On Tuesday March 15, Katharine Ball was elected president of the Arts and Science Student Union along with a new group of executives. Ball is currently in third year and just completed her first term as an ASSU executive, working closely with current president Gavin Nowlan.
Ball was the only candidate for president. Since ASSU elections are held within the council itself, including the current executive and course union presidents, Ball did not run an extensive campaign.
While Ball acknowledges it is unusual for an ASSU executive with only one year to become president, she is sure of her abilities for next year.
“You can be active or not really active. I was very active,” she said. “I was a part of the ASSU scholarships committee, and I attended the dean’s meeting. I was active in reviewing the anti-calendar.”
Along with the anti-calendar, ASSU has three projects in the works which Ball hopes to continue and improve on. “Project: Universal Minds [ASSU’s high school tutoring project] has been fairly successful. It’s hard though, as guidance counselors change every year and that makes the process difficult. I hope to promote it a little bit more. It’s valuable for a high school student to have a first-year university student help them out.”
“Also, we need to put more thought into our sustainability project,” said Ball, who admits ASSU has had difficulty with their sustainability initiatives. “I want to do something more creative and fun, something in the realm of awareness.”
Nowlan has also been working with university administration to create an undergraduate research fund and Ball hopes to continue the task.
One of Ball’s main goals is to continue ASSU’s good relationship with the faculty. Maintaining this strong relationship requires “keeping an open discussion about things. For instance, during academic planning, you are going to butt heads on issues. There are issues, and then there is an administrative view, and there are points where you meet heads. My first concern is the students’ view, and student concerns,” said Ball.
“I’m really proud and excited to work on ASSU. I think I can do some really great work. I’ve held a short period of time at ASSU and that is a little strange. But I’m not underqualified with my abilities,” said Ball.
“She is gonna do a great job,” said Nowlan. “She’s done a great job so far, and has just jumped in there with issues on campus like flat fees and use of space. I think she is going to be a great president.”
