Kate Seidel: Mayoral Candidate Interview

Duncan: Great to have you here.

Kate: Yes.

Duncan: You feeling good? 

Kate: I'm feeling very nervous. 

Duncan: Oh, don't be, trust me. 

Kate: Oh, well. 

Duncan: Okay, so if you're feeling nervous, we can skip the banter. Just jump right in. Okay. What do you feel is more important? Protecting boarders, freedom or encouraging their engagement with the community?

Kate: Honestly, I don't think I would say I value one over the other, because when they first introduced the policy at the start of the year, I wouldn't say I was in favor of it, but like, I'm not somebody who spends a lot of time in the dorms. And the reasoning was we want more people out of the dorms for more engagement in the community. But I also feel like I'm– I've been a boarder for five years, and some of my closest friends are day students. Yeah. So I feel like there can definitely be a balance and you don't necessarily need to favor one over the other. But I think that with how the rules are constructed so far this year, that it seems like they are valuing too much—I wouldn’t say valuing too much—but they have placed an overemphasis on community over overall students rights. And you need to find a balance between the two that makes it so boarders still feel like they can do as they please, but also that they are getting out enough and interacting with people and they aren't necessarily cooped up in their dorms. But I do think a balance can be found because I don't think 90% of boarders, or however many are staying in their dorms all day when we did have the policy that let us go back to our rooms during the day. 

Duncan: I would agree, I would agree. Yeah, that's a good point. I think you are the first person I've interviewed so far that is really– everybody's talked about a balance, but you seem really dedicated to finding that balance. Just kind of on that note, with engagement, there is talked about a lot, especially the reasoning for this policy, a social gap between students and boarders. Obviously, you haven’t experienced that because you've been friends with students the entire time that you've been a boarder, but that is their reasoning for a lot of these policies. How would you respond to that? Do you think it exists and does it need to be addressed so strictly if it does? 

Kate: Yeah, I mean, I definitely agree it exists. I mean, I certainly have a bit of an advantage being from Alabama. I mean, even though I am a boarder, but a lot of these people are from, you know, all places around the globe. So I don't know, because I think that it does need to be addressed. 

But I also think a lot of it comes from this, like boarder day student inequality and– some of its inherent, like, you can't do anything about having boarders attend check ins. Like they have to know where you are for safety reasons. But things like study hall. Like, I don't believe that boarding students should have to attend daytime study hall and nighttime study hall if they have a deficiency, but daytime students or day students only have to attend one. And it's like there's this sense of inequality between them that I think is easily fixable. And I think it does need to be addressed, but I don't think that banning the boarders from their dorm room, which is essentially not only their home, but also one of the privileges of being a boarder, is going to fix that. I think it makes people more upset with the administration and makes people more upset that, they see day students who can come to school late in their free periods and they get to show up and they don't get in trouble for it, but if we try and sleep in during our free period, we get a record. And that means one work hour usually. 

So it's I think– a lot of it comes from this inherent inequality. And that fosters this gap where boarders see day students and they're like “well I want that,”; “I don't think it's fair that I can't have that.”

But at the same time it's a very fine line between making sure boarders are getting out of their dorm rooms and making sure they're safe, and also trying to make them as equal as possible. And I think there's a lot of oversight. And people just say “boarders are missing class. They need to be kept out of the dorms.” That's it. And they don't necessarily think about the consequences of that. 

Duncan: So that's a really interesting take. So you feel that the new regulations are creating a bigger gap between the boarders and the students?

Kate: Yeah, and I honestly don't think that by keeping that out of the dorms, like I mean, sure, they don't miss class, but I think it has maybe more negative effects to it than positive because when you have kids who are coming to see me in judiciary and or whatever it is, or sometimes people don't even show up for their records that are involving dorm stuff. I mean, it doesn't. It just makes them upset because they're getting in trouble for something they feel like should be a right. And as they crackdown more and more on this dorm stuff, I wonder if it's even, like, beneficial and working the way they want it to, because I don't think it's deterring kids from stopping. If they're gonna sleep in, they're going to sleep in. I mean, I've met kids who say they don't even know about the rule. And I mean it’s November

Duncan: that is very surprising. 

Kate: It's crazy. 

Duncan: Well, I'm glad we're doing this. Get the word out. 

Kate: Yeah, I feel like, I don't know, people are just upset. And the more upset you are with your administration, the more likely you are to say, oh, I don't want to do what they say.

Duncan: I completely agree. So just kind of jumping ahead to a personal question, since you mentioned judiciary, how do you think your experience with judiciary kind of shapes your view of what you want to do with mayor, or how will it help you?

