William Wang and Vishwaa Sofat: 2018-2019 Leaders of the Stuyvesant Student Union

Senior William Wang and junior Vishwaa Sofat assumed positions as Student Union (SU) President and Vice President, respectively, at the end of the 2017-2018 school year.

Wang and Sofat have both participated in student government since their freshman years. Wang was the Director of Clubs and Publications and went on to become the Deputy Chief of Staff his junior year before becoming the president of the SU. Sofat was a Clubs and Publications Auditor during his freshman year before he was elected as Freshman and later Sophomore Caucus President. Both participate in school activities outside of the Student Union. Wang was on the cheer and stunt teams while Sofat is on the lower secretariat of Model United Nations and captains the cricket team.

Sofat’s fulfillment from his term as president of both his Freshman and Sophomore Caucus motivated him to run as SU vice president. “I knew I wanted to be part of student government when I entered high school because I’d never really gotten the chance before, but I don’t think I ever knew that I would enjoy it so much, and it would really mean so much to me,” Sofat said. “That made me want to run for SU vice president and continue doing the work I’ve enjoyed to do and make sure the student body’s voice is heard.”

Though Sofat entered high school with the intention of becoming involved in student government, Wang’s involvement was unplanned. “I’ve been working on student government for a long time; however, I didn’t come to Stuyvesant with the plan of actually running for SU president three years down the line,” he said.

Wang and Sofat have a strong bond, and worked together on several projects prior to running for president and vice president. “I wanted a partner who would care about what the SU does, be dedicated to the SU, and actually help me pursue the things the SU should be doing,” Sofat said. “[Wang] embodied those values I believe in.”

Wang has an equally optimistic view of Sofat, citing his experience as a key decision in choosing him as a running mate. “[Sofat] was ambitious and had creative ideas that would truly change the school. He was behind some of the most proactive policy changes,” he said. “I felt like the best person to take on as my vice president would be someone who knows the ins and outs of the SU policy-wise.”

Junior Caucus President Eve Wening was Sofat’s vice president for his Freshman and Sophomore Caucus terms. After working alongside him for two years on gradewide policies and dances like the Semi-Formal, she knows that Sofat is truly invested in the SU. “He has a really unrelenting passion for this. He takes it really seriously, and he puts a lot of time into it,” she said.

The Wang-Sofat ticket was uncontested in the spring election, allowing the two to win by default. “I’d like to think that we both did an amazing job and the SU was amazing, which was why no one decided to run against us,” Sofat said. “It could be because no one was interested or it could be because no one thought the SU was a commitment they wanted because it is a lot of work.”

Sophomore Caucus President Katerina Corr sees this default win as an example of a major issue in student government elections. “It is absolutely unacceptable for SU to go uncontested, or any election for that matter to go uncontested,” Corr said. “The student government is meant to represent the students. If the students don’t even have the opportunity to vote for anybody, then we can’t pretend that those people actually represent the students.”

However, others believe that Wang and Sofat are the best people for the job, regardless of the election’s turnout. “William and Vishwaa have more experience in the SU than any other two people at Stuyvesant,” Wening said. “They would’ve won—I can’t think of anyone who’s more qualified, well spoken, or would’ve done a better job.”

“This is the culmination of their works thus far at Stuy[vesant] and in the SU, and I think they’re two of the most dedicated people I know,” junior and SU Chief Auditing Officer Nina Jennings said. “No one else really has that connection to the student body and the administration and all these other organizations.”

The ticket’s accession broke the ‘dynasty’ that was in place for the past four years. “Ever since I was a freshman, the SU has been known to be extremely exclusive to people. There is something called a dynasty, in which the president chooses a vice president, who then is the next president, who chooses another, and the cycle goes on and on,” Wang said.

Wang and Sofat believe that by winning the election, they have successfully ended the cycle. “I hope that this change in tradition is going to bring about new tickets to run against [Sofat] if he decides to run,” Wang said.

The two have been actively trying to make the SU more inclusive and objective, starting with the appointment of SU officials by conducting in-depth interviews with each candidate. “The way we started off the school year was with 11 or 12 hours of interviews,” Wang said.

