Two seats on the Associated Student Government Senate are designated for Medill School of Journalism representatives, spots that seven students – Princess Ohaegbulam, Daily staffer Aidan Klineman, Monica Riley, Michael Faherty, Bryan Boanoh, Amani Yousuf and Asher Joseph –  are all competing for in the current election. 

Medill students can vote for their representatives between 5 p.m. Sept. 25 and 7 p.m. Sept. 28 on ’Cats on Campus.

The Daily spoke with four of the candidates about campus issues ranging from free speech and censorship to challenges facing international students. 

Candidates not featured include: Aidan Klineman, Monica Riley and Asher Joseph

The following interviews have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

The Daily: Why are you running for ASG Senate?

Boanoh: Most (senators) advocate on behalf of the student body. I feel like right now, we’re in a time where there’s pressure from the federal government on this school. We just had a recent change in leadership at the top, and I feel like now more than ever, we need a strong student government that can advocate for the student body to make sure that our needs aren’t lost in the ever-changing and shifting landscape that we’re looking at right now.

I just want to make sure that I can be a part of that and make sure that we can keep the needs and wants of the student government and the student body at the forefront of the administration’s mind.

The Daily: What are your goals as an ASG Senator? 

Boanoh: I have a few personal goals that I want to achieve, but my main one is just to really take the census of what students are thinking and make sure that that’s always the main focus whenever we have a source and discussions because, of course, Senate is a representative position.

My goal will always be to try and make sure student voices are heard and emphasized. A couple of things that I personally want to try and get done in Medill this year is they’re saying that they’re not giving out the Adobe Suite to all students. I’ve spoken to a lot of people about that, and overall, (it was) not quite well-taken. So if there’s a way we can maybe restore access, bringing that back for all students will be my number one priority. 

I also want to make life easier for people and make life more convenient. One of the ways I want to do it is maybe try and see if we can somehow extend hours for the health center. I know that a lot of people have gotten sick recently — school starting, a new environment and a lot of new germs going around. I think having the health center hours extended, at the very least staggered, maybe a bit more open in the evenings could do a great deal to help the people that are going through sicknesses and illnesses.

The Daily: What do you bring to ASG Senate that no one else would?

Boanoh: I’d like to think that I’m willing to just challenge this doubt, challenge the status quo in a way that maybe other people wouldn’t. I know that as a freshman, a lot of my free time is spent trying to acclimate. But I also like to think that I’m trying to look at things I see for the first time, and if I don’t agree with them, maybe ask, why do things have to be this way? Can we change them? Is there a system in place that can maybe be improved? 

That’s where my idea for increasing the health center hours came from. I just happened to get sick in the first week, and I realized that, ‘Oh, I only have a limited window to go to the health center if I want to try and talk to them and speak to them.’ Does this have to be this way? Can we maybe make a change to make things more convenient? And that’s something I hope to bring up should I get elected. So to answer the question, I would like to hope that my ability to ask questions would hopefully set me apart.

The Daily: Why are you running for ASG Senate?

Faherty: I’m running for ASG Senate to make sure that Medill has a voice in ASG and to make sure that all of our students are represented in all the areas they want to be.

The Daily: What are your goals as an ASG Senator? 

Faherty: My goals are to make sure that I advocate for every student in Medill so that they all have an equal chance to be represented in student government and fix the most pressing issues that were brought to my attention.

The Daily: What do you bring to ASG Senate that no one else would?

Faherty: As a freshman, I bring a new voice, new experiences and fresh ideas to represent a class of kids that are from all over the country and all over the world that want to make sure that they too have a place in student government.

The Daily: Why are you running for ASG Senate?

Ohaegbulam: I want to be an ASG Senator because I want to create more programs in the school for international students, especially considering the current administration that we’re under. I’m pulling this from my brother. He goes to a different college, and his school has an abundance of resources for him, whereas I feel like, especially in the uncertain time that we’re in right now, we would need more resources for international students here at Northwestern.

The Daily: What are your goals as an ASG Senator? 

Ohaegbulam: My goals as an ASG Senator are to create a safer community here at Northwestern and a stronger community, particularly for the international student community.

The Daily: What do you bring to ASG Senate that no one else would?

Ohaegbulam: I feel like my background and experiences — for example, I have been living without my parents since I was 14, so from a very young age — I have been brought to grow up fast and learn how to lead myself. So I feel like my unique experiences in that will help to bring something positive to the ASG community.

The Daily: Why are you running for ASG Senate?

Yousuf: I’m running for Medill Senate because currently I’m double majoring in journalism and international studies and a minor in Chinese. And I think that during a time of acute censorship, we need people who are really on a mission to help kids feel confident in getting jobs post-grad. 

My sister graduated from college two years ago — and she just finished her masters — and I think her resume, for example, is extremely impressive. I think the job market is really tough, and with Medill, (though) the resources at Medill are amazing, I think people who aren’t journalism majors are a little bit hesitant to hire (journalism majors) because they think that it’s not necessarily as useful of a skill, which is completely false. 

I’m running for ASG because I’m fairly well known in the Medill community, and I have a way to work well with people, one on one and in groups. And I think that I could answer a lot of prayers that people have. 

The Daily: What are your goals as an ASG Senator? 

Yousuf: My goals (are): I want to have a lot of fun with this, but I would say, for now, the programs that we have at Medill right now are really, really solid, and if people have specific concerns, I’d do whatever I could to answer them. 

I really want to focus on raising funding for equipment and better access to things like Adobe Creative Suite so that people — for example, if they want to go into broadcast journalism or video journalism — have the tools, and the financial barriers are removed to tap into that. 

A dream of mine is to help non-(people of color) learn how to cover those kinds of stories in the best way possible, and I think I would focus on that. I went to the Indigenous Media Conference this past summer as part of some research that I did on Indigenous journalism. And I think catering towards resources like (The National Association of Black Journalists) and (Asian American Journalists Association) for example, the Indigenous Media Conference, they’re great resources, and Medill has them, but making those more known.

I would say, because of that, I’ve really understood how to, for example, decolonize journalism, and I think I have a really unique perspective on that and how reporting and writing can look very different. And then lastly, I want to have fun with it, and inspire women to break into sports journalism, for example, because it’s a widely male-dominated field, and there are a lot of paths to take. 

The Daily: What do you bring to ASG Senate that no one else would?

Yousuf: Well, I think a lot of people could say this, but I have a really intersectional identity that is useful in the field of journalism. I’m half Pakistani and half white. My mom’s side of the family — the white side — is from Wisconsin. My dad was born in London, but raised in Pakistan until he went to college. 

I see how to bridge cultures in a very interesting way. Right now, I think journalists are learning a lot about how to remain objective, and sometimes we end up dancing around certain ideas. And I think I would know how to encourage students to tackle their writing and implement methods that really help people set them up for success in the sense that they feel comfortable tackling sort of awkward, controversial stories. 

Also, I think with that, I can teach people how to tap into covering communities where they have to do more right-wing conservatives or far-left liberals. I know how to find common ground with everyone, and I think that’s what makes me a great candidate for Medill Senate.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated an organization Yousuf named in an interview. The Daily regrets the error.

Email: [email protected]

X:  @migtsang

Email: [email protected]

X: @catebouvet

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