Student Government:
A Community
For Students

Outside of Carthage, who are you?

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Carter: I'm a very friendly person. I like to have fun. I like socializing with people. I love my family. I work hard. I advocate for my community. I strive to be the best person I can. Striving for good.

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Basil: I'm an advocate. I'm a friend, a family member, and I'm always advocating for the people around me. I'm very political. I'm very active in the community, and I love to give back.

I volunteer. I love to share information, figuring out how I can best support people, whether it's one person or an entire group. And I love making art. That's one of my favorite things to do. It's a huge part of my identity.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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You both mention family and advocacy. Why are those aspects important to you?

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Carter: Family is in our communities and in our friendships and in our classes. It's important to build a family, build a community. For one, families are all support networks for each other. And two, it's easy to advocate for people that you love. When you realize that you want to do what's best for your community and your family, you realize that's an important aspect of everybody's life.​

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Basil: I mentioned advocacy and family because I really found my family here at Carthage. I didn't feel like I had much of the community back home given my gender identity. Up here, I found people who really support me – they care about me. It's pushed me to be a better person and advocate. Advocacy has always been part of my life. I've been leading protests since sixth grade, so being able to continue that here at Carthage is really important to me. It's something I want to do throughout my entire career.

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Basil, in the program of the 2025 Academic Convocation, you champion "helping students find community and improving the Carthage campus" as "top priorities." What is community?

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Basil: Community is finding people you care about. Finding people with similar ideas, maybe even different ideas, and just learning to work together, to exist and feel like you belong in the space with each other. Carthage has a great community. We have so many people here that support us, care about us, and encourage us to grow and be our best.

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But our community can always be stronger. There's some divides that we have that need to be bridged in order for us to have a really good, put-together community that supports each other through thick and thin. That's something I'm really big on advocating for, shifting the culture that we have and making it one that feels excited to be here. One that's proud to be part of Carthage.​

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How do you plan on instilling community in Carthage?

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Basil: It's building connections and bringing people together. I know my freshman year, Carthage felt like one big community. I felt we lost that over the past year. It felt quiet, it felt very dull. It felt like people didn't want to talk or have conversations anymore.

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We need a community that sparks up conversations, connects with people, learns their stories, figures out what they can do to support, makes people feel like they have a place here at Carthage. Carter and I have been working really hard to do that. We can't wait to see what else we can do with it.

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Explain why you feel there was a divide in the community over the past year.

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Basil: Honestly, I'm not sure why it was happening. I don't know if it was outside factors like the political climate or the incoming group, or just the way the year felt. But it felt like people didn't care anymore. That's not the way Carthage should be. We're a caring group. We want to support each other, yet it didn't even feel like we had that support. That's why I've been big on wanting to push for a stronger community that supports each other.

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Carter: A part of the divide that we've been seeing are students' lack of engagement with their classes and campus events. People aren't as willing to show up. People aren't willing to go out and support their friends. It really does show when people aren't engaged. Like their overall vibe just doesn't seem as energetic as it should be.

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How do you combat this divide?

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Carter: We're starting from the basics at Student Government in putting in the hard work. If Student Government puts in the hard work, it may inspire others to join Student Government or other organizations to get the support they need. At the moment, we're rallying troops within Student Government to be the best that they can be. We are setting expectations. We are seeing what people are willing to accomplish and what goals they want to see completed.

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Basil: To combat the issues that we're having with building a community, it's really setting the groundwork and being examples. When it comes to setting a better culture and making sure people are excited and passionate about what they're doing, we have to be excited and passionate. That' show we can really bring people in: people who want to be around, people who have ambitions, people who want to learn and grow.

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This year in Student Government, we've recruited 10 people so far. Seeing how passionate these people are has been great. I was speaking with a member of Mi Gente, and they told me that the passion Carter and I have has changed the culture within the freshman on this campus. We want to make sure we can keep that culture alive and bring people closer together through community.

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Carter: We don’t want people to perceive us as intimidating or scary, because we’re not.  I think that’ll help too, that people see more friendly faces on campus. We want to do the best work so Student Government isn’t perceived as some evil, money-stealing organization. Having a good reputation in Student Government will encourage people to engage more with us. That’s a good start for building a strong community.​​​​​​​​

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We are an apparatus of the student body. Student Government are representatives

of the people, uplifting student voices.

We always listen to students.​​​​​

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What is Student Government? What do they provide for Carthage?

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Basil: Student Government – while known for having the money, we're so much more than that. We're a policymaking group who have the ability to make a change. We write resolutions. We have contact with admin, faculty, staff, the board of trustees, and we really try to work together to make Carthage the best it can be.

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We bring in student voices. We listen to what problems they're having, what experiences they're having. We figure out what we can do to really make the Carthage experience better. We've worked on the Academic Honesty Policy. We have invited President Swallow to our meetings. We had a meeting with a bunch of faculty, admin, and staff on campus to learn more form them, to see how we can connect better.

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Carter: We’re a resource for the students. We want to assist. We expect that if there’s a problem, people reach out to us to voice their concerns. The starting point is always the students.

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How has Student Government directly benefited the students?

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Basil: Some of the work I've done personally is implementing a Title IX Liaison. Student Government was able to bring back the Title IX working group and assist the community critical response team. These efforts have improved our programming, policies, and education on Title IX, ensuring students know the policies and the proper protocol if a situation occurs. That's something I'm very proud and passionate about.

