On Monday, February 27, 2012 Senior Josh Sande and Junior Tasha Ostendorf won the Student Senate elections for 2012-2013 co-presidents. They will take over the position from graduating Co-presidents Nick Prince and Jen Fox.

Ostendorf was the representative for Sohre her first-year, the diversity chair in Senate last year and this year focused on Building Bridges, of which she is the co-chair. She also served on the Curriculum Committee, which recommends policy and program changes to departments, is a member of Queers & Allies and plays rugby on campus.

Sande is a member of the Senate Ethics Committee, and joined Senate last year at-large and was appointed representative for Uhler. He is currently the chair for the Academic and Student Affairs Committee. He has played varsity tennis for four years, is the president of SAE Fraternity, an opinion writer for the The Gustavian Weekly and a member of the Kitchen Cabinet.

Junior Jessye Flannery plans to take Sande’s position when he graduates in December 2012. She is currently the finance chair in Senate and served as the Pittman and Complex representative. She is also a member of Big Partner Little Partner. She will be doing an internship in Washington, D.C. in Fall 2012, and after Sande graduates and resigns, Ostendorf plans to appoint Flannery as his replacement, a move that will have to be approved by Senate.

“We’ve all held different positions in Senate, including committee chairs, senators, directors and work on faculty committees. We have a unique perspective on the Senate process from all sides that will be really beneficial as presidents,” Ostendorf said.

All three name the completion of the Interfaith Space and the Dive renovation as top issues. They’ve also talked about pushing for gender-neutral housing, reduction or elimination of housing surcharges and providing free cable access for all students.

But first and foremost, they want to involve students more in the Senate process.

“We want student input and we want to inform students of what Senate actually does. Communication between students and Senate needs to be better,” Sande said.

“We held an open forum about the tobacco ban on campus and almost no one showed up. All senators have office hours, but students rarely come,” Ostendorf said.

In order to increase student awareness and involvement in Senate, Sande and Ostendorf want to have more information made available during Welcome Week for first-years, and perhaps hold the Involvement Fair before fall elections so students are more aware of opportunities.

New opportunities are coming up soon as the co-presidents begin building their cabinet. The positions available involve public relations, technology and administration, among others. E-mails will be sent out in April informing students of available positions.

“We encourage motivated students with no prior experience in Student Senate to apply for cabinet positions or to run for Senate in the fall,” Sande said.

Students are encouraged to e-mail Sande or Ostendorf if they are interested in a cabinet position or have any other questions or comments about Senate. More information can be found on the Senate website at http://studentsenate.blog.gustavus.edu.