Hamline University’s Student Council (HUSC) spring elections are officially underway, deciding who will fill prominent HUSC positions for the 2024-25 school year. Though the internal and external candidates are running unopposed, students who vote will also be choosing the representative for their classes in this week’s elections.
For students interested in running for class representative positions, applications were turned in by Friday, Feb. 23. Internal and external presidential candidates, sophomores Ollie Engstrom and Elisa Lopez respectively, have been campaigning since announcing their candidacy officially on Feb. 15 through an Instagram page dedicated to their campaign, @ollieelisa4husc.
As Director of Student Activities and Leadership Development (SALD), Patrick Haught works closely with HUSC, and sees fitting leaders in Lopez and Engstrom.
“[Lopez and Engstrom] are highly committed to improving the university and providing students the best possible college experience,” Haught wrote in an email.
Lopez confirmed that her dedication as potential external president of HUSC is fuelled by her commitment to community outreach, and hopes to use her presidency as an opportunity to cultivate deeper community relationships.
“My main goal is to foster new connections with HUSC and the student body,” Lopez said. “I think HUSC has been very closed off from the general student body and so one of my biggest goals is to expand outreach, especially as external [president], expand outreach to the larger student body, and to other staff and faculty members as well as the Board of Trustees and administration.”
Engstrom sees that commitment to community within himself and his running mate as distinct features of their campaign, and what will set them apart in their roles.
“This is just an extension of who Elisa [Lopez] and I are, not the exact presidential role, but the way we love to get involved with community, with people,” Engstrom said.
Lopez and Engstrom’s partnership as candidates for co-presidents feels natural to them, and they say the partnership was encouraged by current co-presidents Abi Grace Mart and Travis Matthews. Taking in lessons from Mart and Mathhews’ presidency, Lopez and Engstrom have learned what they hope to continue into the future, and what areas could be improved upon.
“I think with [General Assembly meetings], Abi Grace [Mart] does a great job of having people come in and create unique Tuesdays, however, the amount of people at [General Assembly] and the outreach … I think that can certainly be improved, communication wise,” Engstrom said.
Lopez had similarly noticed that outreach and community building for students who aren’t in elected positions at HUSC is an area that can be improved, while witnessing the inner-HUSC communication style of Mart and Matthews as being something they want to bring to their presidency.
“[Mart and Matthews] have weekly one hour meetings that they just dedicate to meeting with each other and connecting as two Presidents and I really appreciate that,” Lopez said. “I think it’s really important that with how much responsibility and how much time that this position takes and we also have time for us to stay grounded with our partnership and stay grounded with what our goals were, and I see that a lot in Travis and Abi.”
Haught hopes students that may not vote due to the unopposed race for internal and external president remember to vote for their class representatives.
“It’s important to remember that the spring election doesn’t only contain the presidential race, but also races for class representative positions – students who will vote on important business all throughout next year on behalf of their classes,” Haught wrote in an email.
Class representative candidates will be announced with the release of the ballot, emailed to all students Monday Feb. 26 at 8:00 a.m. Voting is open through Feb. 29, and election results are announced the morning of March 4.
“I’m a part of the Unidos board as well and I’ve been involved with them since my first semester here. We had a Dia de los Muertos event my freshman year and it was huge. It was like 500-600 people in Anderson, and it was just full of students learning about Latino culture and Mexican culture, but it was that on top of just appreciation, and love, and community and really good food. Just a celebration of us and ourselves. I hold that moment really, really closely to me, especially as I continue being on the Unidos board, because I just wanna recreate that moment so badly, and it was one of my first experiences in a Latino space on campus, um, since moving here. I just hands down love that moment so dearly because I think it really simplifies what Hamline is. I’m a very community oriented person, so that is my favorite memory on campus.”
Elisa Lopez, External President Candidate
“So we had orientation, and I had met a couple of my teammates, and I was just kind of trying to get to know people and putting myself out there, and I remember … I was at one of the orientation meeting, and we were talking about our favorite artists in the group, and then we finally sat down for orientation and [my now friend] sat right behind me and I turned around and, I asked, ‘you like Kendrick?’ and his name is Justin, and I was like, ‘it’s nice to meet you,’ and he still remembers that [I was the first person to talk to him]. Then later I found out that all the guys that I had talked to or interacted with, they all chose the same first-year seminar, we didn’t plan that out, we just happened to be in the same [first-year seminar], and now we all live together. I love that moment because I feel so fortunate that I have met those guys and I could not be more blessed. Just like that, I mean in an instant someone could just be your friend like that.”
Ollie Engstrom, Internal President Candidate
