Weinberg sophomore Whitney Gretz’s next two weeks will be about listening.
Gretz is free from the usual political game that accompanies traditional campaigning for April 12’s election for Associated Student Government Student Services Vice President. She is running unopposed.
“This is a real chance for me to get a sense of what students want instead of trying to get votes,” Gretz said.
And that’s just the way she likes it.
By her own description, Gretz is less a politician than she is a legislator — the type of person who sees herself working at a nonprofit organization rather than jumping into government. That trait is reflected in a platform that seems to eschew broad notions such as “community” in favor of nuts-and-bolts changes that she believes would improve student life.
She has stayed with the Student Services Committee since her first week at Northwestern in order to effect that sort of change.
“When your friend complains about something at this school,” she said, “it’s great to have the ability to say ‘Hey, I’m going to look into that.'”
Raised by a “politically progressive” mother in the midst of the conservative stronghold of Deer Park, Ill., Gretz said she has always gravitated toward the liberal side of issues.
“A lot of teachers I liked and respected and who liked and respected me called me a Communist in class,” she said. “They were half joking, but the few liberal students definitely stuck out.”
After spending high school as a minority voice, it is not surprising that Gretz has spent the better part of her two-year tenure on the ASG Student Services Committee lobbying NU’s administration to make its discrimination policy more inclusive. The centerpiece of her work was the drive to include “gender identity” — a person’s sense of being male or female, as opposed to their sexual orientation — in the policy. It is something she feels “very passionate about,” she said.
As she campaigns for Student Services Vice President, Gretz will continue to emphasize the fight against discrimination — this time of the economic variety — as an integral part of her platform. If elected she plans to lobby NU’s administration to create a similar program to University of Chicago’s Metcalf Fellows Program, which provides grants for students working unpaid summer internships.
She came up with the idea last summer while interning for Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.). While she worked for free, her fellow intern was supported by the University of Chicago’s program.
“It felt like discrimination,” Gretz said.
Gretz said she feels NU’s less-privileged students should not be prevented from taking an internship because they need money.
“It’s a really hard decision, and it’s one students shouldn’t have to make,” she said.
Beyond the internship proposal, Gretz plans to lead a drive to obtain more study space for Reading and Finals weeks because locations such as the University Library’s Core Collection are often overflowing with students cramming at the last minute.
She also promises to lobby to require professors post their reading lists online with their class descriptions. Giving students more time to search for books before the quarter begins could save them money by enabling them to find retailers other than Norris University Center Bookstore, she said.
Ultimately, she said, such a requirement could create market competition that might force Norris to lower its prices.
As Gretz campaigns, she is hoping to make a real connection with the student body.
“I really do want people to fully approve of me,” she said.
Reach Jordan Weissmann at [email protected].
Whitney Gretz
Candidate for Student Services Vice President
Year: Sophomore
Major: Economics and
Sociology
Hometown:
Deer Park, Ill.
Activities and Interests: Shopping (at favorite stores Target and Bloomingdale’s), tennis
Experience: Two-year senator on Student Services Committee, Willard social chair, Undergraduate Budget Priorities Committee
