During the Schwarzman Center speaker event, Rae described the importance of the Stony Island Arts Bank, an art gallery created within an abandoned bank that holds thousands of cultural objects and periodicals, to the development of her new music. She followed her talk with a performance of all the songs on “Black Rainbows” — from the psychedelic vibe of  “A Spell, A Prayer” to the more punk and pop-inspired, jazzy sounds of “New York Transit Queen” — interspersing each song with an explanation of its meaning.

“There’s a lot of stories in the music that I want to bring to people’s attention,” Rae told the News. “It’s as much about the audience as it’s about what’s happening on stage. I feel like we all made something together — it’s theirs as much as it’s ours. I really liked being able to express something of the songs and have Professor Brooks’s perspective and be able to bounce off that. It gave me a lot of freedom in the performance.”

After the conversation, Rae started to perform songs from her album. Her album references powerful cultural and historical artifacts ranging from the rock-hewn churches of Ethiopia to the stories of Black Pioneers and their westward journeys, according to the Schwarzman Center website.

“Bailey Rae is somebody most of us have looked up to since we were very young. To be a part of this event is special,” Vocalist Alita Moses, who shared the stage with Rae, said. 

Moses called attention to the track “Put It Down,” emphasizing the transformative nature of the song in an interview with the News.

Another attendee, Abdeena Barrie, appreciated the attention to “Black American experiences” and “integrating that into her work” despite being from the United Kingdom. She said the evening made her more invested in Rae’s music because it was “just so well thought out and clearly such a heartfelt project.”

Prior to her performance, Rae elaborated on the origins of the album which was inspired by the Stony Island Arts Bank. She said she was first introduced to Stony Island Arts Bank and its restorer and artist, Theaster Gates, when she saw an image of Gates surrounded by various works of art on a friend’s Pinterest page. Some of these works would later become part of the Bank’s collection. 

Inspired by Gates’s “creativity” and “confidence,” Rae was determined to reach out to Gates.

In 2012, Gates, an artist and urban planner, bought Stony Island Arts Bank that would later become inspiration for Rae’s album for $1. He repurposed the building, transforming it into “a repository for African American culture and history” by selling recovered marble blocks as “bank bonds,” he said. 

According to Rae, “Black Rainbows” is an album that reflects the artifacts and stories she encountered in the Stony Island Arts Bank, as well as emphasizing ideas of “release” in her music. Performing in front of a live audience, she said, created an interactive, collaborative musical environment, which Rae attributed to the feelings of “freedom” on the stage.

Rae was not the only person who said they felt that “freedom.” Moses noticed the feeling of freedom as well. To her, each of the songs had unique intention, purpose and relatable subject matter, but they were interwoven with “freedom” and “fluidity.”

Daphne Brooks, a professor of African American Studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and English, facilitated the conversation. 

The post Corinne Bailey Rae performs new album “Black Rainbows” following talk on its significance appeared first on Yale Daily News.

This election boasts a higher turnout than the past two years of YCC elections, with 2,180 total students voting. It is also the most contested election in over 20 years, with six students running for president and five running for vice president.

“I feel incredibly grateful that this student body has entrusted us with the leadership of the YCC. Maya and I are going to work tirelessly to ensure that this trust doesn’t feel misplaced,” Suh-Toma told the News.

The election used ranked-choice voting, asking students to rank candidates in order of preference and requiring a candidate to receive over 50 percent of the vote to win. In the ranked choice voting system, if no candidate receives over 50 percent of the vote, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. The vote of any student who ranked the eliminated candidate first is then redistributed to the candidate they ranked second. This process is continued until one candidate receives over 50 percent of the vote.  

Fonkeu won her election in the first round, with 54.9 percent of the vote, making her the YCC’s first Black female vice president. 

“I am honored and humbled to be the first Black female vice president of the Yale College Council,” Fonkeu said. “This is also daunting; I do not hold this title lightly whatsoever. I am representing a community larger than just my individual self and the work I do in this position paves the way for students like me to follow, just as I follow those who came before me.”

Fonkeu’s election is the latest in a series of firsts for the YCC — Leleda Beraki ’24 became the first Black female president last year, while 2021 saw YCC’s first Muslim president and 2019 saw YCC’s first Black president.

