The Calm In The Storm: Zeen Ari’s Presidency

Belmont Vision Multimedia, Zach Watkins

Usually, a president comes to power through an election by choice of the people. 

Yet some emerge in times without a formal selection, like Belmont’s current student body president. 

Zeen Ari, the first Kurdish and Muslim woman to take this position, serves Belmont as its 71st SGA president. In her final semester of college, Ari sought to guide a smooth transition for her cabinet and the student body by sustaining former president Carter Barnett’s efforts and fostering an inclusive campus environment, who stepped down from the role in December 2024. 

“I would have never thought… it was always a thing like ‘Oh my God, it’d be so crazy if I was president.’ Here I am,” said Ari. 

Ari started her SGA career as a senator in her freshman and sophomore years with the goal of being the treasurer, which she stepped into her junior year. 

Comfortable in her role, she was shocked when Barnett asked her to run as his vice president during his reelection campaign last spring. 

But to Barnett, the choice was obvious. 

“She’s really passionate about what she does. She leads well. She likes to bring people together. She’s a good unifier… She works together with others to better the Belmont community,” said Barnett.  

His list goes on, to Ari’s dismay. 

“I thought it was a joke. It was really a shocking moment, and it validated how I’ve been feeling about SGA for a long time,” said Ari. “Being that person in the corner. No one ever sees what you do if you’re not loud and proud about it.”  

Her semester as vice president led her to take Barnett’s spot when he resigned. 

Ari credits Barnett’s support with her ability to even begin taking on his role. 

“I felt really appreciated. I could not describe in words how grateful I am for him,” said Ari. 

While honored by the recognition, the window between the fall and spring semesters left Ari little time to prepare to lead a new administration. 

“She was basically thrown into the presidency, and she managed to handle it with grace,” said SGA parliamentarian Nathan Arnold. “I fully would have been hyperventilating.” 

The short preparation also left little time to lead a student body. SGA Vice President Olivia Patterson felt pressure to make the most of her sudden term, but Ari taught her that impact doesn’t have to come from extreme change. 

“Zeen just told me, ‘We’re not here to drastically shake things up. We’re here to maintain stability and the things we’re already doing to set the stage for next year and the year after,’” said Patterson. 

Patterson considers herself lucky to have fallen into Ari’s previous roles both as treasurer and vice president. 

However, Ari’s role carries an extra layer of pressure, as it involves mediating between students and upper administration. 

She hopes her leadership this semester somewhat guided students’ expectations of how quickly tangible changes come through SGA and into campus life. 

 And by quickly, she means not soon at all. 

“I would hate to disappoint anyone and tell them, ‘This is going to happen,’ and then a few weeks later, it doesn’t happen,” said Ari. “Their voice matters; it’s going somewhere. But we’re also students. There is still a hierarchy between students, SGA, SGA president and faculty.” 

Long-term improvements within SGA also have to do with how long members of the Senate keep their positions.  

Patterson cites a previous issue of senator retention that halted the progress of long-term projects. She and Ari had a goal this semester to motivate senators to write bills and see their projects to completion through the cabinet’s advocacy. 

“We’ve got things like the Beacon of Excellence award, which is coming from senators, the bench is coming from senators and cabinet collaborating. With the period product program, senators are the ones who restock pads and tampons,” said Patterson. 

Freshman senator Wylie Cooper wrote SB-25, a senate bill granting two faculty and staff members a recognition award called the Beacon of Excellence each semester. He also collaborated with President-elect Frank Reed and Belmont Facilitates Management to install a bench overlooking Hillside apartments. 

The period products available in campus bathrooms are part of a project Ashlyn Gumm started as a freshman senator. She is now the chairwoman of SGA’s campus affairs committee. 

“Even as president, like the period act, that was Ashlyn’s idea from her freshman year, and that wasn’t possible until her junior year,” said Ari. 

The Senate also votes on proposed finance bills, which can consist of grant requests for different campus groups. 

As the former secretary of the Muslim Student Association, Ari understands the benefit and importance of funding culture and identity organizations. She stepped down from this role to accommodate her presidency. 

“We have people from all across the world here, and sometimes we don’t see that,” said Ari. 

She shares this mission with SGA director of programming Sara Frautschi. Frautschi is also the president of Belmont’s Japanese Culture Club. 

“I think we’ve done a really good job of making sure to prioritize our cultural and identity organizations, especially as a lot of them are relatively new,” said Frautschi. 

By funding culture and identity organizations, SGA can more widely represent their missions and encourage uninvolved students to attend their events. 

“It’s really beautiful to be able to fund something like that, especially with DEI,” said Ari. “…Being able as SGA to come in, be so passionate and give them the resources they need to bring in more voices is really awesome.” 

Zooming out, supporting diversity takes on specific importance in Nashville, Tennessee. 

The city hosts the largest Kurdish population in the United States. Ari is thrilled to bring that level of representation to a position as high-profile as SGA president as a Nashville native.  

“I guess sometimes it makes me speechless. It's a lot of pressure; however, it's enlightening and powerful at the same time because we have such a large Kurdish population,” said Ari. 

She chooses to wear a hijab as a symbol of her faith. Although she sticks out, she recognizes the good her openness has led to and the privilege she holds in representing her community and firmly walking in her faith. 

Ari hopes to continue fighting for others as either a future oncologist or anesthesiologist.

Through medical experiences in her family, she learned how powerful it can be to have doctors whom patients can trust and rely on. 

Though she’s not a doctor yet, her time in SGA has shown her that people value her leadership, and she can make a long-term impact on people’s lives.  

If there’s anything she wants current SGA members and the student body to know, it’s this: 

“You can come to SGA and make something happen,” said Ari.  

–

This article was written by Ria Skyer