New Student Senate treasurer hopes to change access to student money.
Newly elected Student Senate Treasurer Zainab Kandeh is a part of an executive team that, for the first time ever, is comprised of only women.
“I think it’s great, and I hope that it will become a trend that continues,” Kandeh said. “If you look around on campus, a lot of women that I know are in top executive spots in student organizations, and everywhere.”
Outside of senate, Kandeh is a recipient of the Rudy Top Undergraduate Leader for 2014 and a founder of Students in Philanthropy, dedicated to raising financial awards for students.
Kandeh got her new senate position after Carter Phillips, senate’s former treasurer, resigned two senate meetings ago. He called senate “a circus,” saying senate members “were destroying themselves” instead of helping students.
Kandeh, a senior studying broadcast journalism, drew similarities between being a journalist and the position she now holds as treasurer.
“You need to be able to communicate and break something as complicated as a budget down to something that you can have in a conversation,” she said.
Kandeh is optimistic about working through what she called senate’s “communication breakdowns.”
“I think we’re doing a really good job, especially from last week’s meeting, with mending that,” she said, adding that her goals to help people express themselves through communication are attributed to her experience as a resident assistant.
Kandeh hopes Phillips will remain involved with overhauling the Senate Appropriations Committee, something he pledged to do before his resignation. SAC is in charge of distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to student organizations.
The deadline to apply for SAC’s mass-funding is this Friday and Oct. 31 for rolling funding.
Kandeh was the SAC Commissioner before being voted in to her new executive role. Jason Makishi, former SAC vice-commissioner, is Kandeh’s successor.
“Zainab and I worked very closely this summer in writing the new rules for SAC,” Phillips said. “It’s been my ultimate goal since day one and I will continue working to achieve it in any way.”
SAC’s role is to provide funding for student programs, but the current funding process is too complex, Kandeh said.
“It has prompted a need for a change,” she said.
Kandeh said her goal isn’t to scrap the rules and undo the current structure of SAC, but to change the rules in a way to allow for more student organizations to apply for funding.
Makishi met with SAC executives Sunday to discuss the upcoming rule changes, describing the tone of the meeting as “receptive.”
He said he plans to go into more detail about the rule changes starting on the meeting held next Sunday, estimating that the total overhaul process will take about seven to eight weeks.
He said the goal is to be more transparent, helping student organizations know exactly how much funding is available.
In light of the internal and external turmoil that the senate body has faced in recent weeks.
Kandeh said she remains optimistic about fulfilling her new executive role.
“My main mission and my drive in what I want to accomplish this year is fueled by my passion to help students,” she said. “It’s always been my main goal to be a resource for my peers. We’re all Bobcats at the end of the day.”
@Alisa_Warren
aw120713@ohio.edu