Although the vice presidential election was decided without any elimination rounds, the presidential election was more complicated. In the first round of votes, Suh-Toma received 812 votes, or 37.5 percent. After multiple rounds of elimination, Suh-Toma emerged victorious with 1288 votes, or 59.6 percent of the vote.

Last year, Beraki and Li ran uncontested, and Beraki won the presidency with 615 votes. In 2021, Bayan Galal ’23 became president after getting 1131 votes in an election with a turnout of 2007 students. Turnout for the YCC election of 2020 currently tops that of any elections following, with Aliesa Bahri ’22 winning with 64.17 percent of the 2640 votes. 

Previously, Suh-Toma served as YCC Senator for Benjamin Franklin College and Fonkeu served as the YCC Career Resources Policy Director, in addition to both being Communication and Consent Educators for their respective colleges. 

The pair emphasized transparency from Yale and the YCC in their platform, and advocated for demonstrable change in areas such as mental health treatment on campus, policies surrounding the add/drop period and credit/D/fail, and support for First Generation Low Income students. 

“In the Presidential debate, I acknowledged that YCC candidates often overpromise and underdeliver,” Suh-Toma told the News. “From [the moment] our administration comes into effect, we’re going to deliver on our promises, and show exactly what we meant by a ‘More Transparent Yale.’”

Li told the News that she believed that Suh-Toma and Fonkeu to be qualified for the roles of president and vice president. She added that she was excited to see how they continue the legacy of the YCC president and vice president by representing and advocating for the student body.

“These roles require people who have been consistent in their efforts to make this university a more equitable place,” Li wrote in an email to the News. “I believe they will continue working and building on decades of student group and YCC advocacy while simultaneously pursuing new solutions to novel problems.”

In addition to Suh-Toma and Fonkeu, Brian Zhang ’25 will be the new Junior Class Council president after receiving 46.3 percent of the votes prior to any rounds of elimination and 55.6 percent, or 509 votes, after one elimination round. Zhang is also a staff reporter for the News. The Sophomore Class Council president will be Mimi Papathanasopoulos ’26, who ran uncontested.

Olivia Lombardo ’25 was elected as the new YCC Events Director in an uncontested race. Lombardo has two major goals she hopes to accomplish first in this position, one of which is internally-focused and the other of which is directed externally.

“My first internal goal will be to take inventory, meet with the former YCC Events Director, and review and revamp all event planning guides,” Lombardo told the News. “Externally, I am looking forward to beginning those initial conversations regarding organizational partnerships to set a positive tone for the upcoming year.”

Fonkeu described the election process as being tiring but rewarding. Although campaigning took a lot of work, Fonkeu is grateful for the experience and the reception that she received from the Yale community during her campaign.

“Putting yourself out there in front of the student body can be such a scary thing, but I was met with nothing but warmth, encouragement, and support,” Fonkeu told the News. “I’m happy I was able to do it with Julian and grateful to everyone that helped us along the way.”

According to Suh-Toma, the pair’s platform was intentionally built on input from as many people as possible. To them, the platform was “a living and breathing document” that changed as they listened to stories from more of their peers.

“From the start, we recognized that there is no one better to help shape our platform on a specific issue than those who are most affected by it, and that was the guiding principle in developing our platform,” Suh-Toma told the News.

Viktor Kagan ’24, who served as Suh-Toma and Fonkeu’s campaign manager during the election, told the News that he was excited to see them work toward the changes outlined in their platform. 

He noted that he joined their campaign because he believes in their ability to effectively advocate for the issues that they are passionate about.

“Their work this year spoke to the leadership and advocacy I want at the helm of YCC and [I] wanted to do all I could to ensure they win, for the best of the Yale student body,” Kagan told the News.

Jeremy Williams ’25, who served as their elections coordinator for their campaign, chose to work on their campaign for a similar reason—he has trust in Suh-Toma and Fonkeu to do their best for the student body.

Even if Suh-Toma and Fonkeu are not able to accomplish everything they set out to in their platform, Williams hopes that they will begin addressing every issue noted in the platform over the course of their term. 

Reflecting on her term as vice president, Li shared that she is grateful for the opportunity to serve the student body for the final time by overseeing the election. Apr. 14 marked the end of seven years of student government for Li, and she said she was appreciative of the opportunity to ensure that students’ were able to choose their campus leadership.

