Louis Spann ‘26 is a computer science major and economics minor and he recently was elected to Moravian’s Board of Trustees as a Student Trustee. Spann is involved in many activities on campus; he is president and co-founder of Catholics on Campus, balance fund manager for the Armhein Investment Club, and treasurer of the Chess Club. He also interns for Moravian Data Analytics, is part of the inaugural RISE cohort, and works as an audio and visual technician, among other things.
What made you want to apply for the Student Trustee position?
It’s not something that I planned out; I quite literally went to the info session not knowing what it was. The real deciding factor was that I am very interested in networking and will be working closely with the Trustees. Even before I heard about this opportunity, I was interested in USG but was searching for something a bit more formal. While it does have the same rules and regulations, I was looking for a position that was less student-led.
What is the time commitment of this position?
It’s surprisingly not as time-demanding as I expected it to be. They only meet once a month, with only an intense three days. The only real setback is that you cannot study abroad for a full semester. It works great for my schedule.
How did you prepare and campaign for the Student Trustee election?
I spent Spring Break emailing the current Student Trustee, Sophia Rivera ‘24, marketing major, to get flyers designed. It starts by getting the qualifying votes to get into the election, and then you get elected by the Board. My campaign started when I got the signatures through a Google Form. When students filled out the form, I had them sign their names so I could reach out to them directly for the election. I put flyers all over campus, in the library, dorms, and other buildings … The next stage was directly emailing people and going up to random people.
What upcoming meetings do you have for this position?
On Thursday, April 18, I was formally voted in by the University Committee and attended the joint committee meeting. On Tuesday, they will meet with the Lancaster Seminary committee, Wednesday they will meet with the Bethlehem Seminary committee, Thursday is when they meet with the University committee, and Friday is when they all join together. I need to find out if I am going to the last two meetings. I am still learning about the position. I will be sitting in on meetings and discussions. From what I’ve heard, they are depending on me to relay the student perspective on issues.
How do you plan on accurately representing the student body?
I think this goes back to my campaign. I want to bring more transparency to what the Board of Trustees and Student Trustees are. I truly believe in supporting student leaders. As Student Trustee I want to work on bringing more transparency to club leaders and make information accessible to them.
What does being Student Trustee mean to you?
I don’t know how many people voted for me, but every vote matters to me. I want to be representative of the student body. The current student trustees emphasize that you have your own individual voice but you have to be representative of the student and Moravian communities. It will be an interesting balance, to say the least.
