With the semester coming to a close, The Bates Student sat down with Student Government Co-Presidents Sivani Arvapalli ‘26 and Ethan Chan ‘25 to review their progress on their campaign goals this past semester.
Last winter, Arvapalli and Chan ran on a five-point platform that they pledged to tackle in their term as co-Presidents.The Student has gone point-by-point through their campaign goals with Arvapalli and Chan to see what they have accomplished.
Late night / Large Scale events: partner with clubs to promote large scale events, more 21+ events, dances, and funding, and bring back on campus housing party certification.
Bates students may feel the tangible effects of the BCSG’s work on this issue already. As Arvapalli revealed “We’ve been working closely with Christine Schwartz to bring more hours to the Den, as well as providing more opportunities for 21+ events on campus.”
This past semester, the Den has expanded their hours, as well as opened pub hours for 21+ students. This has created new student employment opportunities at the Den to accommodate the expanded hours.
“Seeing as the Den was central to campus, we have been collecting data on high traffic hours with the goal of increasing its open hours,” she added. As a Campus Activities and Traditions Manager on Campus, Arvapalli said she has spent this semester responding to the concerns and suggestions raised by students via forms from large scale night events like Snowball and Gala.
Chan adds that as a part of this encouragement of large-scale late night activities, BCSG has worked on expanding club access to serving alcohol at their events.
“We are pretty much the only NESCAC school that allows student groups to run large scale events in this capacity,” he said. “Student groups will have the option in the future to request to host events with alcohol, which will come out of a separate budget from Campus Life that will cover that cost.”
With regards to on-campus party certifications for houses, Chan and Arvapalli said they realized quickly how this system would be much more difficult to implement than it’s worth.
“I think we lost interest in it,” Arvapalli said. “There’s a lot of technicalities behind it. There needs to be a 21+ person at every party that is sober and takes sole responsibility for anything that happens, as well as Campus Life Staff being present. It was something we really didn’t see much interest from students on because of that.”
Supporting BIPOC, Affinity Groups, Equity & Inclusion, and Title IX Efforts: Promote Affinity Group and E&I events, collaborate with the OIE and ensure safety for all students on campus.
The first major development Chan shared was the return of the Alumni MOSAIC at Bates, a networking program for BIPOC, first generation and LGBTQIA+ alumni to engage with the Bates community, through volunteer opportunities and affinity group alumni programming. Chan adds, as a member of the Asian Student Association, that connecting with alumni through affinity organizations has been integral to his connection to the Bates community.
In alignment with many of the broader goals of the college, the BCSG has been working to establish and bolster environments for civil discourse on campus. Arvapalli and Chan both cite the results of the winter 2024 referendum question about BCSG creating spaces for civil discourse on campus. This referendum was voted on by students during Chan and Arvapalli’s election, and received majority support as an initiative for the BCSG to address.
Wellness at Bates: Advocate for necessary support for varsity athletes, practice times and funding for club sports, and facility improvements and more recreational activities for all students.
In terms of athletics, Chan adds that there is an ongoing process to make tailgating a more student-involved experience on campus, as well as a community building opportunity.
“We collaborated with the tailgaters for the winter carnival this year,” Chan said. “Our goal was to engage Bates families, students with the larger Lewiston community.”
Arvapalli says the athletics committee on campus has been hard at work providing opportunities for students to engage in wellness on campus as well.
“We’re wondering how we can better implement student-run fitness classes and student participation in pre-existing fitness opportunities at Bates,” Arvapalli said.
Improving facilities: improve lighting, water fountains (specifically Adams) and transportation options, and expand the Green Bike Program with the library.
According to Arvapalli and Chan, a primary focus for them this semester in terms of student wellness is improvements to facilities across campus. Arvapalli points to the facilities feedback forms that the BCSG have been distributing across campus as the assembly’s primary source of information on facility related issues on campus.
Key improvements have already been made in terms of water fountains in both houses and dorms on campus according to Chan. Students can also look forward to a printer being brought back to Frye Street, held in the Ronj for student use during their open hours. “It was something that students living on Frye Street appreciated before COVID, when it was in FSU. We’re super excited that it’s coming back.”
Arvapalli emphasized the importance of students using the form they created to identify potential needs across campus: “It’s hard to tackle an issue without seeing the need for it.”
Enhancing Academics: Advocate for easier registration, guaranteeing thesis opportunities, promote student voices for the RPPC requirements.
Arvapalli and Chan are still looking into student experiences with registration. “It’s an issue that we really only seem to hear when registration rolls around, and then dies down afterwards,” Chan said.
Important to registration for upcoming classes, particularly those who will be in session in the fall of 2026, as that is when the passed legislation for the Race, Power, Privilege and Colonialism requirement will take effect. This was legislation advocated for in 2020 by the BCSG that will take effect in the fall of 2026 for all future entering freshman classes.
Chan sign-posts this legislation as an example of the pace at which change occurs on campus. “This is something student government has been working on for four years, and we are only now seeing the transition to it taking effect,” he said.
In terms of academics for current students, Arvapalli has focused on increasing opportunities for students and professors to have what she described as “unofficial advising”.
“Our academics committee [is] working on seeing if we can get credit money at the Den so that students can do meetings there with their professors. We are also encouraging more students to take advantage of the preexisting Bring Your Faculty to Lunch program that allows for professors to eat for free in Commons,” Arvapalli said. “We’re hoping students take the opportunity to get to know their professors better.”
In terms of issues Chan and Arvapalli identify as targets for next semester, Chan states he is preparing to address the ongoing club funding shortage. Chan said he has been collecting data from the Funding and Activities Board to present to the administration and board of trustees in order to come to a solution.
“We will have more to say in the future,” Chan said, “but this will be a big priority for next semester.”
Looking to the future, the BCSG will see some seats change around as assembly members go abroad. In the next semester, Arvapalli’s position as co-president will be held in interim by Dhruv Chandra ‘25.
“There are alot of projects other assembly members have been working on that will extend into next semester,” Chan said, continuing that the BCSG has several committees that are hard at work addressing student affairs.