“I think one of the most rewarding parts of being in this role was internally transforming the organization while serving the student body externally,” Li said. “It has been a joy every week to hear from eager Senators, Executive Board members, and delegates about their work to improve this institution.”

In light of the election results, both Suh-Toma and Fonkeu voiced their support for the other candidates. Suh-Toma and Fonkeu told the News that every candidate added important perspectives to the conversation, and that they are grateful for everyone who ran.

“Despite all the vulnerability, time, and effort that such a public race demands, everyone elevated the conversation to talk about vital aspects of student life,” Suh-Toma said. “The election dialogue, Maya and I’s campaign and Yale were better for it.”

Suh-Toma and Fonkeu began their terms as YCC president and vice president at 12 a.m. on Apr. 15.

The post Julian Suh-Toma ’25 and Maya Fonkeu ’25 elected YCC president and vice president appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Through his experience in the Sophomore and Junior Class Councils over the past two years, Yadav told the News that he has learned that a lot of the issues about Yale he has heard his peers raise could be resolved by the YCC. 

“I have a lot of friends who are not in the YCC, and they don’t know what’s going on, or if they do then they don’t know how to get involved,” Yadav said. “I feel like this shows the disconnect between the two groups, and I really want to open up that communication a bit more.”

Yadav has centered community and transparency as key tenets on his policy platform. 

He believes that increasing lines of communication between the YCC and the student body will restore students’ faith in the council following the recent controversy surrounding whether or not to compensate the president and vice president.

“With the recent backlash and controversy the YCC has faced, that’s become a lot of people’s only idea or conception of the YCC, and it leaves a bad taste in their mouths,” Yadav said. “I want to change that.”

Although he is running without a vice presidential candidate, Yadav told the News that he is a strong enough candidate for students to split their ticket and vote for him. He had a high bar for his running mate, and said that none of the prospective candidates for the role met his expectations. 

“Before the deadline, I was asking people who I thought would be great candidates for Vice President … a lot of them were not able to dedicate themselves like I could dedicate myself,” Yadav said. “I couldn’t find a candidate who I thought was qualified enough for the student body who also had the time to do the work.”

Yadav believes that what truly sets his campaign apart is his focus on concrete promises that will directly translate to the well-being of the student body.

His platform focuses on multiple areas in which he thinks he can enact real change, including mental health policy, laundry accessibility and increased dining hall hours.

“I’m not making large statement[s] or large promises, I’m trying to focus on things that can be done and will be done if I am elected,” Yadav said. “I am focused on more practical and feasible ideas that will affect a large part of the community.”

The impetus for Yadav’s campaign was his appreciation of Yale. He said he cares deeply for the school community and wants to ensure that all students are able to experience a Yale that benefits them and that they too can love.

However, despite this passion for the Yale community, Yadav recognizes that there are changes that need to be made.

“I just want to focus on giving back to Yale, because I feel like Yale has done a lot for me and a lot for my friends,” Yadav said. “But there is still a lot of improvement to be done. I’m trying to give the people of Yale what they deserve.”

The election this year will run from Wed., April 12 at 9:00 a.m. to Fri., April 14 at 9:00 p.m. Results will be announced by Sat., April 15 at 9:00 a.m.

The post CANDIDATE PROFILE: Daven Yadav ’25 appeared first on Yale Daily News.

As Yale College Council senators for Jonathan Edwards College and Berkeley College, respectively, Tedla and Hovannesian have accomplished many goals this year — including installing water fountains on Old Campus — and they attribute this success to their consistency and dedication to the YCC.

“A key part of our platform is building on our past work in the YCC,” Tedla said. “My whole stance when it comes to being in the YCC is that our ideas are not necessarily unique, but what makes our work unique is the consistency of it.”

Tedla and Hovannesian said they have focused their efforts this year on calling on the administration to make sweeping changes that will better the day-to-day lives of students.

Hovannesian was successful in passing and enacting a proposal that put water fountains on Old Campus. Both Tedla and Hovannesian dedicated significant time to researching and writing the proposal for a referendum to democratize the Yale Corporation, which they said displays their strong commitment to and persistence within the YCC.

