Corr-Sela: Corralling Junior Caucus

Platform: ★★★☆☆
The Corr-Sela platform mainly reflects a commitment to continue policies that have begun or were successfully implemented during their Sophomore Caucus stint. While these policies are reasonable and helpful, the lack of any new policy proposals was slightly worrying.

Record: ★★★★☆
Sophomores Katerina Corr and Ayala Sela have shown throughout two years of service in the school caucus that they can successfully offer tangible benefits to the student body through the implementation of new policies in coordination with other caucuses. They have demonstrated this by implementing specific policies like the pen pal program and the career newsletter.

Campaign: ★★★☆☆
Corr and Sela are uncontested in the Junior Caucus election, allowing them to run a quiet campaign with little Facebook or physical presence. To their credit, they did show up to the debate hosted by the Board of Elections, which served as a de facto Q&A due to the lack of a competing ticket. The low-key campaigning of the Corr-Sela ticket is understandable given their uncontested status, but attracting more attention to the activities of the Junior Caucus would nonetheless be desirable given the ticket’s stated emphasis on transparency.

The Junior Caucus elections this year lacked much campaigning, as the Sophomore Caucus incumbents Katerina Corr and Ayala Sela are uncontested, giving the student body little choice as to their election. Nonetheless, The Spectator Editorial Board feels that the Corr-Sela ticket’s successful record in office merits an endorsement. During the interview, both Corr and Sela made it clear that they believed having uncontested elections is unacceptable, as it often allows elected representatives to avoid being held accountable for their promises and platforms. Without being prompted to, they stated their uncontested run was not “an excuse to work less hard for the student body.” This commitment to continue working for the student body motivated us to endorse their ticket despite their uncontested status.

Both Corr and Sela have a great deal of experience from their previous years in student government. Corr has served as both Freshman and Sophomore Caucus President, while Sela has served in the Freshman Cabinet and as Sophomore Caucus Vice President. Throughout this long tenure, Corr and Sela have developed a strong dynamic in which they believe they have gained a strong understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.

During the interview, Corr and Sela stated that one of their main strengths and successes when part of the Freshman and Sophomore Caucus was building relationships with the administration. They point to the pen pal program for foreign languages and the lecture series as examples of working with members of the administration such as AP of Foreign Languages Francesca McAuliffe. They also feel they have fostered communication with the student body through platforms such as social media, which they use to make their caucus more transparent and communicate with the student body. In terms of weaknesses, the Corr-Sela ticket has struggled with logistical issues that have slowed the implementation of their policies. One of the major accomplishments of the Corr-Sela platform has been their lecture series, but they often struggled to schedule and find rooms for their lecturers. They also could not as of yet schedule lectures by biology researchers due to issues with scheduling rooms, though they say those are being resolved.

Corr and Sela also admitted that they usually propose few policies while campaigning. However, they attributed this to their attention to detail, stating that they would rather complete all their research before endorsing new ideas that may later prove impractical. Though their record does prove that this method of productivity has been somewhat successful with examples like the “So You Want to be A…” newsletter, their Junior Caucus campaign lacks any new ideas or major improvements to existing policies. The campaign seems more focused on picking up from where they left off as the Sophomore Caucus rather than implementing new policies and ideas for the student body from their prior experiences.

Corr and Sela bring a set of policies derived completely from their past experiences as Sophomore Caucus President and Vice President. Policies like biology lectures and a career newsletter have either already proven successful or are still in progress from the previous administration, while the AP review book recommendations program currently in development shows an ability to work with other caucuses and the Student Union. While these policies all seem set to provide tangible benefits for the student body, the Corr-Sela platform is hindered by a complete lack of new policies. Though the avoidance of unrealistic and grandiose promises is refreshing, it is nonetheless disappointing to see what amounted to a lack of creativity in imagining policies that would bring benefits to the rising juniors. Tempering this disappointment is Corr and Sela’s promise that they would develop new policies throughout the year in response to any perceived needs they might find, an approach they are continuing from their Sophomore Caucus tenure. While this pragmatic policy promises to deliver some new benefits to the student body, we would have appreciated a greater imagination in expanding the benefits that the Junior Caucus could bring specifically for the junior class. Despite these flaws, the Corr-Sela ticket merited an endorsement from The Spectator Editorial Board due to its continuation of a successful Sophomore Caucus tenure and a promise to bring further pragmatic improvements to the Junior Caucus.