Arts and Sciences Graduate Sen. Morgan Brittain handles the “unsexy” work in the College of William and Mary’s Student Assembly Senate. Brittain is a graduate representative to the Senate and a fifth-year PhD candidate in American Studies. As a researcher, he is predisposed to ask questions and create structural methods in his position, self-proclaimed “unsexy work.”
He outlined what his position entails and the work he does in Student Assembly.
“I came back sort of in order to help with some of the transitions going on within Student Assembly just with regard to the addition of the new School of Computing, Data Sciences and Physics,” Brittain said. “I did some work to sort of help facilitate the incorporation of structure into Student Assembly leadership so that there is graduate student representation there.”
Brittain spent his undergraduate and master’s student years at the University of Iowa, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in art history. After working in museums and higher education fundraising and pursuing a master’s degree in art history, Brittain found himself at the College, drawn to research about art in relation to the environment. He is currently writing a thesis on this topic under associate professor of art history and American studies Alan Braddock.
This term is not his first time working with SA. Brittain held the same position as a graduate senator during the 2022-23 academic year. He reflected on why he returned to the Senate.
“I had some things that I didn’t get to work on the first time I was in Student Assembly,” he said. “Fossil fuel divestment being one of them, and once again, there were just other things that came up during this term in Student Assembly, so I didn’t get to do a lot. But we are working right now, I’ve introduced legislation that will hopefully pass this week to review the university-wide committee system and hopefully through that process facilitate better structures in which those sustained conversations can take place.”
Working with SA changes a student’s experience at the College in many ways. Brittain considered the effect of his time in the Senate.
“I think the thing about Student Assembly is it sort of automatically keys you to see the flaws,” he said. “And that’s not to say that there aren’t great things about this institution, but when you’re a part of a governance organization, you’re automatically thinking about how can we improve this place, right? So, it’s caused me to look at William and Mary with a more critical eye in some ways. But also I think it’s really made me appreciate all the great work that is happening at various corners of this institution, not only in research and teaching, but there have been positive strides made to make this an institution that reflects on the problems of its past.”
Going into his PhD, museum curation initially interested Brittain. However, after teaching as a part of his master’s program, he developed a passion for working with students.
“Now, the thing I love most is interacting with undergraduate students: asking questions and seeing how they think, leading discussions and helping to mentor their writing and their research as well,” he said. “So I can’t imagine doing something that’s not student-facing now. I recognize that we’re in a very precarious moment in higher education, so I don’t know that ultimately my timing when I finish this degree program. Is it going to allow me to be a professor, to be in a tenure-track job? I hope it will. But, I think as long as I’m doing something that’s student-facing, I’ll be really happy with my career.”
Most of the senators in the Senate are undergraduate students. Brittain elaborated on the new perspectives his position as a graduate student brings to SA.
“I think Student Assembly had really suffered from like a lack of graduate student engagement in Senate for several years,” Brittain said. “So, I think one of the things I brought is just trying to be a really engaged senator. If I were to talk about a theme of my work in Student Assembly, it’s really been about trying to put in place structures, adapt processes, and I know this is all sort of unsexy stuff, and I feel like a lot of my work in Student Assembly has been unsexy, to put things in a position to do the best work that they can possibly do.”
Brittain described how he worked for six months drafting new policy and working with administration at the College, eventually securing 75% of graduate student fees to return to graduate governance organizations, as they are better suited to provide the resources their students need.
“So, probably my main legacy in Student Assembly Senate is when I came into Student Assembly, the way that our allocation model was set up, 50% of the fees that graduate students paid stayed with Student Assembly,” he said. “Graduate students in the schools never saw all of that money returned to them. We now have a situation in the Arts and Sciences Graduate Student Association where we’re much more comfortable, and much more able to do the work we need to do to support students because we have more autonomy over the funds that our students are actually contributing to the student activity fee.”
Brittain offered advice to current and future SA senators, pointing out the importance of paying attention to the details.
“My advice would be to ask those questions, look at the structures that exist at this institution and try to figure out how they work, especially if they don’t seem to be working well. And you might be surprised when you start asking about how they worked and thinking about solutions, the solution might not actually be as crazy hard as you think it is. Sometimes it is sort of these like unsexy tactical measures that really helped to facilitate a better process.”
He offered a final remark, encouraging students to stay positive about the change they can make in the Senate.
“One of the other pieces of advice that I would give students in senate, but also my students that I teach and mentor, is it’s really easy to be daunted by all that is happening in the world,” Brittain said. “But you can stay focused on your position and what your power actually is; those things collectively are not nothing. And perhaps that’s like overly hopeful or optimistic, but I really do believe like there is something really powerful about higher education and this potential to create informed critical citizens.”
