Patrick Gallen, 19, was elected as Lang’s fourth University Student Senator on February 28. His campaign focused on strengthening the USS through openness and accessibility while also improving the relationship between the USS and the student body. He also proposed the MetroFair Project, a subsidy program that would decrease costs of transportation for students at The New School.

Gallen won 35 of the 83 votes cast defeating the other candidate, Sarah Barlondo, by 11 votes. The election was necessitated when Charles Franchino, the previous senator, stepped down.

No sooner had his election been announced than Gallen, a 2016 politics major at Lang, ran on a platform calling for “changes that could only strengthen our community and keep our institution committed to its legacy of openness and accessibility.” And indeed, no sooner was he elected than he posted a Facebook message questioning the Senate’s intention to throw a campus-wide party (see story on page 5).

Gallen said the idea for the MetroFair subsidy stemmed from his work as a tour guide at The New School. He said he  often has to inform prospective and newly enrolled students of the costs of being a student in New York City, which include the steep cost of transportation.

“Someone said to me I have a friend that had to skip class twice this week because they didn’t have the money to pay for a MetroCard,” he said. “For some people it’s the difference between a meal, or being able to go to class and then be hungry.”

Gallen said another of his priorities was to “mend” the relationship between the Senate and the student body. “People know we exist but they know we exist only in so far as we provide funding for projects,”he said. “But a lot of times it doesn’t go beyond that. We don’t go beyond just being an organization that funds people’s projects.”

In order to try and bridge this gap, Gallen said he made a point of talking to at least two or three students each day, asking for their opinions on what works or doesn’t work at the school, and then presenting those opinions to the Senate.

Gallen cautioned that the problems at The New School don’t rest solely on the Student Senate. He cited the low turnout in his own election as evidence of the apathy that is a characteristic of the school, adding that “there is only so much you can do, especially when we don’t have a very centralized campus area.”