Hashim Pashtun recently became the International Student Union President and continues to serve on Graduate Student Senate as an executive.
The new president of International Student Union speaks eight different languages.
A leader on other organizations’ governing bodies, a PhD engineering student, piano player and Seattle Seahawks fan, Hashim Pashtun, self-admittedly “never sits back.”
Pashtun, who is a native of Kandahar, the second-largest city in Afghanistan, moved to Athens, Ohio in the fall of 2012.
He quickly noticed American and international students rarely interact at OU and voiced his concerns at an undergraduate Student Senate meeting.
Only a fraction of OU students are considered international — 1,898 out of 39,201 total students at the university.
There were seven OU students from Afghanistan during Fall Semester 2014, according to university data.
Pashtun has been a part of both undergraduate Student Senate and Graduate Student Senate. He’s currently the vice president for administration and finance for GSS and no longer serves on the undergraduate senate.
“Hashim's involvement campus-wide is really a great benefit to us in GSS,” said Maggie Clark, GSS’ interim vice president of Legislative Affairs.
Pashtun is also president of International Student Union after a year of what he calls “turmoil.”
The previous ISU president, Phally Chroy, was impeached after several students disagreed with Chroy’s leadership.
Pashtun was elected president of ISU, an umbrella organization for 30 international organizations on campus on Feb. 23.
“As an international student, he cares so much about the voice of international students and their rights,” said Sanusi Shehu, webmaster for ISU, in an email. “He loves this campus for what it is, but believes that the lives of international students can be even better.”
Shehu said Hashim is a “leader with vision.” Hashim wants ISU to cater to both American and international students.
“When you are a Bobcat, it doesn't matter that you are American or Afghan, from South Ohio or North Ohio …” Pashtun said.
Pashtun is also a member of The Post’s Publishing Board, an entity that oversees the publication, but has no editorial say in the publication’s content.
His goals and family motivate Pashtun, who is the youngest of his five siblings. He hopes to one day establish a hospital for cancer patients in Afghanistan and name it after his mom, who died of liver cancer three years ago.
“I still feel that she is with me. Whatever good I do she is going to be proud of me up there, so why not make her feel proud?” Pashtun said.
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