By Shlomie Katash
The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) elections concluded on April 5 with Noam Abrahams winning for President and Nitu Farhin winning for Vice President.
Both Abrahams and Farhin currently have careers in USG. Abrahams, a junior, has been part of student government since 2022, holding the positions of Assistant Treasurer and Treasurer. Farhin joined USG in fall of 2023, serving as USG’s Liaison and then Press Director. To the president elects, the previous work under USG has laid the groundwork for what they hope to accomplish in their presidency in the future.
“Over the past year, USG’s done a ton of work around campus that flew mostly under the radar. I think that the work of last year’s cabinet, and years before that, have set the foundation for all the work we’re going to do moving forward,” Abrahams told The Vanguard.
With both having prior experience, they told The Vanguard that their decision to run on the same ticket was due to their similar work ethic.
“We’ve had great experience working side by side on the Cabinet this past year. We know each other’s strengths, share the same goals for the campus, and really trust each other,” Abrahams said. “Our teamwork has always been really strong, and we’re excited to bring that energy to student government to make a real difference at Brooklyn College.”
Many of those goals for Abrahams and Farhin centered around making the student government more effective and visible to the student body.
“The main issues we were campaigning on include being more transparent about work as USG, attempting to connect more with our student body in terms of making existing college resources more accessible, and utilizing our current USG system,” Farhin told The Vanguard. “As USG, we are always working to make sure that we represent the students in our student body even though this may seem more ‘backstage’ than we would like for it to. Moving forward, we’re hoping to keep an open, ongoing dialogue of the work we do and intend to do.”
Among the specific goals that they plan to do is to make sure there are enough food options for students on campus after the cafeteria’s shutdown. Additionally, one of the issues that Abrahams and Farhin plan on focusing on is to remove defunct course listings that mislead students concerning the available class options for them.
“One of our biggest points of student advocacy next year is to focus on working with faculty and departments to remove listings of courses that haven’t been offered in years, making sure they aren’t making false promises to students, and update their degree maps to make sure that students aren’t missing the courses they need to graduate,” said Abrahams.
In addition to the President and Vice President, students also voted in USG senators for the upcoming year. The winning senators are as follows: Yafa Abulawi, Muhammad Ali, Dana Babayev, Alleyah Charlton, Joshua Ebbin, Robert Echevarria, Haikeda Hilliman, Naomi Hymowitz, Taseen Islam, Moshe Janani, Abigail Khanis, Haritha Lakshmanan, Sofia Mariyamis, Gabriana Nieves, Cyle Paul, Ailyn Paz, Iman Siddiqui, Damir Shavkatov, Ajadah Simms, Melanie Tam, and Carmine Tepedino. Abrahams and Farhin are looking forward to working with the rest of the student government leaders as they embark on their own leadership journeys.
“Working with the rest of the USG leaders will be no easy feat; there’s thankfully so many of us. Frequent communication and ‘staying in the loop’ will be very important for us to make sure that our goals are aligned and steadily progressing in the timeline that we hope,” said Farhin.
Abrahams and Farhin hope to continue to make waves with USG throughout BC, ensuring that all students have a fulfilling, and fun, time at school.
“Post-Covid, Brooklyn College had to learn what USG was,” said Abrahams. “Now it’s time for them to learn what USG can do.”