A sub-theme of the most recent Public Affairs Conference was the importance of student activism and the power of our

young generation. Community members asked questions about how they could ameliorate world problems, and speakers shared their enthusiasm about young people and their general inclination to care about the state of their communities and the world.  Whether you attended the conference as a delegate or not, we feel this lesson is one from which all Principians can benefit.

In a recent meeting with College President Dr. Jonathan Palmer, the conversation turned to the value of dialogue between community members and the need for students to advocate for issues about which they feel passionately. Dr. Palmer explained that he would like to “improve and expand the conversation on key topics” and have students lead those discussions more regularly.

We already care about issues that affect our world and our daily lives: issues like the semester transition or – dare we say it – homosexuality.  But if all we ever do is take a cursory interest in problems we feel need to be addressed, positive change cannot happen at the rate it needs to. In fact, several of this year’s PAC speakers made the point that a single person may find it difficult – even impossible – to change the world. If, however, one person has an idea and others support him or her in helping it to fruition, change will occur more naturally.

Of course, the editors aren’t saying that we’re personally doing all we can to tackle the problems of this community or our world. We hope to practice what we preach at Principia and beyond. Just because we live in the “Prin Bubble” doesn’t mean we have to be complacent.

There are many ways to begin effecting world change as part of such a small community. It’s actually pretty simple. Run for a spot in student government, write for the Pilot, take up a cause that you care about, volunteer in our community, or just branch out and make a new friend. Though these steps may seem inconsequential, smaller efforts can culminate in global transformation.

As Jim Henson, a childhood inspiration, once said, “My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here.”

Why not start now?
Sincerely,
M. & K.

It’s hard to believe we’re over a third of the way through the semester, but looking back we’ve all accomplished quite a bit in the last month. As a whole, we’re aligning ourselves with the new schedule and carving out a new groove in which to operate. Student Government is right in the midst of it, as we set the precedent for a fresh government system during a new era of Principia.

For the past few weeks, our focus has been mostly on improving communication between students, administration, faculty, and others. Contact has been established with just about everyone – the administration, Campus Security, and the faculty – in order to understand and meet the needs of the community. Student Senate and the house presidents have also been in communication: planning events for the semester and reading the all-around attitude of Principia. They would all love to answer any questions you have or listen to your ideas for improvement!

Our weekly videos have been playing in the concourse with the latest updates (if you missed them, they can be viewed on youtube.com and our Principia College Student Senate Facebook page), and we’re holding lunch conversations weeks three, six, nine, and 12 to gather information on how the semester is going. We’ve realized a major challenge so far has been adjusting to the semester system, and we’re in touch with faculty, Dining Services, and others to find a harmonious solution for the difficulties this transition has presented. This has led to practical solutions including a bagged lunch system (talk to Trey McCartt for more information).

All our decisions are made with the betterment of the community as the top priority. We put prayer and thought into each decision that’s made and we welcome your support.

We look forward to talking with you all throughout the year to learn what else we can do to better Principia. Please feel free to come by our School of Government office, talk to us in person, call, or email us with any questions, concerns, or recommendations!

Christian and Bekah

Your Student Body Presidents

Student Government is changing the way that we do business for the semesters!  We are replacing the Student Activities Board with a new STUDENT SENATE.  Instead of having so many specific positions (Meta Head, Eco Head, etc.), we are now going to have a seven-student board that will divide the work among themselves.  They are going to get all the same things done that SAB does, but they will have a lot more flexibility and will hopefully be able to accomplish even more!

We are going to have a new election process next quarter in which the Student Body President and Vice President will be elected BEFORE the Student Senate. That way,  anyone who runs for President or Vice President and doesn’t win can run for Senate if they have the inclination.  Here’s what to expect next quarter:

Friday of Week Three: Letters of Self-Nomination for Student Body President and Vice President are due.

Tuesday of Week Five: Candidate Night in the Pub for Presidential and Vice Presidential Nominees.

Friday of Week Five: ELECTIONS FOR STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT.

Friday of Week Six: Letters of Self-Nomination for Student Senate are due.

Tuesday of Week Seven: Candidate Night in the Pub for Student Senate.

Friday of Week Seven: ELECTIONS FOR STUDENT SENATE.

Please consider running for Student Body President, Vice President or Student Senate!  Let us know if you have any questions!