“We spent three, maybe four, hours of our day going to Sterling, going through records, arguing with the secretary of the Board of Trustees on which records we can access,” Tedla said. “I do think that’s unique because no other candidate has gone to the archives to research things like the Yale Corporation and its effectiveness.”

Beyond assuring the student body that, should they be elected, they will carry the efficacy that they prioritized as senators into the presidency and vice presidency, Tedla and Hovannesian’s platform has three primary goals: empowering students, improving quality of life and increasing accessibility.

They point to the Yale Corporation referendum and the Old Campus water fountains as examples of how they have already worked to empower students and improve quality of life. When it comes to increasing accessibility, Tedla and Hovannesian are passionate about making campus life more accessible for students on financial aid, which they have already started working on this year through meetings with multiple University deans regarding the full financial aid package.

Tedla and Hovannesian believe that their persistence with these reforms display their passion for bettering the Yale community.

“We’ve shown up to every Senate meeting and we’ve spent so much time thinking about how to make things better,” Hovannesian said. “That’s the biggest thing; we’ve done stuff to show that we care, and we didn’t just start showing up two to three weeks ago.”

The pair also aims to increase communication between the YCC and the student body.

They hope to do this by writing one to two op-eds every month and hosting town halls at which students can question them and what they have accomplished throughout the year.

“[Increasing student body faith in the YCC] is just a matter of putting in the work to make sure that we are as transparent as possible and communicating with the students as effectively as possible,” Hovannesian said.

Tedla and Hovannesian believe that, when compared to other senators, their record displays a stronger dedication to getting things done than their peers.

“We’ve done the most work,” Tedla said. “We’re confident on our record. We hope people scrutinize and ask us the tough questions, and we promise to be consistent.”

The election this year will run from Wed., April 12 at 9:00 a.m. to Fri., April 14 at 9:00 p.m. Results will be announced by Sat., April 15 at 9:00 a.m.

The post CANDIDATE PROFILE: Ezana Tedla ’25 and Kyle Hovannesian ’25 appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The 12 candidates — the largest cohort running for YCC election in over 20 years — focused on Yale-New Haven relations, the establishment of a Middle Eastern and North African cultural house and advocacy for Yale’s first-generation, low-income community.

Over 100 students filled a lecture hall in Linsly-Chittenden Hall for the event, which was hosted by the YCC in collaboration with the News. Editor-in-chief of the News Lucy Hodgman ’24 and YCC Vice President Iris Li ’24 moderated the event, asking both prepared and audience-solicited questions. Candidates also presented opening and closing statements.

“There hasn’t been this much interest in many years, and I believe that each candidate speaks for and represents ideas that will resonate across different parts of campus,” Li said. “It struck me how the mere candidacy of some people prompted more conversation around and inclusion of policy ideas not highlighted in previous races.”

The candidate tickets are Sanya Abbasey ’25 and Craig Birckhead-Morton ’24, Nyche Andrew ’25 and Madeline Gupta ’25, Austin Montini ’25 and Anouk Schembri ’24, Julian Suh-Toma ’25 and Maya Fonkeu ’25, and Ezana Tedla ’25 and Kyle Hovannesian ’25. Daven Yadav ’25 is running alone for president on a solo ticket. Olivia Lombardo ’25 is running uncontested for Events Director.

The debate often centered on uplifting specific identity-based groups on campus, with the most frequently discussed groups being the FGLI, MENA and Indigenous student communities, as well as student athletes.

Much of this discussion arose from the candidates’ individual identities, experiences and communities, especially when it came to Andrew and Gupta, who are running on Yale’s first all-Indigenous ticket.

“My running mate and I belong to one of the most underrepresented groups in Yale College as Indigenous women,” Andrew said during the debate. “As your President I will ensure that no one in the student body feels inadequately represented.”

Many of the other tickets also made commitments to support the Indigenous community at Yale, although one was met with criticism from Gupta. After Birckhead-Morton voiced his support for the efforts of Indigenous organizers on campus, Gupta asked how he could claim to support decolonization while running against the first Indigenous vice president candidate in Yale’s history.

“I can’t do anything about that,” Birckhead-Morton, who is Black, responded. “My ancestors did not make a choice. I respect your candidacy a lot, and I support these issues.” 

