On Thursday, Jan. 30, Lawrence University Community Council (LUCC) held an open forum in order to welcome LUCC President–Elect sophomore Brooklyn Schara and LUCC Vice President–Elect sophomore Angelina Larrea into their positions and let students familiarize themselves with the new executives. While this forum was initially planned to be a debate between candidates, Schara and Larrea both ran uncontested. Their positions were officially announced in an LUCC newsletter sent out on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
Schara and Larrea will not begin their new positions until Spring Term. For now, Larrea holds the role of LUCC Finance Secretary and is a member of current LUCC President senior Isabel Dorn’s cabinet, and Schara will continue in her role as LUCC Vice President. Larrea said that taking on the new role of Vice President will mean now leading the Finance Committee, suggesting policy changes, planning agendas and communicating with the Office of Student Engagement, Activities and Leadership (SEAL). According to Schara, she will be taking on the role as chair of the Steering Committee, a voting committee of LUCC that is described on LUCC’s website to take into consideration organizations seeking LUCC recognition as well as student appointments to LUCC and other university committees. The Steering Committee also reviews internal and external proposals that are then presented to the General Council.
Going into her new role, Larrea said she hopes to continue making student organization finances equitable and accessible to all clubs. To do this, she said she is preparing instructional materials for student organizations such as infographics, videos and a resource page for the upcoming Fall Term. Schara said she hopes to focus on making resources for student organizations available to students through the Modern Campus portal as well as strengthening communication between LUCC and the student body to build a stronger administration-community connection.
While there were some questions pertaining to LUCC’s future as these executive positions turn over at the forum, many personal questions were directed to the President– and Vice President–Elects. One question was posed inquiring how Schara and Larrea got involved with LUCC. Larrea said that Dorn was the one who sought her out, encouraging her to get involved with LUCC. Larrea was one of the people in charge of the Lawrence Incoming Class of 2027 Instagram page. Dorn found Larrea through this page when she was an incoming first-year student and asked her if she was interested in getting involved in LUCC. Schara said she also started out in LUCC in the first few weeks of her first year at Lawrence as a class representative. She said that she wanted to use LUCC as an opportunity to become more involved in Lawrence as a new student.
The open forum was sparsely attended, with a total of seven attendees. Schara and Larrea both commented that this is the first time in years that a LUCC race has gone uncontested. Schara questioned what this turnout says about student engagement as a whole. Schara and Larrea both expressed that furthering engagement with the Lawrence community is a large focus for them.
“I think there’s this misconception that you have to be a government, law or philosophy student to get involved, or that the point of student government is to wear suits and make rules — and sometimes there are suits and rules,” Schara said. “More often than not, though, I think it’s about finding your passion point and running with it. Most LUCC members care very deeply about sustainability, preventing sexual harm, or accessibility and representation, not suits.”
Larrea and Schara both said that under their administration, LUCC hopes to improve engagement by holding more outreach events, such as open houses, student representative tablings and forums. Schara says that although getting involved with LUCC may at first glance appear intimidating, LUCC works to represent all students. Both elects encourage students to follow LUCC on Instagram @lawrencelucc and voice their concerns via the social media page.