This letter is in response to “Estrogen Absent in SG election,” an article published on Feb. 16.
You’re right — there are no women who decided to run for executive office this year.
However, that does not mean that Student Government is deprived of the female experience, voice or influence.
Student Senate has a large female population, myself included. Current SG program directors are female, there are female Secretaries in Cabinet, there is a female Constitutional Council Justice, and the list goes on.
The insinuation that the women involved in SG somehow have disappeared overnight because Lindsay Richardson will no longer be in office is, quite frankly, incredibly insulting. The proclaimed lack of female presence in SG overlooked the contributions and positions of females who are currently in SG.
I recognize that strides were made in many areas of SG, but I am most familiar with Senate.
To provide a recap, here were some of our key, female-led moments. We hosted Ameripalooza for international students last semester. We wrote legislation to support Thomas Cooper Library lending out phone chargers, to support the 20/20 initiative, to create a Syllabus Archive, to use open educational resources on campus and to allow non-IT majors the benefit of our new IBM contract. We hosted tailgates co-sponsored by the Office of Substance Abuse Prevention and Education during football season. Furthermore, both pieces of legislation of the Great Gate debate were co-sponsored by women.
Fear not. Women are here, still relevant and making waves. Perhaps what would have been more relevant is a discussion about the underrepresented voices in SG, as we try to serve not simply men and women, but students of every race, gender, creed, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
Grace Zimmermann is a third-year French and English student.