Unprecedented Presidents: Uncontested Tickets for Senior Caucus and Student Union

Student Union (SU) candidates Tahseen Chowdhury and Alexa Valentino and Senior Caucus candidates Pallab Saha and Abie Rohrig ran uncontested, perhaps out of respect or perhaps out of fear; both tickets wielded formidable experience and accolades.

Pallab Saha and Abraham Rohrig — Senior Caucus

“We took [running uncontested] as a sign that the Class of 2018 really trusts us and that just motivates us to do more for them,” Saha said. Their platform reflects this drive and speaks to their previous successes in the Junior Caucus.

This year, Saha and Rohrig not only understood the importance of aiding the juniors’ college search, by developing close ties with the Alumni Association and selling preparatory books in the school store, but also focused on counteracting grade-wide apathy with a Pep Rally.

However, they are aware that the roles they needed to assume as the Junior Caucus differ from those they will have to as the Senior Caucus. “[After] senior year, we are leaving behind all the memories we’ve made,” Rohrig said. “The Senior Caucus makes sure a grade identity is formed.”

Saha and Rohrig have divided their platform into four major components: leaving a mark, moving on to the next chapter, reinforcing school spirit, and embracing senior year.

In order to leave a mark, Saha and Rohrig will revitalize the Mnemonics Public Art Project, commonly known as the Memory Cubes. “We want to reach out to [Principal Eric] Contreras and [Assistant Principal of Security, Health, and Physical Education Brian] Moran so that the Class of 2018 has a say in what goes into our memory [cube],” Rohrig said.

They also aim to begin mentoring underclassmen caucuses and collaborating closely with the SU. “I think that a problem within the SU this year has been a lack of communication between the caucuses and the SU, and there have been a couple of instances where this has happened,” Rohrig said. “The SU only has a certain amount of political capital, and if each caucus is just doing their own individual thing and the SU isn’t on the same page, then the SU as a whole isn’t able to coalesce, discuss, and prioritize.”

In regards to moving onto the next chapter, Saha and Rohrig want to continue their efforts in making opportunities available to the student body. They plan to establish a task force to aid Internship Coordinator Harvey Blumm to build upon the Student Bulletin and create an online database of Stuyvesant alumni for students to reach out to. “As seniors, we need to start focusing on what we need to do with our futures,” Saha said. “We can have a career day, where students can learn more about the opportunities they have and their futures.”

Despite having an organized vision for the Senior Caucus, Saha and Rohrig intend to continue a well-established method of communication through e-mail and Facebook, gauging the interests and needs of the senior class. To further strengthen school spirit, they propose beginning a PSAL awards ceremony.

Having already worked with Princeton Review to subsidize the cost of JProm, Saha and Rohrig plan to use this growing relationship to help make senior activities more affordable. “We also talked to [Princeton Review] about building more of a relationship going forward, where they are going to post practice tests for Stuyvesant students in exchange for funding,” Rohrig said. “By subsidizing costs, [we hope] everyone is able to attend these events that make up the huge memories of senior year.”

They are also exploring the possibility of an alternative venue for graduation. “We want to see if we can get a better venue,” Saha said. “We want to look at Madison Square Garden or Lincoln Center. [Though,] the budget has been a problem.”

Overall, Saha and Rohrig are confident in their abilities to carry out these plans. “The reason why we had such a successful junior year was because of how efficient our partnership is,” Saha said. “We don’t see each other with the distinction of President or Vice President. We go at it as Co-Presidents.”

Tahseen Chowdhury and Alexa Valentino — Student Union

“Every SU in the past and every platform that you’ve seen in the past always has specific ideas, and we lack that, and that’s good,” Chowdhury said. The SU President-elect and his running mate are taking a radically new approach, opting for a broad vision rather than a detailed agenda. They presented a 29 page platform — not outlining new policies, but explaining how they will structure the SU to be “bigger, bolder, and better.”

“Our goal is to create an SU that is able to do everything, all the time. Anything people ask for, we’re going to deliver,” Chowdhury said. They paused to qualify. “[If it’s] Reasonable. That’s important,” Valentino said.

As Vice President, Chowdhury has already expanded the SU by a factor of ten to include over 200 members, and Valentino has worked rigorously to ensure they have a tightly-run operation. “What we want to do is create a stable SU and a stable organization. Students don’t have power because there isn’t stability,” Chowdhury said. They believe this larger, more efficient SU has already proven itself, citing success in establishing a printing station and bathroom hooks.

In the coming year, they aim to consolidate the different caucuses into a unified front, which will be able to tackle grandiose projects and make bold demands. “What ends up happening is the administration views the students as one whole group, so if a caucus gets something then another caucus might not. At the end of the day we’re really just one union, so we’re going to look at the caucus platforms and we’re going to create a [single] year-long agenda that we’re going to execute,” Chowdhury said.

They do have a few specific ideas for putting their expanded power to use, including a second Club Pub Fair and locker trading system, the latter of which is nearing completion. Most ambitious is opening up the fifth floor balcony. With improved organization and a designated task force, they believe this could soon become feasible. “We’re better able to get a grasp [on SU organization] so now we are able to designate someone specifically in charge of working on the fifth floor balcony project,” Valentino said.

Their victory is impressive for two reasons. Obviously, they ran unopposed. But perhaps more importantly, Valentino is the first female SU Vice President in years, following a “dynasty” consisting of five consecutive male presidents and vice presidents.

“I’m really proud to say I’m one of the first female representatives of the SU in a really long time. It’s kind of cheesy, [but] other females should be inspired to be in the government and I just hope that I do a good job,” Valentino said.

As for running unopposed, Chowdhury takes it as a vote of confidence. “I think people genuinely believe we did a decent job this year compared to previous years and compared to what other people could do, and they’re giving us the opportunity to complete what we started, and that’s what the platform is, completing what we started,” he said.