In addition to advocating for Indigenous communities, several candidates highlighted their commitment to FGLI advocacy in the context of a summer storage policy change announced on Mar. 8 by Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd. The change revoked the ability for students to store their belongings in their residential college over the summer. 

Boyd recently announced a stipend for summer storage for students on full financial aid. 

But Hovannesian lamented the University’s lack of support for students that receive significant financial aid but do not have a zero parent share, promising to work with Tedla to remedy this disparity if elected.

“It’s not just the summer storage thing, but stuff tends to be prioritized for people who receive full financial aid,” Hovannesian said. “But I think it’s kind of useless if you have to pay just one dollar to Yale but do not receive some support. I think we need to continue to pressure the administration and also use YCC resources.”

The candidates also discussed ongoing efforts to establish a cultural house for MENA students — a point that MENA students on campus have prioritized in recent years. Abbasey and Birckhead-Morton in particular prioritized ensuring that MENA students get the support they need on campus.

“I don’t doubt the sincerity of all the candidates on the stage but I am a little wary of the popularization of a MENA cultural center,” Abbasey said. “I just want to say that this is something that actually matters to a lot of students on campus and it requires work, and I have put in the work in past years to help them.”

Student identities, however, were not the only topic of conversation at the debate. Yale-New Haven relations also arose frequently during the discussion. Many candidates promised to advocate for Yale to do more to contribute to the city of New Haven and its surrounding communities. 

“Yale rests in an ivory tower and has a real responsibility to do the healing,” Suh-Toma said. “We need to actually invest in our relationship with the community in New Haven.”

While many tickets positioned themselves as experienced and dedicated YCC policymakers, others emphasized their experience as outsiders ready to bring a fresh perspective to a bureaucratic organization. 

Montini and Schembri — a student-athlete and transfer student, respectively — stressed the perspective they brought as “normal students,” not seasoned YCC representatives, as a benefit to their ability to enact meaningful change in the organization. 

“At the end of the day, if you’re happy with the current way the YCC has been conducting, then it should be an easy choice to vote for any of these people,” Montini said. “But if you’re not, I think you should give us a chance at least to show what we can do.”

Their ticket is not the only unconventional one this election season: Yadav decided to enter the race without a running mate. If he is elected as president, his vice president will come from a different ticket.

“I did reach out to many candidates I thought would be killer in this position,” Yadav said.
“All the vice presidents over there are very passionate and very smart, capable people, and I would love to collaborate with any of them. Honestly, if we don’t even agree on certain issues, we can easily find common ground.”

In her statements during the debate, Lombardo touched on many of the same issues as the presidential and vice presidential candidates, although through the lens of events planning on campus. She believes that the Events Coordinator has the ability to truly engage with underrepresented groups across campus as well as the New Haven community.

“Unfortunately, Yale College Council events lack a lot of institutional memory and history,” Lombardo said. “We need to make sure that events are structured around what the students’ needs and wants are rather than events that have been taken over the years. We also have to lean into what works and make things more financially accessible.”

The wide breadth of students running for election this year excites Li, and makes her hopeful for the effectiveness of YCC next year. Li told the News that there “hasn’t been this much interest in many years” and that the candidates represent many views from many different parts of campus.

Results of the election will be released by 9 p.m. on Saturday, Apr. 15.

The post YCC candidates talk FGLI student advocacy and Yale-New Haven relations in debate appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Montini and Schmebri’s goal is to serve as a conduit between all students on campus and the administration. They said they have noticed that students and organizations from all corners of Yale do not feel supported by the University, and they believe that they can change that as Yale College Council president and vice president. 

“Meshing our ideas and experiences together has allowed us to come up with a more comprehensive platform that includes the experiences of people we’ve talked to all in one,” Schembri said.

Their different experiences on campus still led them both to run for election this year, although for two different reasons.

The impetus to run for president, for Montini, came from his experience on the Yale Men’s Track and Field team.

“It’s been interesting to experience the Yale culture surrounding athletics here specifically from the administration,” Montini said. “There’s not great policies surrounding mental health and people don’t feel supported in their athletic endeavors.” 

As he talked with other students on campus, both those involved in athletics and not, he realized that the issues that affect athletes also impact many other student organizations.

