the mission of Occidental College.