Last week, Paige Wulff was elected as the new Associated Student Body President. The Hullabaloo sat down with her to hear about her plans for next year. 

For those unfamiliar with the structure of student government, Wulff describes the line of communication as “essentially from administration to Associated Student Body and then it breaks down into undergraduate and graduate student bodies.” In other words, if you’re wondering who deals with big picture issues at Tulane beyond the confines of the undergraduate and graduate bodies, Wulff has been newly elected as your girl. 

A junior political economy major who is also pre-med, Wulff says her range of studies give her “a little perspective from within undergraduates in general” as she works to represent Tulane’s students as a whole. 

Tulane Hullabaloo: First I just want to ask you what your previous experience with student government is and when you started getting involved.  

Paige Wulff: In my sophomore year, I was appointed to the presidential cabinet by Morgan Wittenberg as Freshman Leadership Coordinator … that was the inaugural year for that so I worked with her and the other coordinator, Caroline Leibowitz, to help come up with a curriculum that helps get freshmen acclimated to Tulane’s campus specifically. That was my first USG experience. Then I went abroad last semester and when I came back I was appointed as the senator for the School of Liberal Arts. 

TH: What qualities do you think will influence your leadership?

PW: I think quality-wise, I have such a passion for Tulane as a whole. I wanted to run for this position because I wanted to see where Tulane could go and push it forward because we have had a lot of great leadership the past couple of years and I wanted to keep that ball rolling. I’m a good listener. I’m good at facilitating discussion and hearing what the study body has to say and taking those opinions to share them with the administration. 

TH: What issues do you think currently exist that you hope to address? 

PW: There are a lot of issues in creating student safety, both on and off campus. On campus, [the issues are] more so with creating environments in which everyone feels comfortable and safe, around sexual assault issues and stuff like that … things more off campus [include] even things like walking home, if you live off campus … it is sometimes not as well lit. I want all the Tulane students to feel like Tulane is a safe space.

TH: What types of changes do you think you will bring to the table, whether it is around those issues or other issues as ASB president? 

Wulff: I hope to unite what the Undergraduate Student Government and [Graduate and Professional Student Association are] doing because I feel like there is a disconnect between those two. Both of those bodies have a lot of good ideas but there’s not a lot of communication. I hope to facilitate communication, use their ideas and truly implement them on an Associated Student Body scale as opposed to having it divided.

Wulff will serve as the ASB President for the 2016-17 academic year.