Kate: So, that's a great question actually, because I've talked to some people about this. So I see all the records that come through the judiciary. Like I see who writes and everything like that. And I mean, besides, like some of the adults, I'm the only one who sees that, which means I know a lot about, like, the boarding. And the boarding stuff is obviously very important to me because I'm a boarder and I– it has very much influenced me because we have 20 or so records every week and they're all boarding related. 

Duncan: Really?

Kate: check-ins or sleeping in the dorms or not properly signing out or whatever it is. This year, it's almost all boarding records. And according to the calculations I've done, which are a little out of date by like a week or two, but about 75% of the records so far since September 1st have been boarding records, which is insane. 

Duncan: Wow. 

Kate: Yeah, last semester alone, we had 40 records. Now, I think, and this year we have almost 130. 

Duncan: And we’re not even to the end of the semester yet.

Kate: We have reached some, like, you know, 3 or 4 times the amount just because of this boarding stuff. And it's influenced me a lot because I've wondered: are these rules even working? Because I mean, the new boarding rule for check ins, for example, if you miss three check ins, you get a record and every consecutive miss is another record.

Duncan: Was that also established this year?

Kate: It’s new this year. So when you have these kids coming in who missed two check-ins in September and then one last week, they have no idea where they were two, three months ago. 

Duncan: And so they can’t defend themselves in Judiciary.

Kate: Yeah. They have no way to defend themselves. It's completely unfair. And on top of that, people don't show up for their records a lot of dorm related stuff. And it's a lot—well i wouldn’t say there’s a lot—But there are definitely repeat offenders, you know, who have more than one record pertaining to check-ins or things like that. We're just kind of like, is this system working? I understand where it came from, and I understand why they might think, “oh yeah, that'll totally work. you write the record, things like that.” But it doesn't seem to be working from my perspective as head of judiciary. 

Duncan: I would agree, it seems like rather than deterring the boarding students, it's just punishing them without kind of explaining what they want them to change.

Kate: Right, and if the point of judiciary is that you can have your voice heard and you can defend yourself as a student, well, it's impossible to do that when you have no idea what was happening 3 or 4 months ago that might have caused you to miss check-in, or something like that.

Duncan: I agree it makes due process very difficult. Okay, back to the more general questions. Shifting gears a little bit—actually not really that transitions perfectly. Do you think that the current administration and the changes they have been making uphold the rights allowed to students in the Indian Springs Constitution? 

Kate: I think it's complicated. In the Constitution, I would say no because as like what has been brought up quite frequently is the, you know, they expect you to be reasonably intelligent. That kind of clause. And I really do think a lot of this stuff rejects that and kind of fails to give students– like today when we were listening to the speaker where he's like, we put a Christmas tree on top of the dining hall. 

Duncan: I know! I want to get an interview with him because I would love to hear the like, murder hospital story.

Kate: He's got like crazy stories and things like—like waking up in the middle of night, whatever—that would never fly here. You know, so much trouble.

Duncan: I mean, you would get suspended, at least for the Christmas tree thing, I can't imagine.

Kate: I mean, it's like you hear, like, all these alums come back and they're like, we did all this crazy stuff, whatever.

Duncan: They talk about this free place that doesn't exist anymore. 

Kate: Exactly. And I mean, it's also like a lot has changed since, when he went here, of course. And like, it is 2025 or safety. There's laws. There's all these things 

Duncan: and there's a lot more groups of people represented at the school. 

Kate: Right? That's definitely true. And you do have to account for that, and I totally agree. Like some stuff you just can't help. Like, you can't let seniors throw eighth graders in the lake, even though, you know, we would love to because people can get hurt and things like that. But at the same time, I think that some of the stuff is a little egregious and it's a little overstepping. Like, I'm not so sure that the dorm rules and things like that necessarily apply to that reasonably intelligent clause because you're assuming that we need to be pulled out of bed every morning and things like that, and like we can't learn from the fact that missing class means you're, you know, missing out on learning you have to face or record things like that. And instead of punishing only the people who have done it, they're punishing all of us. And I think that assumes that we are stupid in a sense that, like, we are incapable of figuring out stuff on our own, which goes directly against our school motto. 

Duncan: That collective punishment thing, it makes you– it's never– I mean, Jeremy had his whole paper on collective punishment, but it always comes off like they can't expect you to do the right thing because you are part of a culture that has done something wrong.

Kate: Yeah, exactly. And like, I mean, even with Jeremy's paper, I know people are quick to say like, okay, he's being dramatic, things like that. With you know, collective punishment, Geneva Convention. It's a bit jargony and that was a little jarring, but– 

Duncan: I was hesitant to publish, but I'm glad I did. 

