Allison Kolberg ’16 said she is running for YCC vice president because she sees it as a way to give back to Yale.

Kolberg, who currently serves as vice president of the Sophomore Class Council and as a YCC representative for Saybrook College, said her experience would make her an effective manager of internal YCC affairs, one of the primary responsibilities of the vice president. As vice president, Kolberg said she would strive to engage more students in YCC initiatives.

“I’m running because I feel like YCC is one of the best ways to give back to the Yale community,” Kolberg said. “When people are doing the correct sort of work, [YCC is] a really good way to affect student life.”

If elected, Kolberg said one of her primary focuses will be pushing the University to divest its endowment from the fossil fuel industry, which she hopes to accomplish primarily by engaging with the Yale Corporation.

Kolberg said she thinks the YCC had not yet made engaging with the Corporation on divestment a priority.

“If [the Corporation] were going to meet with us, and to meet with the president and vice president of [YCC] next year, we can make it attractive to them to talk to us,” Kolberg said.

As a result of her position on divestment, Kolberg has gained the backing of some active members of Fossil Free Yale, a student group advocating for divestment.

Mitch Barrows ’16, who is involved in Fossil Free Yale, said that after meeting with all of the presidential candidates and two of the vice presidential candidates, he found Kolberg to be the most impressive.

“Out of all of the candidates I was most impressed with Allison, regarding her ability to talk about divestment,” Barrows said. “I’m really confident in Allison to keep the issue on the table.”

Layla Khuri ’16, who served on Sophomore Class Council with Kolberg, said Kolberg has been an organized and effective vice president.

Emily Van Alst, who worked with Kolberg on the Sophomore Class Council, said she was “blown away” by how enthusiastic Kolberg was about Sophomore Class Council and about reaching out to the student body.

“She knows how YCC works,” Van Alst said. “She knows the resources on campus.”

When not at Yale, Kolberg lives in Denver, Colo.

MATTHEW LLOYD-THOMAS