Lawrence University Community Council announces class representatives for 2024–2025 academic year

Carios Huseby

On Tuesday, Sep. 24, President of the Lawrence University Community Council (LUCC), senior Isabel Dorn, announced the class representative elects for the 2024-2025 school year. As of Monday, Sep. 16, four seats were open for first-year representatives, one remained vacant for a sophomore representative and two were available for junior representatives. The winners of the first-year LUCC representative election were Carios Huseby, Esperanza Gonzales, Adrian Stancil-Martin and Micah Hinton. Circe Boston joined Jessica Valadez, Tahlia Moe and Jayna Davis as the newest sophomore class representative. Anna Schertz and Sonya Penheiter, both appointed by Dorn, as well as Nolan Madrigrano and Olga Gatesi, elected Spring Term of last year, represent the junior class, and Gregory Hamilton, Alex Stanger, Madeline Forman and Laura Friestad remain the senior representatives.

First-year class representatives. Photos by Isaac Keith.

LUCC is looking to unify their common goals for the rest of the academic year, says Schertz. According to common consensus between Stancil-Martin, Gatesi, Madrigrano and Gonzales, the need for clear communication between the student body and the Lawrence administration remains a topic of focus for LUCC, to uphold the university’s shared governance practice. Madrigrano also asserts that strengthening the continual conversation between students and the Office of Student Life is key to student advocacy.

“While I was pleasantly surprised at the communication between the administration and the students when I first got on campus, more can always be done,” Stancil-Martin says.

As a returning member of LUCC, Madrigrano intends to expand on earlier projects during his time as a representative.

“I’m hoping to follow up on some of the resolutions that were passed last year,” says Madrigrano in reference to LUCC’s push to protect bodily autonomy on campus by facilitating access to Plan-B pills through Wellness Services. Another of Madrigrano’s intentions is to achieve greater transparency from the Lawrence administration for matters such as police presence on campus and the direction of investments.

“There’s another [resolution] for ease of access to name changes for students in the Outlook system, preventing professors from seeing deadnames when they don’t have to,” says Madrigrano.

According to Gonzales, ensuring the representation of student voices on campus is another priority for the current academic year. This sentiment is shared by Huseby, who is part of the Lawrence University Disability Working Group (LUDWiG). Huseby expressed that they are committed to making the Lawrence campus more accessible, and they are eager to listen and respond to the needs of the first-year stu- dents over the next three terms.

Similarly, Gatesi wishes to amplify LUCC’s goal of prioritizing equity and inclusion this year. Through LUCC, Gatesi aims to educate students on their rights to uplift marginalized voices.

“I want to create an environment where everyone knows their voices matter and can advocate for themselves,” Gatesi says.

Stancil-Martin implores the student body to reach out to LUCC in order to find resolutions to current and future problems on campus.

“Whether it be concerns about the dining services or issues in your dorm building, it is crucial to bring these issues to the attention of your representative to bring it to both LUCC and the university and, as a result, enact meaningful change,” Stancil-Martin says.