Student Federation elected two new junior independent representatives, who said they hope to bring a wider range of interests to the table.
Hillsdale College’s Student Federation elected two new junior independent representatives, Mark Compton and Rebecca Carlson, at the beginning of the year. Each class has one representative from each Greek house, and two independents, male and female, to represent the student body.
Junior Rebecca Carlson, who is studying philosophy, applied after elections were over, after the previous female independent joined a Greek house. Although she was not previously involved in the federation, she described how her past experience made the job more interesting.
“I like the idea of student government,” Carlson said. “I was on student council in high school, and I enjoyed trying to figure out the best way to use money to help students get to know each other better and do things that they were interested in doing.”
Junior Mark Compton, who is majoring in both philosophy and classical studies, is also a new member of Student Fed.
“I’d never been involved in Student Fed at all, never been to any of their meetings; it was just kind of this thing that I never really thought about until now,” Compton said.
Despite just starting their involvement in Student Fed, the representatives immediately are diving into Student Fed’s work.
Compton is the new chairman of the Campus Improvement Committee, which looks to find ways to improve campus and implement solutions.
“I guess for me it’s just kind of focusing on littler things that I and the rest of the committee can do to just make campus more enjoyable,” Compton said.
Carlson is a member of the Publications Committee, which oversees the funding for The Collegian, the Tower Light, and the Winona yearbook.
Student Fed President junior Natalie Meckel said Compton and Carlson are bringing the federation a more well-rounded frame of reference.
“It’s great, because we have new perspectives from campus,” Meckel said. “Mark is a classics major, which is different from a lot of people who are on the federation. Rebecca’s really involved in the theater and performing arts aspects of campus, which, again, a lot of our students on the federation are not a part of.”
She added that Compton’s involvement on the Campus Improvements Committee as an upperclassman has been useful.
“I was really excited to have a junior representative chairing that committee,” Meckel said. “He’s going to have a greater perspective of what improvements would benefit the whole campus, because he’s been here for a longer period of time than a freshman or a sophomore.”
Although neither Carlson nor Compton were involved in Student Federation before their election, both are taking the importance of their voice and its effect on student life seriously.
“I would like people to feel like they have some contact with a representative,” Carlson said. “We don’t have to be off cloistered in our own Formal Lounge.”
Compton said he hopes to help people understand the effect Student Fed has on campus life.
“We just voted for funding on CPAC, we just approved a new club, we just funded something for the Hillsdale Hepcats Swing Club,” Compton said. “We fund events that people think just happen, and that’s money that we’ve given people. So, it’s just that kind of stuff, just keeping campus events running smoothly.”
The new representatives said they hope to be an effective resource to their peers.
“I think one drawback I’ve seen in the past is that I had a hard time getting information about Student Fed,” said Carlson, adding the information was available, but difficult to access.
Compton suggested there’s more to the federation than most students know.
“It’s very easy to think very poorly of Student Fed because the only thing that seems to get publicized is if they make a bad choice or if people think they make a bad choice, so it’s very rare that you hear about all the other stuff the Fed does,” he said. “That’s really the main thing. Don’t be so quick to discredit Student Fed.”