He believes that these problems derive from the administrators disregarding student concerns.

“It’s a very exploitative one way relationship,” Montini stated. “These [student organizations] are on the website and anything you see that Yale pushes out there. They’re very focused on showing what Yale has to offer, but not very focused on actually helping students when they’re in these programs.”

Schmebri’s decision to run for vice president was inspired by her experiences in Yale’s cultural centers and her interactions with the Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid. She believes that there is a significant lack of assistance for students trying to understand the financial aid process and that the administration needs to do more to support the cultural centers.

“It’s important to me that all students from all backgrounds can feel supported here,” Schmebri said.

Although neither Montini nor Schembri have experience holding an elected position in the YCC, they believe that their experiences across campus and the supporting team they have built mean that they are well suited to carry out the duties of president and vice president.

Schembri, who transferred to Yale this year from the University of Colorado, noted her significant leadership experience in organizations at her prior school. At the University of Colorado, she served as the president of the main political science club and the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps liaison between the university’s leadership and the ROTC student advocacy group.

“I think that you don’t necessarily have to be on YCC to acquire the skills to be an effective leader,” Schembri said. “Being an effective leader will translate across a lot of experiences.”

Montini believes that as neither he nor Schembri are coming from a perspective focused on the YCC, they are more connected to the Yale community and the interests of the students. They maintain that although they may not have the same experience as other candidates, they still maintain the institutional knowledge of the YCC that is necessary to thrive in their positions.

“We are definitely more grassroots candidates,” Montini said. “We aren’t career YCC people, but we still know everything about it, and we still have the team in place to help us with the specifics.”

The election this year will run from Wed., April 12 at 9:00 a.m. to Fri., April 14 at 9:00 p.m. Results will be announced by Sat., April 15 at 9:00 a.m.

The post CANDIDATE PROFILE: Austin Montini ’25 and Anouk Schembri ’24 appeared first on Yale Daily News.

As the director of the Cultural and Religious Policy Team in the YCC this year, Abbasey said she felt that she had the ability to enact true change in the Yale community. She has worked alongside student activists to accomplish multiple goals in her role, including expanding religious accommodations for on-campus housing and increasing allergen labels in University dining halls.

“Going into my sophomore year, I felt like I really had no choice but to try to improve my community members’ lives, and the one way that I saw that I could do that was through the YCC,” Abbasey said. “I want to continue this energy and advocacy into the presidency.”

Outside the YCC, he has been involved in various student organizing efforts. Birckhead-Morton has worked with undergraduate advocacy group Students Unite Now and as the undergraduate representative for the Yale Police Department’s advisory board. 

Birckhead-Morton also served as the inaugural student organization liaison for the YCC this year. Current YCC President Leleda Beraki ’24 and Iris Li ’24 created the position.

“We’re running, not to put power in our hands, but to put power in the hands of the student body and to put power in the hands of the people of New Haven who are excluded from the center of power that is Yale,” Birckhead-Morton said.

Although Abbasey and Birckhead-Morton recognize that many people in the student body may not have faith in the YCC, they want to emphasize that the organization can make effective changes — even if those changes are small.

Abbasey herself did not necessarily believe in YCC’s capacity to achieve change during her first year, although she quickly changed her mind once she became more involved with the council.

“At the end of the day, people think the YCC is all talk, but we’re here to bring deliverable results on things that are affecting students’ lives at Yale,” Abbasey said. “Some of the achievements that we’ve had may not be flashy, but they’re effective. That is the energy we plan to bring.”

In addition to giving power to students and student organizations, as president and vice president, Abbasey and Birckhead-Morton want to enact mental health policy reform.

Birckhead-Morton said that in his three years at Yale, he has watched many students fail to receive adequate mental health support from the University.

“They approach mental health in a really transactional perspective and see us more as liabilities than as students,” Birckhead-Morton shared. “Sanya and I have been affected by the mental health crisis, and we’re serious about addressing that issue.”

Ultimately, Abbasey and Birckhead-Morton want to ensure that students have the ability to advocate for and achieve success in addressing the issues that they care about — whether it be mental health, union organizing, religious accommodations or anything else that may be plaguing the student body.