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Outside of that, we've been working to get an AI policy within our academic honesty guidelines because we don't have one. Currently, we are advocating for better food in the cafeteria, ensuring no cross-contamination. We also advocate for more options available for people with different dietary needs. Those are just a few off the top of my head that Student Government has really worked on for the past couple of years.

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Carter: We want more Kenosha downtown engagement. We’ve worked on getting shuttles, taking people downtown, having people experience the Kenosha community, seeing what benefits they offer to students, such as discounts and events.

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Student Government is not just the two of you. The governing body contains a lot of amazing people. Who would you like to shout out?

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Basil: Starting with our exec board, they have been absolutely amazing this year.

• Maya Zenner has been our Speaker of the House, and she's grown so much in just the last few meetings that we've had, and I'm absolutely so proud of her.

• Katherine Pullam has been an amazing secretary. She supported me and Carter so much over the past couple of weeks with getting into the groove.

• Emily Van Dixhorn is one of the first female treasurers that we've had within Student Government. She's been doing absolutely phenomenal.

• We’ve also had some really great freshmen who’ve just joined: Leila Celeste, Santino Ford, Marty Forestiero, Yerandi Montoya Flores, and Ash Wilcox.

 

​Carter: Student Government is not possible without our advisors.

• Nick Winkler is our Dean of Students

• Elizabeth (Liz) Snider is our Associate Dean of Students

 

They offer a lot of muscle power for us – they are a great resource.

We could not have Student Government without them.​

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​Photo: Student Government at the 2025 Trinity House Picnic

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What are your ambitions for Student Government this year?

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Carter: We want to dive headfirst into the Carthage culture, to rebrand and ignite it. We want to see a lot more engagement from the students. We plan on hosting quite a few Student Government events, which is something relatively new for Student Government. In the past, we have not done much with hosting events, but I would like to change that. We have some really fun ideas to unleash the Carthage culture.​​

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I view J-Term as an obstacle for engagement that trickles down into Spring Semester. How would you make engagement last the entire year?

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Basil: It's coming back with a fiery passion. If we can set that groundwork, we will come back energized, willing to continue pushing and advocating. If we can get that spark within Student Government to stay alive, we're able to do that across our campus. It's just talking, communicating, encouraging people to pursue their passions.
 

When a dispute arises between different parties in Student Government, how do you resolve the conflict?

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Basil: Carter and I have some firsthand experience with disputes this semester. We took a step back, we got our emotions together, and we sat down and had a conversation. If you're not willing to talk with the other person, there's no way to work through any dispute.

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It doesn't matter what that dispute looks like or what it's about – whether it's money, whether it's personal, whether it's our support for an event. Having an open dialogue, listening to one another, owning up to mistakes, setting clear boundaries, and figuring out how to move forward is crucial for progress.

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We may not all agree on everything, but working together is the biggest thing we can do. As long as we have the best interest of the students in mind, we will be able to move forward and continue working despite disputes.

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Carter: Yeah, I agree. Listening is very important. However, debate is important, too. We want to welcome debate. We want to welcome multiple opinions. Because when there is debate, you will find improvements, elevating each other’s ideas to a new level. Debate is an essential aspect of community.

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Who would you like to be a part of Student Government?

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Carter: Everybody. In a perfect world, we would have everybody involved.

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Basil: We've been inviting everyone on campus as members of the public. We've had quite a few show up. We've brought in diverse perspectives that Carter and I have never considered before. Uplifting voices we may not recognize – the perspectives that we may not see – is really important to us. We want to ensure every person within Carthage feels like they belong. So anyone who has a different perspective or idea or background is heard and respected.

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Carter: We are an apparatus of the student body. Student Government are representatives of the people, uplifting student voices. We always listen to students.

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For someone who does not want to join Student Government, what can they do to contribute to the Carthage community?

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Basil: Even if someone does not want to join, they can attend meetings as a member of the public. Coming forward to talk to us about campus issues is a great way to make the community even better. To be part of the community, we encourage students to go to event, talk with people, make friends – just get out there and take in every moment.

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Carter: Student Government is just one small aspect of the community. If you want to engage with the community or improve the community, Carthage offers a lot of sports, clubs, and organizations. I encourage people to go to concerts and theater programs, or even have a job on campus.

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How does Student Government benefit faculty?

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Basil: Student Government is one of three prongs of shared governance: admin, faculty, and students. Student Government listens to faculty voices just as much as we listen to students. If we can't communicate with all three groups, then we are not doing our job.

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Last year, there were votes of no confidence from the faculty sent to admin and Student Government; we backed the faculty within that decision and wrote a resolution, agreeing with them, supporting them, and making sure our faculty and staff felt heard.

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If someone was interested in contacting Student Government, where would they go?

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• Meeting Times: Tuesdays at 9:15pm in the TWC Jockey Rooms

• Official Email: sg@carthage.edu

• Speaker Email: sgspeaker@carthage.edu

• Treasurer Email: sgfinance@carthage.edu

• Office of Student Life: studentlife@carthage.edu

• Nick Winkler: nwinkler@carthage.edu

• Liz Snider: esnider@carthage.edu

• Instagram/TikTok: @carthagesg

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