When Thomas Lipker stepped into his role as Graduate Student Council (GSC) president, he brought with him six years of experience on the Case Western Reserve University campus, first as an undergraduate student studying economics and music, and then as a law student. In his capacity leading the GSC, Lipker aimed to prioritize transparency and clearer outreach, goals he reflects on now that he’s nearing the end of his term and his time at Case Western Reserve.
Lessons learned
“We’ve achieved a lot in terms of programming and initiatives to make sure all student organizations have an opportunity to use GSC funds,” Lipker says. “The council has been very effective this year in using the tools available to us to support the student body on as many fronts as possible. We’ve been able to communicate a lot more effectively, and my hope is that a further expansion of the marketing and communications team would help with those goals.”
Lipker’s initial aims for his term was to advocate for student needs and implement policies to address the challenges that students face on campus, goals he says were largely met. He highlights the difficulty in previous years to facilitate communication between the student body, the various student organizations on campus, and the executive board of the council.
Lipker points to previous GSC drop-in events such as coffee and donut meetups and happy hours as successful programming events. Despite their casual nature, they served as important opportunities for the GSC executive board to connect with graduate students, and for graduate students from various disciplines to connect with one another. For Lipker, these events have been a highlight of the past year.
“Attending these different functions and getting the opportunity to meet with the general body of graduate students has been great,” he says. “I’m going into a field where I’ll be meeting a variety of people from various backgrounds and experiences, and this year has taught me a lot about connecting on a personal level with others.”
After graduation, Lipker accepted a position at Frantz Ward, where he completed summer internships over the past two years. While his first year will be in rotation through their various practice groups, he has an interest in working in Labor and Employment.
As he approaches graduation and the beginning of his career, Lipker is taking one key lesson from this past year with him.
“The one thing I really wanted to accomplish was to be empathetic towards the other students and board members,” he says. “Things will go wrong and people will make mistakes, but what we do after those mistakes, what we learn from them and how we address them, that is what makes a difference.”