The election this year will run from Wed., April 12 at 9:00 a.m. to Fri, April 14 at 9:00 p.m. Results will be announced by Sat., April 15 at 9:00 a.m.

The post CANDIDATE PROFILE: Sanya Abbasey ’25 and Craig Birckhead-Morton ’24 appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Both Suh-Toma and Fonkeu have experience within the YCC which they believe places them in a unique position to accomplish the goals they have outlined in their campaign.

This year, Suh-Toma served as a YCC Senator for Benjamin Franklin College, acting on both the Health and Accessibility Policy Team and the Religious and Cultural Accommodations and Advocacy Policy Team. Fonkeu, on the other hand, served on the YCC Executive Board this year as the Career Resources Policy Director. The candidates said they believe that their wide range of experiences within the YCC — serving in both elected and appointed positions — gives them a unique blend of perspectives on the organization’s operations. 

“We’re both running because we have been part of YCC in some capacity since our first year, and in a really unique way we have seen all the branches of YCC,” Fonkeu said. “We have a lot of ideas of things we want to see implemented in this next year, and because of our joint expertise, we know how to get that done.”

The platform of issues they hope to tackle center around the two core goals of transparency and accountability, both from the YCC and University administration. In addition to YCC emails and social media, Suh-Toma and Fonkeu plan to institute town halls twice a semester where students can discuss issues with the president and vice president in person.

“We want to see transparency in the financial aid process, we want a full breakdown of the financial aid package, we want more transparency in the Title IX to UWC process,” Fonkeu said. “In terms of YCC, we want the president and vice president to have a more transparent role.”

The pair have a history of working together in YCC, and they have faith in each other’s ability to accomplish policy goals.

Suh-Toma approached Fonkeu to be his running mate because he said he respected her effectiveness in the positions that she has held in YCC in the past.

“I approached Maya because I knew that she had a lot of experience and a really strong track record as career resources policy director this year,” Suh-Toma stated. “I thought we’d make a great team.”

The ultimate aim of Suh-Toma and Fonkeu’s campaign, connected to their primary goal of transparency, is to ensure that students have someone fighting for them in administrative decisions.

This year, the University has made multiple major student policy decisions, including eliminating summer storage or ousting multiple student organizations from their office space, without receiving any student input. Suh-Toma and Fonkeu hope to put an end to that. 

“The Yale administration has a history of putting the administration first and the students second, which is ridiculous because Yale is nothing without its students,” Fonkeu said. “What we envision for YCC is fighting for the students and holding Yale accountable for putting the students first.”

The election this year will run from Wednesday, April 12 at 9:00 a.m. to Friday, April 14 at 9:00 p.m. Results will be announced by Saturday, April 15 at 9:00 a.m.

The post CANDIDATE PROFILE: Julian Suh-Toma ’25 and Maya Fonkeu ’25 appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Andrew and Gupta are both part of Yale’s Indigenous community, which they emphasize as the impetus for their dedication to ensuring that all groups throughout the University feel connected to the YCC.

“As Native people and therefore having the smallest representation of students on campus, we are often overlooked, whether it’s by administration or other students,” Gupta said. “For me, that really, really gives us a drive to connect every community on campus with the YCC. We want to make their voices heard, we want to know what they need from us, because we know what it’s like to not have our voices heard.”

Andrew, a Yup’ik and Inupiaq woman from Anchorage, Alaska, is the YCC’s only Indigenous senator this year, representing Branford College. Although Gupta, who hails from the Sault St. Marie tribe of Chippewa Indians along the Great Lakes in Northern Michigan, has never served on the YCC. She has served on the board of the Native and Indigenous Students Association at Yale and has been involved in various STEM and dance organizations across campus. 

Andrew and Gupta have an extensive platform with over 100 policy proposals that they hope to pass as president and vice president. Andrew and Gupta told the News that they aim to reach every community and identity on campus with their policy proposals, which range from changes to the YCC structure — including adding a delegate representative position for student organizations — to subsidizing airfare for international students. 

“We need more than just the 30 voices of the senators and president and vice president,” Andrew said. “We are building bridges in the community to uplift voices and make sure that we in the YCC are holding ourselves accountable. We’re making sure that the community members have a stake in how we are operating as an institution.”

