Paola Eisner
The Record: Why are you running for Director of Student Organizations?
Paola Eisner: One of the most important roles of Student Government is to bring people together and talk about what’s important to the student body, and student orgs are a big part of that. I’m excited about the opportunity to promote communication between our student orgs.
Record: What distinguishes you as a candidate?
PE: I have experience working with Student Government as a 1L Representative for Section 4, and that’s given me an inside look on how Student Government runs, how it can improve, and different methods that work and don’t work with the administration.
Record: What would you like to do if you win?
PE: As the Director of Student Orgs, I’d be very focused on promoting communication and collaboration among the student organizations. I’ve been very active in quite a few of those student organizations because I believe that the work we’re doing provides a lot of value to the Harvard Law School community. I’m excited about creating opportunities and spaces to further improve our activities.
Record: Is there anything that you would like to see change about Harvard’s community or the law school in general that you would say is beyond your control?
PE: This is an issue that’s come up quite a few times in Student Government. I’m concerned that the administration doesn’t see its students as its number one clients. We hear a lot about the endowment. Its importance has often been compared to the importance of student interests, and that concerns me when the endowment is a sum of money and the students are its current clients.
While I know that we need to think for the future, it’s really strange for me to hear that kind of rhetoric from the administration. I would like to feel more confident that the university really cares about our success.
Record: Would you like to see more dogs, fewer dogs, or about the same number of dogs on campus?
PE: I’m actually a huge fan of Remi, the campus cat, and I love seeing him on campus. He visited me about the second week of school, when I was studying, and I’ve been in love ever since, so I want to see more of Remi.
Lane Kauder
Record: Why are you running for Director of Student Organizations?
Lane Kauder: I have some experience with student organizations. I started a public speaking and debate club [at George Washington University], and my experience in forming that organization gave me insight into the process that students have to go through to form organizations. Student organizations are an opportunity for students to contribute their energy and time to something that makes the school better for free. The students are volunteering their effort, and if it’s a meaningful or useful idea, then it’s something the school should encourage. Based on my own experience and my love for the school, I was in a unique position to be able to help students along in that process.
Record: What would you like to do if you win?
LK: I would hopefully have a voice inside of Student Government to advocate for facilitating the formation of student organizations. I’d really like to encourage students to be able to pursue their own endeavors and ideas and pave the way for them however I can. Other than telling my peers the importance of student organizations, there’s not much I can do other than wait for peers to form organizations and help them with that.
Record: Is there a student organization other than Student Government that you would say accurately represents you as an individual, and why that one?
LK: One that comes to mind is the CR-CL, the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. I’ve really enjoyed my time there, and seeing the people come together to work on a mutual endeavor like that, seeing that kind of cooperation totally student-run like that is kind of inspiring for me.
Record: Is there anything you would like to improve about the law school community that you would say is beyond your control?
LK: There’s a lot, of course, that’s beyond our control. I think Harvard Law School is the best law school in the world, so I would really like to see the school focus on really kind of innovative and enriching educational pedagogy to really try to push ourselves in understanding and in mastering these subjects. I think a strong academic curriculum is a central thing. That’s why we’re all here, so that’s the first thing that we need to check off the list, make sure that we have a world-class academic curriculum, so that’s always important. I think obviously, professors should be more available. Sometimes, in my experience here, it’s hard to get in office hours with a professor, and I think that we’d benefit from having a more open door policy.
2017 Student Government Candidate interviews
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