Juan Carlos Venis had a happy winter break. After a first-round presidential election that ended in a tie between Mr. Venis and Sean Clerget, he won a decisive victory.
The elections yielded several outcomes that were unheard-of in recent years. First, of course, was the first-round tie. Second, though, was the split government between Mr. Venis, who ran with Jeff Austen ’09, and John Moton, who was Mr. Clerget’s running mate. Finally, after two years of governments balanced between independents and fraternity men, independents hold the presidency and vice presidency. There has not been a single living unit government since Greg Mahoney and Andrew Wells, who were both brothers of Sigma Chi.
Patrick Smith interviewed Mr. Venis about diverse topics ranging from the implications of his role with the administration to his favorite movie.
B. What do you think it will be like to work with a vice president from the opposing ticket?
JCV. While I did not run with John, I am confident that he and I will be able to get the job done. It’s not really like the national elections we are witnessing right now. We were elected with essentially the same ideas in mind and plan on continuing the improvement of student government at Wabash. I’d hope that compromise is exercised in the Senate during my term, especially because we all have unique goals and aspirations but are also all Wabash Men.
B. Have you met with John Moton yet to discuss the upcoming term?
JCV. So far we have talked and had meetings discussing the upcoming term. They have mostly consisted of learning the ropes from Terri Fyffe in the Business Office. Fortunately, I have a lot of help from John who has experience as Secretary of the Student Senate last year. Mostly, we are just trying to make sure the transition is smooth and budget requests get off to a good start.
B. What do you have planned for this term, in regard to legislation and advocacy?
JCV. Well, my goals are to continue what Jesse has done by increasing student involvement in some of the major decision-making that goes on at Wabash. Mostly through meetings with the administrators and trustees. As far as legislation goes, I think John and I have agreed that we need to make sure living units understand how their representation in the Senate works. As President, I will chair the Senior Council, which until now has been relatively less active than the senate. I hope to create a meeting atmosphere that is welcoming to issues regarding student life on campus. I think a lot of people are unfamiliar with the reasons the Council was established because they largely deal with the Senate for student organization funding. I would hope that any students with concerns and questions seek me out for help. I want to advocate for a strong student role in the decision-making that is going to play a large part in the future of Wabash, particularly when it comes to stuff like strategic planning. I’d happily hear opinions and try to represent them to the best of my ability, and I hope to be as neutral as I can when I communicate them.
B. As you know, your election was a very close one, and the Election Commission made some recommendations to avoid a similar situation in the future. Will you push to enact those recommendations?
JCV. These are the guys who went through a lot of work to make the two election days come together. I will honor their opinions and there is no doubt that the CBPR committee of the Senate will be looking this over during 2008.
B. What do you believe is your role, vis-à-vis the administration?
JCV. Primarily, I believe it is to remain as neutral as possible in representing the collective student opinion on certain matters. For the administration’s purposes, I also believe it will be important to be a strong liaison to the student body. For example, I believe communication when it comes to issues involving our tuition and fees are extremely important to students, many of whom make personal sacrifices to be able to pay for college. They have unique interests that are of importance to the Administration, and I would hope that I could represent their concerns when necessary and appropriate. It will obviously entail my presence at meetings as a representative of the students.
B. You are now the third independent student body president in a row. What do you think that means for the climate on campus between independents and fraternity men?
JCV. I find it pleasing that the students across the campus are confident that I can do the job. I wasn’t running on a “GDI”-fueled platform. My interests are broad and I’ve always made friends across a wide spectrum of people. Honestly, I think it proves that our campus looks beyond our living arrangements as a dividing interest. How else would we have three independent presidents in a row? I know it might worry some guys, but I know many who never really judged me based upon my decision to go independent back during freshman year. I hope that they keep me on my toes, by making sure I hear their concerns and am careful to acknowledge how they may perceive something differently than me because of my unique Wabash experience.
B. You have a strong interest in multiculturalism at Wabash, so what will you do, or what do you plan to do, to further that interest while president?
JCV. It’s easily said that it would be irresponsible of me to use my position as a strong role of advocacy for multiculturalism on campus, to the extent of urging for the creation of a physical location for it on campus as I pushed for a couple of times in the last year. I feel my work to promote it at Wabash has bridged a lot of gaps. The guys I worked with through UPS did a lot to reach out and teach something about the Latino heritage to many people on campus. If we want to relate multiculturalism to the way students at Wabash should communicate, I think it boils down to mutual appreciation and respect. This is what I have found makes compromise easy to achieve. I’m leaving it up to the guys I’ve worked with to keep on organizing and pushing for this, but I will certainly convey it as one opinion that I know a significant size of our student body cares about. This is just one perspective on the issue, but I know that Wabash Men, in striving to think critically, always try to engage in discourse that is gentlemanly and considerate of diverse perspectives. It certainly won’t be the only opinion heard.
B. What is the role of student government on campus, since we now have bodies responsible for both budgetary matters and campus unity/tradition?
JCV. Primarily, and of apparent largest concern to the students, is the distribution of funds. We all contribute to a huge portion of the Senate budget that is allotted to various campus organizations. I believe it is job of the student government to most appropriately distribute these monies based upon student interest, which is why we have a representative government in place. As far as the two bodies, I believe the Senate is well-developed in budgetary practices, but still has to work out a few kinks now and then. This is nearly inevitable when so much money is being distributed. I think we need to work a little more in the area of student life, and I think the student government needs to do more to develop processes for facilitating discussion of important issues to Wabash Men. Namely, the Senior Council has the vested power to do this. Students need to talk to me as their elected leader and to the Council when issues come up regarding student life and campus unity. This is something I will be working for over the next year.
B. What is your favorite movie, and why?
JCV. I’d say that my favorite move right now is Juno, directed by Jason Reitman. This is mainly because I think Michael Cera is hilarious. I loved Superbad and Arrested Development. In the series George Michael Bluth is a nerd that never seems to doubt himself and ends up doing what he thinks is right, even if it’s making out with his cousin. Ellen Page as Juno pays tribute to those of us who “aren’t nerds, but aren’t squares either”. The characters in a lot of movies lately glorify the unique individuals who are true to themselves in all kinds of trying or weird situations. It was a feel-good kind of movie that kept you laughing the whole time. I liked the soundtrack too. I didn’t know Canada had that much talent!
B. What advice do you have for underclassmen who want to be politically involved at Wabash?
JCV. Get involved early. It’s okay to be involved your freshman year even through you think you can’t handle it. Challenge yourself to speak out in meetings and share your opinion. Don’t let upperclassmen scare you, even though we think a few more semesters of classes make us “more right than you”. I know a lot of guys get involved because they don’t trust the student government and want to understand how it works. I’d ask that those guys to speak up and get involved, because there are always going to be skeptics and your student government needs to know how to make sure all students have confidence in the way business is being handled. Make sure your living unit is being represented at meetings by communicating with house presidents or RAs. If no one is attending, see if you can be the Senator and the Senate will be glad to see you interested and in attendance.