Laura and Esto

Student Body Presidents

We hope that everyone’s Fall Quarter is going well and that you are getting a chance to get outside and enjoy the beautiful and warm fall weather!

Change is certainly in the air this Fall at Prin!  Next year marks our first year in semesters, so lots of smaller changes are in the works that go along with this transition.  There’s one big one for Student Government, and it’s about the timing of the all-campus elections.

Normally the all-campus Student Government elections happen Winter Quarter.  Seeing as there is no Winter Quarter under semesters, Presidential Board and the Student Activities Board voted to have elections at the end of Spring Semester so that the elected officials would be in office for a school year.  We’re excited about all of the new ideas that Student Government can take on under semesters!

One question remains:  what does that mean for elections this year?  Well, as far as your house boards go, that’s up to your President.  Some houses are going to hold elections Winter Quarter, and some will wait until Spring Quarter.  The all-campus elections, however, will all be held in the middle of Spring Quarter so that the new officers do not have to serve under both quarters and semesters but can put all of their energy into getting off on the right foot in the new semester system.  We encourage everyone to think about running for these elected offices!

On a different note, we’d like to invite you all to a special program Thursday of Week 7 at 9pm, which will be held in Wanamaker Hall. It will be a students-only meeting to think deeper about the Code of Conduct as it relates to our community. It will be an open and safe environment in which to discuss the “tough issues”, which so often seem to be too dificult to address. We encourage you all to come and join the conversation. Everyone’s contributions are key to create a better Principia!

It’s going to be a great year, both for Student Government and for the entire student body.  Have a great rest of your quarter!

Laura and Esto
Student Body Presidents

We hope that everyone has had a great first half of the quarter!

Student Government has been busy recently.  We have lots of exciting things to report.

As you may have seen, there are six new Go Bikes around campus, thanks to the hard work of the Principia Bike Shop. We’re excited to have purchased new bikes and have those out and working, so feel free to grab one and take it for a spin.  If you see a broken Go Bike, please take it to the Bike Shop to be fixed.

This week was our first in a series of Current Events lunches, which are informal discussions led by a faculty member about the biggest headlines from the past week.  This will happen every Wednesday at 12:30 in one of the GDRs, so please stop by with your lunch.

Finally, you should have received in your e-mail a survey about plagiarism and writing habits.  Please take a few minutes to fill this out; it’s a valuable tool for the Writing Center to be able to help all students become better writers and avoid plagiarism.

As always, we’re continuing to represent you in all of our meetings and projects, and we would love to hear what you have to say.  Feel free to contact either one of us if you have suggestions about how we can better help you!

Thanks,

Laura Buchanan and Esteban Xifre

Student Body Presidents

Your new student government leaders salute you! It is a true pleasure to begin this stream of communication with all of you. We are very excited about this opportunity to serve Principia in this way and to facilitate progress.

It has only been three weeks, but we have gotten right to work. Before the quarter started, we held a Leadershop for the house boards and SAB with an intentional focus on goal-setting. We’d like to thank everyone who participated in this event, and encourage all to share what they learned with the community! Thanks to the work done by the last set of presidents, we’ve successfully incorporated the new student government model, including adding many representative positions to SAB and creating a new committee to handle budget issues.

Additionally, we’re glad to announce that very soon you can expect to see a new set of Go Bikes on campus. These bikes are brand new, have a single gear and backpedal breaks, and are much sturdier than their predecessors. We hope everyone gets to ride them around campus in this beautiful spring weather. Also, we would like to commend the effort that Dining Services has put toward opening the convenience store in the old Student Government Office next to the Piasa Pub. A lot of hard work has been going on behind the scenes, and there will be official news about this soon.

Spring quarter is when all clubs request their budget for the upcoming fiscal year. We are currently going through the process of meeting with all clubs to best assess their needs. If you are the treasurer or president for any club on campus, make sure you schedule a meeting with Club Representative Laura Ainsworth sometime in the next three weeks.

Multiple great ideas are coming up in our regular SAB and Pres Board meetings. We are very excited about the group of leaders working hard to make the school a better place.

We really want to hear what ideas you have about how student government could serve you better. Please feel free to contact us by phone, email or in person. We’d love to include you in everything we do.

Enjoy the sun!

