Samira Abrar (’15) Elected First Female Student Body President

February 10, 2016

As Samira Abrar walked her usual path after class to the library on the American University of Afghanistan campus, she was unexpectedly stopped by a group of students—all male—asking for her by name. Their request took Abrar by surprise: run for student body president in the upcoming election.

“I thought, why me? I was not someone who knew a lot of people on campus,” Abrar laughed.

She was, however, one of AUAF Law Department’s top students. She held an exemplary academic record while working a demanding full-time job with an anti-corruption committee, where she performed field research and published policy papers on corruption-related issues. As her former classmates and the previous members of AUAF’s student government association (SGA), the group of men that approached her that day were familiar with Abrar’s record of achievement and recognized her potential to become the first female SGA president since the body’s establishment in 2014.

They became her campaign team, guiding Abrar through the pre-election process and assisting her in creating and posting campaign flyers, introducing her to student organizations across campus, helping her devise a platform, and preparing her for the presidential candidate debates.

The debates provided a platform for Abrar to relay her message of serving as an effective voice for all members of the AUAF student body, male and female alike. She advocated for instituting the proper mechanisms on campus for student grievances to be heard and addressed efficiently. While both men and women attended the debates, in some cases she addressed audiences comprised mostly by men. “They wanted to see what I have to offer them and whether I even have the courage to stand and talk on their behalf,” Abrar explains.

As it turned out, she had no problem winning widespread support from her peers. In addition to having the total support of female students, Abrar was the preferred candidate among many male students as well. So much so that just prior to the election, a male competitor stepped down in support of Abrar’s candidacy. When election results announced Abrar the winner, she had secured 70% of the student body vote.

Students tweeted the results and posted the pictures of Abrar and her campaign team on Facebook, calling it “a historic election” for AUAF student body. Abrar recalled, “I was reading comments of students on social media writing ‘Change is good!’, ‘Great step,’ and ‘Fantastic! Good to have a female president in campus and looking forward to seeing a female president in Afghanistan.’” These comments were all from men, Abrar said, most of whom she did not know. And yet, they showed her their full support.