Andrew said that they developed their platform through collaboration with members of community members across campus — something she said would be a practice they maintained throughout their presidency and vice presidency if elected.

If elected, Andrew and Gupta would be the first Indigenous president and vice president respectively. They believe this would be a victory not only for themselves, but for their families and the broader Yale community. 

The land on which Yale is built was stolen from Indigenous peoples almost 400 years ago. For Andrew and Gupta, leading the student body of such an institution would mean displaying to their families that everything they have sacrificed to allow them to attend Yale was worth it.

“No one in my family made it to college before my siblings and myself, I’m the first in my family to attend college out of state,” Andrew said. “I just think about all of the sacrifices and resources that the people who came before me gave up and made sure I had so that I could be at an elite private institution still representing who they are. That’s my personal stake in this election.”

Similarly, Gupta remembers her grandfather when considering the significance of her bid to be the first Indigenous vice president of the YCC.

“I think about my grandpa and his hat that my sister bought him that said Yale on it, and how he requested to be buried in it because it was his pride and joy that someone from his family made it here,” Gupta said. 

Andrew and Gupta met prior to coming to Yale, when the University’s Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration Department gave them both an award recognizing community service. They were the only two Indigenous students on the list, which prompted Andrew to reach out to Gupta. They have been close friends ever since.

They believe that this friendship provides a strength to their campaign and would aid in their effectiveness as President and Vice President.

“I think something really special about us is that we’re not just coworkers or peers or students,” Gupta said. “This is my best friend in the entire world, and there is no one I can work better with to make change happen.”

The election this year will run from Wednesday, April 12 at 9:00 a.m. to Friday, April 14 at 9:00 p.m. Results will be announced by Saturday, April 15 at 9:00 a.m.

The post CANDIDATE PROFILE: Nyché Andrew ’25 and Madeline Gupta ’25 appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Lombardo, who is running unopposed, believes that she has gained sufficient experience during her two years of involvement in the YCC to help her succeed as events coordinator. Lombardo, who is a former staff writer for the News, said she also has a plan for how to improve the position’s effectiveness.

“I have the necessary experience and understanding of the organization, but I also have a vision and what I see as a path forward for the events side of the YCC,” Lombardo said.

She believes that the YCC events coordinator has the ability to make a significant impact in both the Yale community and the border New Haven community through the events that they organize. As a result, her platform has two primary concerns: having fun and making an impact.

Lombardo hopes to accomplish these goals by ensuring institutional knowledge is passed down through generations of the YCC and expanding the existing programming to include events that students want to have. She believes that surveying which events students really want to see through would allow the YCC to allocate funding more effectively and hold events that students will attend and enjoy. 

Lombardo also wants to ensure that the YCC events coordinator organizes events that make a difference both at Yale and in the New Haven community.

“We want to make an impact,” she said. “We want to feel like students can attend our events without financial barriers and we want to feel that we’re also engaging with the New Haven community in a way that was not prioritized in the past administration.”

One way that Lombardo hopes to use YCC events to make an impact in New Haven would be to reduce food waste from events by donating leftovers. In the past, Lombardo has worked with the organization Haven’s Harvest to donate leftover food from Model United Nations events to those in need.

“They take excess food that clubs and events have afterwards and they then can pick up the food and give it to those who need food,” Lombardo told the News. “This might be small, but it’s something that we as YCC can do to reach a lot of people to uplift New Haven and reduce food waste.”

Ultimately, Lombardo believes that she is best suited for the events coordinator position because she has what it takes to build the non-elected portions of the YCC into a well-oiled machine.

She emphasized that when students vote, they don’t just vote for the candidate — they vote for everyone that candidate will appoint as well. 

“When you elect a president and vice president you’re also then electing a chief of staff, a business director, policy teams,” Lombardo said. “The same goes for the events director. When you’re voting for events director you’re voting for someone you believe in to handle a huge budget and to create their own events team. It goes beyond ideas and whether you think they can fulfill them, it goes to do you think this is the person who you believe can build up this organization.”

The election this year will run from Wednesday, April 12 at 9:00 a.m. to Friday, April 14 at 9:00 p.m. Results will be announced by Saturday, April 15 at 9:00 a.m.

The post CANDIDATE PROFILE: Olivia Lombardo ’25 appeared first on Yale Daily News.