Laura and Esteban

Happy nearly-end-of-the quarter to you all! This will be our last Pilot column as we prepare to hand over the reigns to Laura and Esteban next quarter. We’ve been honored to serve as your student body president and vice president for the past three quarters, and are looking forward to seeing where student government heads in the near future. We are inspired by the progress that has been made in student government this year and look forward to seeing that continue with Laura and Esteban in charge. 

The recent student government elections had an unprecedented student turnout, with 69.4% of the student body casting ballots. Students had three excellent pairs of candidates to choose from, with an ultimate result of 41.1% voting for Laura and Estenban and 29.4% each voting for the two other pairs. Thank you to all the candidates for their excellent campaigns and desire to serve student government!

Student Activities Board positions have also been filled, with five election positions and six representative positions. Look for more information about the newly elected candidates on the student government bulletin board. 

Over the past year, student government has passed a new student government model, moved offices from behind the Pub to the first floor of the School of Government, sponsored talks on Principia’s history and purpose by Chief Executive Peter Stevens, initiated the community Go Bikes pilot program, held the annual club fair, passed a new free speech amendment, and regulated the Student Activities Fee budget. We’ve held weekly meetings with Presidential Board and Student Activities Board, met weekly with President Palmer and Dean Glenn, and had the opportunity to meet with many of you either through one-on-one meetings or chance conversations around campus.

Throughout all these activities our appreciation for the dedication, integrity, and energy of the students, professors, administrators, and staff at Principia College has continued to grow. Our meetings have often reminded us of Mrs. Eddy’s words in her first address to the Mother Church on May 26, 1895: 

“Beloved children, the world has need of you, – and more as children than as men and women: it needs your innocence, unselfishness, faithful affection, uncontaminated lives. …What grander ambition is there than to maintain in yourselves what Jesus loved, and to know that your example, more than words, makes morals for mankind!” (Miscellaneous Writings, 110). 

We have seen that the world does have need of Principia students. We are honored to report that from our vantage point, the past year has been full of evidences of Principians living out these pure motives. We humbly thank all of you with whom we’ve had the opportunity to work this year. The pleasure has been all ours. 

With gratitude,
Will and Chelsea

If you’re reading this on Friday, please come to Perry Lounge after lunch or dinner and vote for next year’s student government! We’re electing the student body president, student body vice president, metaphysical head, ecology head, and men’s and women’s intramural heads. Please cast your vote and support student government.

We’ve approved the new student government model, and under the new model we’re accepting applications for the Scholastic Rep, Tech Rep, Admissions Rep, Communications Rep, and Club Rep positions. If you’d like to apply, mail or email us a letter of self-nomination by Friday of Week 7. We’d love to involve you in student government.

On Tuesday of Week 8, Principia Executive Officer Peter Stevens will give a talk in Wanamaker at 1:15 p.m. on “Principia’s History and Purpose.” Peter has been researching the policies and the early years of the school, and he has some fascinating stories and observations about Mrs. Morgan’s vision for Principia. Peter gave a great presentation at last quarter’s Leadershop, and we’ve invited him to share his next chunk of research with all students. Please join us to learn more about Principia’s purpose.

In the meantime, stay warm.

Will and Chelsea

We hope you’re enjoying the beautiful winter as much as we are. 

Your student government leaders will vote Sunday night on a new model for student government. This model is the result of a quarter’s worth of conversations with student leaders, RCs, and administrators, and it includes modest but important upgrades to the structure of student government. We believe this new model will prepare us for success in the semester system. 

We presented this model to the house boards at our third and final Leadershop, which took place on the Sunday night before the quarter began. We also presented the model to students at a Student Senate last Monday. Thanks to those of you who came out to support student government and participate in the process.

If you still have questions or comments about the model, this is your last chance to get in touch with your house presidents, your all-campus Student Activities Board members, or us to talk about the model. Please don’t hesitate to do so!

Last Friday, we held a successful and well-attended open house in our new student government office on the main floor of the School of Government. We are pleased so many students stopped by. We’d like to remind you that we will maintain office hours from 3 to 4 p.m. on Monday and Thursday afternoons. Please stop by any time.

Finally, the election process for next year’s student leadership will begin next week. Please be on the lookout for forthcoming information on elected and appointed positions that interest you, and please consider nominating yourself to serve on student government. We can say definitively that working with student government has been a highlight of our Principia experience.

Happy Winter!

Will and Chelsea
Student Body Presidents