Fifty years ago, Lafayette College elected its first female Student Government president. Women have held officer titles countless times since.
But this year, they hold them all.
The all-female executive board is the second-ever such occurrence for Student Government, and to the leaders themselves, it’s nothing short of a “femininomenon.”
“I love, love, being with all my girls,” said President Allie Waxman ‘28. Waxman was seated at the head of a large table in Student Government’s Farinon College Center office, surrounded by the five women elected alongside her four months earlier: Vice President Annabel Hooey ‘28, Treasurer Gracie Vale ‘27, Communications Officer Hayden Cohen ‘29, Inclusivity Officer Evalina Ibrahim ‘29 and Parliamentarian Amy Atuhaire ‘29.
“We’re all doing this together,” Waxman said. “The world many years ago was not a place that would be like that.”
The November election that brought the group together was the most competitive in years and saw the highest voter turnout in nearly a decade, according to Student Government data. Half of the 14 candidates were women.
Student Government advisor Ally Williams, who joined the college in 2024, recalled a “sudden realization” that women won all six positions.
“In that moment, I saw myself in them,” she said. “I was envisioning what it would be to work with a full team of women and be navigating the systems here, trying to make change. I was excited for them. I’m excited for them still.”
Hooey, sitting to Waxman’s right during the meeting, was scrolling through the board’s iMessage group chat, reminiscing.
“It was very empowering, I think, for all of us to be alongside other women who also have such a passion for leadership,” she said. “Just to see that in every single position at once — it’s incredible.”
The group chat’s photo is a bejeweled crown emoji on a pink background, named simply “Exec.”
“We thought about making it something more creative,” Waxman said.
“It could still be ‘Femininomenons’ if we wanted,” Cohen said.
“If I search for it like texting, though, I just need it to pop up quick,” Ibrahim said.
For Cohen, the communications officer, the moment the board’s makeup truly clicked was during its first in-person meeting of the semester.
“We were doing a lot of icebreakers and getting to know you stuff, and it really just felt like a community,” Cohen said. “We were all here to support each other, and we all know what it’s like to be a woman in a male-dominated field.”
Though Student Government is no stranger to female leadership — six of the 10 preceding presidents have been women — the officers are well aware of an uneven playing field.
Vale, the second-term treasurer who served on Student Government’s budget committee before assuming her current role, recalled her first meetings in the position and how male club treasurers would speak to her in ways she had never heard them speak to her male predecessor, raising their voices and making demands.
“I realized that being a woman, sometimes people feel like they can step on your toes a little more,” Vale said. “They feel like they can take advantage of that, that we’re more vulnerable.”
“I may be stronger” because of it, she added.
Atuhaire, who said she once worried about being called “controlling” or “bossy” when she took charge, told a similar story.
“This role has let me empower myself a lot more,” she said. “I’ve noticed this semester, when we do have group projects, I’m a lot more comfortable — not controlling — but hopefully, leading, and not being afraid of being called ‘bossy.’”
“I think that’s a reality that hits you at some point in your life as a woman,” Hooey said. “All of us stepping up into these roles was us challenging that aspect in a way, even unconsciously.”
