Led by Adimar Hernandez Maldonado, the White team running for Student Government for the 2020-2021 academic year consists of Adam Rose as Segovia Academic Advisor, Abdul Salam as Segovia Community Development Officer, Daniela Gutierrez as Madrid Academic Advisor, Dhuri Khandelwal Sukhani as Madrid Community Development Officer, and Olivia Glowacka as Communications Officer. Their message consists of one major theme: transparency.
“Our first and most important goal is to promote transparency between all individuals that make part of IE” said Maldonado in an interview with The Stork. During this interview, she unveiled one of their teams most significant goals for their tenure: a monthly “press conference” where all of the stakeholders at IE – students, student government, administration, etc. – come together to update the student body on initiatives taken by the Student Government and administration. This aims to target the common disappointment among the student body that their elected representatives are out of touch and inefficient. They see this method as an achievable way to “hold those in charge accountable” and reduce the inefficiency within the administration.
Team White thinks these press conferences can help her push through reforms which previous governments have failed to do. Through these conferences, Maldonado claims, “students can be made aware of whatever problems we may be facing when they arise” and help hold the administration accountable for any stonewalling. “We plan on being blunt with administration,” she says, hoping these efforts will expedite the administration’s uptake of reforms.
Maldonado’s passion for politics and student government dates back to middle and high school, where she served on her various student councils and even as student body president. She also gathered experience from working with governments and NGOs through aid work after Hurricane Maria swept over Puerto Rico in 2017. She says that these past experiences, combined with the passion that she brings to student government, should qualify her to lead the student government as President.
Academically, the White Team supports the redistribution of financial aid in light of the Covid-19 outbreak, along with increased standardization of grading within and between degrees. Additionally, they would like to provide more opportunities for students by “live [streaming] guest speakers when they come to IE,” to allow each campus to enjoy the same chances to attend interesting events.
Addressing the Madrid students’ concerns of a lacking campus culture, Maldonado proposes increasing the number of clubs and events at the Madrid to connect more students together, fostering a campus feel. “By encouraging more clubs we give students more options and reasons to meet on campus,” she says. “We want to give students more opportunities to meet and connect with each other,” and she hopes these additional meetings will do just that.
As for the Segovia campus, Team White supports three steps to take in improving relations between IE students and the Segovia community. First, they aim to partner with Avanzabus and RENFE to facilitate access to Madrid, decreasing the amount of partying in Segovia to avoid disturbing locals. Secondly, they want to bring more events on or around campus, as they “hope this will draw students back to the campus.” Third, they encourage more cross-institutional events within Segovia, such as the Artillery Academy Debates.
To ease housing concerns in both campuses, Team White looks to create a “Housing Bureau” to connect students with affordable housing in Madrid and Segovia. This comes as many Madrid students suffer from sky-high rents and difficult search processes, and as Segovia’s rents begin increasing due to demand and the phasing out of the Ley Antigua rent-control measures.
To sum up their campaign, Team White chose the slogan “Let’s Be Clear”, showing their deep commitment to transparency in their policies and attitudes to student government (while also avoiding any Phil Dunphy-esque mishaps). “We want to make sure that transparency and honesty are integral parts of both our campaign and what we do as members of student government,” Maldonado says, “We want to make our work progress easy and simple for students to access, and so that we can welcome student feedback on all we do.” You can follow the White Team at @ieuteamwhite on Instagram.