Kate: Yeah. At the same time, he's kind of right. Like, yeah, we are all being punished for something that a lot of us have never had that big of a problem or even a problem with at all. And it makes us– it makes a lot of people feel kind of vindicated about it, because why am I being punished for something that I never was even involved in? And it creates an even bigger divide between the administration and the students who already see them as authority figures. And now they're authority figures that are doing things that don't necessarily seem in the students' benefit

Duncan: Yeah, I completely agree. Okay. Last of the general questions. How do you feel about the amount of power that student government has? Obviously, some candidates have talked about expanding power. Some are pretty happy with how it is. But what would you say?

Kate: Honestly, I think that's hard to answer right now because I think student government has been, I won't say ineffective, but I think the structure of it—and it doesn't really have much to do with who's currently on it—has created a space that is ineffective for them. Like for example, on my platform we talk about moving student government meeting to Wednesday morning because Wednesday afternoons people have to ride the bus, people have doctor’s appointments, work, sports games, things like that that they can't control. But that shouldn't keep them from attending student government. Or saying their opinion, whatever it is. So I feel like first student government needs to be given a space where it's a little bit stricter, you know, stricter attendance records, things like that, and checking platforms for holding them accountable and giving a space where they're not crunched for time constantly and see how that plays out and if it benefits us and then decide whether or not student government actually needs more power, added on, because it's hard to tell when it's not necessarily functioning in the way the Constitution outlined it to. 

Duncan: That's a great point.

Kate: Yeah, I think it really hasn't been given room to explore its function.

Duncan: Yeah, I'm excited to see what Wednesday morning would do. Okay, final question. So, I hope you're okay with me saying this, I know you had a personal issue with the administration kind of a few years back. How has that motivated your campaign? 

Kate: So that involved me wanting to move off campus and be a student, and I was essentially told, you can't live off campus with somebody who's not your parent, we don't have a day student spot for you, things like that. And, I don't know when in the moment I was obviously very upset because I didn't– I don't really understand and I still really don't like the concept of a day student sport. I'm already part of the grade, things like that. They said they wanted to expand the dorms, not make it smaller, and I was just like “if you have another spot open for the boarding community, wouldn't that be good for you?” It is very confusing, but I mean, it's definitely given me this perspective of like… I don't know, the school—and especially being reinforced with the rules this year—like some of the stuff isn't really in our best interests. Especially I mean, they pack a lot of people into the dorms; way more. I mean, even though when we got here Covid had just ended and there was definitely a diminished amount of people in the dorms, like, there are a lot. There's over 100 kids in the dorms now. It is crazy. They put bunk beds in those rooms, things like that. 

Duncan: What's one of the most overpacked rooms you’ve seen? 

Kate: Well, it used to be that one of suite rooms, which is like three individual rooms, bathroom attached, like common room attached. There was a bunk bed in each one, but now there's a bed and two of them in a single in the middle one, I believe. But originally one year it was a bunk bed in each. And I mean, I look at that, I think that's crazy. Yeah, like that is insane to pack six kids and they're there. Well, I guess five now. 

Duncan: Five. That's still a lot of people packed into a suite with  a common room that I can say is not that much bigger than maybe this table and some chairs. It's a pretty small common room. Not that I’ve been into one, because I’m a day student.

Kate: Right, it's small, It's compact, usually they're putting eighth and ninth graders in there. The new kids who never had any experience for the most part living together with other people

Duncan: or managing their own space. 

Kate: Right, exactly. So it's like sometimes I wonder if the things they're doing are necessarily in our benefit or if it's for the benefit of them, especially looking at the dorms and the choices they've made. Yeah. And I mean, there's not a lot of space with a lot of people last year, the year before, we had a lot of problems. This year, I would say it's definitely better with interpersonal relationships. Yeah, I think that has to do a lot with the people who are here. And people have grown over the years, and giving them that space is always good, but I think the administration—well, “the administration” the ominous administration. My experience with them has definitely made me feel a little bit more radicalized towards it and especially seeing how the dorm changes affect the people. I mean, specifically that, you know, bunk beds in the rooms, putting three people in a suite or in a room that used to be just two people. Yeah. You know, keeping us out of the dorms during the day, things like that. It definitely just it makes me wonder a little bit and motivates me to kind of fight for those student rights because I have seen them change so drastically over five years. 

Duncan: Yeah. That's great. Okay. Well, I think that is all I have. I’ll let you go to dinner now.

Kate: Thank you so much.