Over the past three or four years at Asbury, the Executive Cabinet (EC) has taken major steps to make themselves known on campus. Elections for this year’s cabinet members were held this past February, and the seven students elected took on their roles this school year.
Seven desks sit in the EC offices in the basement of the Student Center belonging to Zachary Fazio (Student Body President), Margaret Tredway (Vice President of Student Governance Association [SGA]), Ellie Haseloff (Vice President of Spiritual Life Board [SLB]), Elizabeth Bramer (Vice President of Clubs and Congress [CCO]), Kourtney Kawata (Vice President of Student Intercultural Programs [SIP]), Caleb Cleveland (Executive Treasurer) and Darline Attalla (Executive Publicist).
Most students have heard of EC, and if not, they have heard of ASC, our Asbury Student Congress. The seven students that comprise EC head ASC and work alongside student leaders and deans across campus to work toward improving campus and student life. According to the Constitution of ASC, “The purpose of the Executive Cabinet is to administer the responsibilities and duties set forth in [the] Constitution, guide and equip ASC members to accomplish their role and responsibilities, and represent the Student Body to the Administration.”
The Student Body President chairs meetings, presides at ASC meetings and generally acts as an advocate for students while working alongside Sarah Baldwin, Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students, and Joe Bruner, Assistant Vice President of Student Life. The VP of SGA is responsible for working with various senators across campus and oversees the SGA proposal, policy and legislative process. The VP of SIP chairs the SIP Board, as well as representing ASC and the student body in areas of diversity, representation and inclusion on campus. The VP of SLB works with the Spiritual Life Office on campus to help the spiritual journeys of students on campus. The VP of CCO manages club activity on campus and works with club presidents to provide club opportunities that will improve student life. The Executive Treasurer oversees funding and the budget for ASC and works with the other members of the EC to advise appropriate spending. The Executive Publicist creates and markets ASC-sponsored events and programs.
This year, the cabinet has a few big goals in mind for campus. They are currently working on revising the student government constitution and guidebook, which should be finished in the next two months. This should improve the function of student government, for both EC and individual class cabinets.
“We’re really trying to alleviate dysfunction and make it so we have smooth systems in place to effectively be able to develop student leadership and student priorities,” Fazio said. “We want to be able to actually effectuate change across campus. It just involves a lot of delegation.”
Tredway details the changes in her own branch, noting the different areas of campus she interacts with and what her experience has been like adjusting to the role.
“I was really trying to figure out how to formulate my branch in a way that was fun and enjoyable,” Tredway said. As the VP of SGA, she gets to work closely with each of the class cabinets, freshman cabinet elections and other offices and services on campus like the Physical Plant. “I think that all of EC has a mentorship type of role with the freshmen, and so that’s a lot of fun. And then the other thing is just being able to recognize a lot of the faculty and different parts of campus. There’s so much about campus you would never know as just a student.”
Another thing that this year’s cabinet is working through is the ratio of junior to senior leadership. Only three of the seven are seniors, which they are all excited about. The work that they do this year on campus will impact the current juniors’ senior year experience, rather than just leaving it behind for the next round of students. According to Kawata, the diverse perspectives from each class contribute to new approaches to the challenges they face together.
“It instills longevity, in the sense that we have a stake in what campus looks like next year,” Haseloff said. “So there’s so much more excitement and hope for how the ball can keep moving to see things to fruition and completion.”
All members of EC have shown deep dedication and care for the student body, consistently mentioning their desire to leave student government better than how they found it and to provide an open channel of communication between themselves and the rest of Asbury’s students.
