Dear friends,

I’m excited to run to represent you as your YCC President, and I’m thrilled to share my plan for the next year with you.

The ideas in this plan aren’t just mine. They’re also yours. During my time as President of the Freshman Class Council and as Academic Policy Director of the Yale College Council, I’ve spent countless hours listening to your vision for the Yale we want to go to. As I’ve listened closely - to students from all backgrounds and students with all interests - three common themes have emerged.

We want to go to a Yale where there is equity: A Yale that belongs to us all equally, supports everyone equally, respects everyone equally; a Yale where everyone has the same access to all parts of the Yale experience, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, orientation, income, or physical ability.

We want to go to a Yale where there is accountability: where student voices are heard and respected: by the YCC, by administrators, and by the Yale Corporation.

We want to go to a Yale where there is community: where we share incredible experiences that unite and excite us, inside and outside of the classroom.

As Academic Policy Director, I meet with administrators to advocate for policies that matter to students, like reforming Credit/D/Fail deadlines, adding seminars for sophomores, and expanding ethnic studies. I’ve used my experience working with university leaders to turn your ideas into a set of clear, specific policy positions that the YCC leadership can advocate to administrators, and a list of concrete actions the YCC has the power to take on its own to move certain issues forward.

This last year has been a year of powerful conversations, and next year needs to be a year of transformative change. Achieving this change will take sustained engagement from all of us, and a YCC President who is no stranger to advocacy, who listens before he or she speaks, and who has a record of achieving results.

I have a bold vision for YCC, but it’s concrete. I know both the limits and the promise of YCC, as I have helped set its policy agenda. I’ve spent the last year channeling the energies, aspirations, and frustrations of the student body in my advocacy to administrators and engagement with the student body. But there’s more work left to do. If I’m elected to do that work, the YCC will not relent. We’ll advocate – persistently and vocally – for a Yale that is equitable and accountable.   

If you’d like to comment on my vision for YCC, I’d love to speak with you. Email joshua.hochman@yale.edu, and I’ll be sure to reply promptly. Or, if you’d like to speak to me directly, you can call at 973-879-7097.

Yours,
Josh