Sofat agreed. “We have been criticized for nepotism and called out for bureaucracy, but this SU plans to do a lot of different things in diverse areas [...] so we need different people who can actively be involved in the process,” Sofat said. The Wang-Sofat administration received 317 applications for non-elected SU positions, compared to 172 the previous year.

However, the SU realizes it needs to strike a balance between quantity and quality within the organization. While the SU aims to be more inclusive, some believe that having too members may not be the ideal solution. “Everyone who has a position or is involved in the SU should be doing work, and I don’t feel like that’s the case currently,” Senior Caucus President Amit Narang said.

Wang and Sofat have also aimed to foster a better relationship between the SU and the caucuses. “They’re definitely trying to work a lot closer with caucuses this year, which is both good and bad, because on one hand, it’s good to have support, but [...] we’re working on figuring out a balance between helpful guidance and too much oversight,” Narang said.

Corr also commented on the dynamic between SU and caucus. “There is always a bit of a power struggle between SU and caucus. I think that what they have done this year to eliminate that has been good,” she said. At the first cabinet meeting, the SU enacted a new policy that increased caucus representation. “That was a great move because in the past, caucuses haven’t been heard as much as we may have wanted, and I think that creating that new distribution of the votes was a great way to even out the power between the two branches.”

Additionally, Wang and Sofat began working on new projects over the summer. They oversaw the establishment of StuyActivities, a website that assists students in creating, managing, and joining clubs. “When you’re a freshman, you don’t know if you want to become a part of a club, [or] what clubs are there, because there are so many clubs that have interest meetings, some you’ll miss in the advice group,” Sofat said. On the website, students are able to use various filters that cover commitment level and organization type to find a club that suits them. Club leaders can also submit charters, reserve rooms, and communicate with members through the website.

StuyActivities provides an online chartering system, which allows students to manage the logistics of their clubs with more convenience. “They’re definitely doing a lot more integration with technology, which I think is really valuable, because a lot of our stuff tends to be really outdated,” Narang said.

In previous years, Clubs and Publications were managed with paper charters, which was an inefficient method of organization. “Charters will get lost, especially paper charters within the SU. Someone would have to fill it out, and it would take weeks,” Sofat said. “We do have problems, but I strongly believe we’re already a lot better than the previous charter system that existed.”

The SU is also developing a notification system to work alongside the website. “As soon as a meeting is booked, all the members get an e-mail so that they know that there's a meeting they should attend,” Sofat said. “It allows students to be on top of things and allows clubs to properly communicate with members. These are problems I've seen [in] the clubs I've been a part of.”

They are also introducing smaller initiatives like rentable umbrellas and affordable test prep books. “They are really thinking outside the box this year, and they are trying to think of every little thing that could possibly make student life better,” junior and SU Deputy Chief of Staff Lena Farley said. “I want to have little things like that so that people don’t think, ‘Oh, they don’t do anything,’ just because our big projects—we can’t really talk about them until we are pretty far along with them. It is small things like that so students will actually see the work we are doing.”

Wang and Sofat will continue to make changes to the way the SU is run as well as experiment with other initiatives for the rest of their term, including monthly newsletters and biweekly videos.

However, because students don’t always see the progress that the SU makes, Wang and Sofat face harsh criticism from students. “You are in the spotlight for all of these people, and if something very minor goes wrong, people will be very quick to blame you,” Corr said.

Wang and Sofat hope that members of the Stuyvesant will be more lenient and understanding of the struggles they face as leaders of the student body. “We aren't perfect, we make mistakes, but any human will make mistakes,” Sofat said. “When you think about the SU or about what we do, remember we are human beings, we are students, but yes, do hold us accountable when we do something wrong. At the same time, support us so that we can support you.”

Ultimately, both Wang and Sofat find their work in student government incredibly rewarding. “Representing students is one of the greatest happinesses I've gotten from being the president of the SU—being able to talk to people, being able to help them [...] so that they can wake up in the morning and something about school is less terrifying or less daunting,” Wang said.