Name: Berry Kennedy
Residential college: Berkeley
Class year: 2008
Hometown: Columbia, Tenn.
Major: English
Berry Kennedy ’08, the current vice-chair of the Freshman College Council, said she has gained experience organizing people and information as the liaison for the FCC to the YCC. She is currently working on a committee to plan a Freshman Day of Service intended to acquaint the Class of 2009 with New Haven.
She said she is very committed to her issues and will develop open communication between the YCC and the student body.
“The YCC needs student support to be more effective,” she said.
As secretary, Kennedy said she would post the agenda, minutes and current projects online. She has also considered writing a biweekly update in the Yale Daily News to inform students.
She also said she wants to develop a strong relationship with student groups through constant e-mail dialogues.
In addition to her involvement with FCC this year, she is also on the Yale polo team. She is currently the secretary of the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma.
Name: Kasdin Miller
Residential college: Calhoun
Class year: 2007
Hometown: Montgomery, Ala.
Major: Political science
Kasdin Miller ’07, who served on the YCC for Calhoun College last year, said she hopes to use Yalestation to better communicate with students by creating discussion forums and posting more information about council meetings online. Miller also wants to create an issue-based record of minutes so that debates on an issue from previous years can be drawn up and reviewed.
She has also proposed the creation of “focus groups.”
“Many student groups with different goals and purposes have vested interests in the same campus issue,” Miller wrote in an e-mail. “The secretary should create focus groups to bring together leaders from these different organizations.”
Miller said she wants to take the already-established relationships with other Ivy League universities a step further by comparing minutes. She also hopes to address the unequal distribution of funding among residential colleges.
A member of the Mock Trial Team and the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta, Miller said she is also casually involved in the Independent Party.
Name: Govind Rangrass
Residential college: Davenport
Class year: 2008
Hometown: Kalamazoo, Mich.
Major: International public health policy
Govind Rangrass ’08, a current YCC representative for Davenport College, said that due to his Indian heritage, he would bring ethnic diversity to theYCC. He is a member of the South Asian Society, and he said one of his top priorities as secretary would be to foster better communication between the council and Yale’s cultural organizations.
“YCC needs a more active role with cultural groups,” Rangrass said.
Rangrass said he has gained experience cosponsoring several resolutions on the council this year, including efforts to bring mtvU to campus at no cost and initiate a cell phone plan for international students. He said he is currently pushing to improve the accessibility and accuracy of the course evaluation system, particularly in their oversight over teaching assistants.
“We go to Yale, and we need TAs who speak English,” Rangrass said.
Rangrass said he wants to increase publicity for YCC and would like to see improvements in University Health Services.
He was also a project captain for this year’s Communiversity Day.