Two new senators were elected this fall: Niraj Pandey, a second-year majoring in psychology, was elected senator for international students, and Sierra Witte, a first-year majoring in engineering, was elected senator for Baldwin-Jenkins (BJ) Hall.
Niraj Pandey, International Student Senator
What made you decide to run for international student senator?
“Well, one of the reasons is [a couple of friends] kind of talked me into it . . . but I think it was the thing that [someone] said to me, if you want to change something, or if you don’t understand something, you have to be in it to kind of change it. I know ASWU is a big resource pool. At least, that’s my understanding. When I first came here in the beginning, I literally thought ASWU was just a glorified party organizer, like a program coordinator or whatever, but I see that there’s like a lot of things that ASWU does, in my mind, I think a lot of what they do can be directed to international students because I think [international students] are kind of overlooked. There are a lot of things that Whitworth does for international students, but I think we can always do more. So yeah, that’s why I joined ASWU as International Student Senator.”
What are some on-campus experiences that have been formative for you, that you think are going to be good assets for this position?
“This semester I’m doing a lot. One of the most influential things that I’ve done here is just talking to the students and knowing their perspective and their worldview. Honestly, you can find me any time of the day just debating [or] arguing with someone on what they think or what they feel about something. That’s one of the best things I love about Whitworth, that a lot of people are open to talking about what they feel. So, 90% of the time when I’m talking to someone, I’m doing that. The other thing right now I’m doing is trying to formulate this nutrition center in the HUB. Initially, I did it for international students, but it’s obviously open to everyone. So that’s one thing I’m doing that I think is gonna last because I would like to leave my mark… as an international student and a Nepalese and Niraj… in Whitworth, and I think that’s one way to do it.
…I am TA’ing for intro to psych. I love, love, love psychology, so that has been fun… Soon some friends and I are going to start Skeptics Club, which is just debating or assessing your epistemological standards for your beliefs and how they stand to scrutiny under other ideas. And I think that’s a very important thing in a person, to substantiate your worldview. In terms of everything that you believe, there must be a reason why you believe certain things. That is my belief. So yeah, so among a lot of other things, those things come to mind right now. I also market for Sodexo.”
How is your experience of being an international student going to shape how you interact with and serve other international students on campus?
“Throughout this year, I have found out a lot about myself in terms of referencing other people who are very drastically different from me. I have understood that sometimes I can be very prideful. I can be very vocal about things that don’t really matter. I am very hesitant to ask for help because I’m prideful… even though I might say and act like I’m okay. There are reasons as to why I would not say them. And it’s not because of a lack of understanding, it’s just because of the way I am. I think I can see that in a lot of other international students, as well. I think a lot of us [international students] don’t even seek out help, even though we might need it. We don’t want it but we kind of need it. I think if it was more in your face, we would accept it more. And if I had my say in ASWU, I would definitely direct the help directly to the international students, saying, “this is for you and this isn’t for anyone else. It’s not for all white people, it’s not only for Americans or for domestic people only. These projects are allocated just for you, these things are here for you, even though it might be subtle because I’m doing it.” I would talk to my constituency in that way, like “hey, even though this might be available for everybody, this is especially for you, because that is what I work on.” I gotta make it open to everybody, whatever… I’m very open and direct. I don’t care about anything else, except for international students… my only priority is international students. At least in my mind, that’s how it is.
My perception of ASWU, even still, is that it’s more overarching in the way that doesn’t really affect student’s day-to-day life. I think you’re taking the wrong approach by trying to make student life better in fun ways. We should make students’ lives better in the ways that actually make their lives better; I know ASWU does a lot in that regard, but again, my thing is it can always do more, [ASWU] can always direct its money into better things. I think money is very important and where we direct it. If you want to spend like $2,000 on Casino Night, I bet if we all sat down, we could think of something so much better where the $2,000 can be used. I don’t think people want Casino Night; I don’t think people want Bingo Night. How are you paying hundreds of dollars and hoping you get bingo in one night, you know? At least that’s what I thought as an international student, where every dollar counts. With $1 in my country, you could buy four bottles of water. So, you got to think in terms of international students. There’s so much sacrifice behind the money we put in to go to Whitworth. It’s freaking crazy. It’s like the power of the dollar and the amount of dollars we pay in relation to our currency and what we can do with that currency in our own countries. I have a habit of thinking in Nepalese rupees. I always compare dollars to rupees. And even when I spend $10, I’m like, “What the hell? I just spent like, like 1000 rupees.” And that always bothers me.
…or even one cool thing, I don’t know how much we can do this, I had a problem with this in the beginning, but making almost job quotas for international students. Look at Sodexo and think about how many of the workers there are international students. All of them are international students! Why are they all international students? I know people apply to a million different jobs. Why do freshmen not get a desk job? I know some freshmen that got a desk job, but they were American, or white… I think employers on campus should be made aware and they should really think about how international students can’t work anywhere else. If they don’t get this job, this one particular job, they don’t get to earn money at all. What I’m saying is people are desperate. I got rejected by a bunch of jobs. That didn’t feel good. Maybe it’s just because I couldn’t speak English that well. Maybe my accent was kind of weird, maybe it wasn’t my fault and there are other things, but I’m always glad if another international student gets the job because at least it’s an international student. That’s one thing I just suddenly remembered.”
What are some changes that you want to effect in relation to international students and at Whitworth in general?
“The nutrition center is always there. It is being made [with] the help of Jason — love that guy — Elizabeth Abbey [and] Chet Hunt. So it’s like a team effort in terms of the administration and the entities that exist within it… We are doing that, and we’re almost done with that, which is really nice. So that’s there. I really want to work on that and really make that a priority, because I think that off-campus students are really food insecure. Not just international students, but off-campus and international students mainly. In the summer when I was actively paying for my food and making my food… I was putting so much money into just food like hundreds of dollars into food so that I could eat some crappy ramen every day and save a lot [of] money. And a lot of students do that; Rojan, my Nepalese roommate, we just ate KFC for like two weeks because lettuce was too expensive or [because] I couldn’t get to Winco because I didn’t have a car. And so that’s a huge problem and I had a bunch of ramen or KFC. But I just wonder how many people are stuck in that loop. I wonder how many people just go and eat the grill or something, or eat a bunch of junk food because it’s cheaper. Of course, KFC and McDonald’s are like the cheapest option and it’s so funny how that works, healthy food is more expensive.”
Is there anything that the student body should know about you that is going to influence how you approach this position?
“I’m so open; I think anybody that knows me here… they know that they can just come up to me and talk to me about anything at all. And if they want to talk about any changes that they want to implement, I am so open for ideas. It’s crazy because I love making changes and going against the authority. It’s just like an irrational itch that I have to find and poke holes in how things are running currently and try to fill it with solutions. So, if any international students, domestic students [or] anybody who has any ideas as to the changes we can make, or additional changes in how we use the ASWU budget. One really cool thing that ASWU can do is make their budget very, very public. You know, make it explicitly public. It’s such an unfair thing how people or institutions just release their budget or their money in a very obscure, very silent kind of way. They say, ‘oh, it’s on the website,’ but it’s convoluted and you have to do a million clicks to get to it. I think if you’re using your money and you’re trying to be transparent about it, you should be explicitly transparent about it. I think you should tell our students exactly where we’re putting the money… If you’re actually working for your constituents, you make it [the ASWU budget] very, very public. You will stick it up everywhere…”
Sierra Witte, BJ Senator
Why did you decide to run for BJ senator?
“I decided to run for BJ senator because I love BJ. I was also looking for a way to get plugged in on campus in a leadership role. I did a lot of that in high school and was looking for another way to get involved. I thought that it would be a great opportunity to represent the people who I love so much.”
What are some of the experiences that you had previous to coming to Whitworth that are going to be good assets for this position?
“I actually wasn’t in my high school student government, but I was captain of two teams in high school, my lacrosse and my basketball team, and I also was a student leader in my youth group. So, I tried to be really good at getting feedback and kind of changing what needs to be changed and making sure people are overall happy and feel heard and seen.”
Since you’ve been at Whitworth, what have been some formative experiences here that are going to be helpful for your newly elected position?
“I feel like a major formative experience has been meeting people and seeing what their values are on things because everybody comes in with such different outside worldviews on things. For them to come in and all mesh together has been really cool to see and formative to me to see that there [are] so many different ways to view the world. I think that’s gonna be very helpful as I continue to reach out to people and see their needs in the way that they view the world. I’ve been taking that in, [that] everybody has their own way of seeing it.”
Do you have any things you want to change in the BJ community or at Whitworth in general through this position?
“Well, I’ll tell you, the biggest thing that I’ve gotten from BJ is we need new pool cues, so that will be brought up at the next meeting. But other than that, I personally don’t have an agenda. It’s mostly talking to the people of BJ. I’m mostly not professional, I have a more casual sense of checking in on people and getting their honest-to-goodness thoughts and what they need on the day-to-day.”
Is there anything you want the student body to know about you, that you’re taking into this position, or just personally about you?
“Yeah, I’d say come talk to me. I love talking and I love hanging out, I’m always an ear to hear, a shoulder, and I’ve been told I give solid hugs. So, I’m there, just come talk to me.”
