By Journalist Alondra Perez
Jacob Schonfield is the current chief clerk of the OIL House. Schonfield joined OIL last year.
“My first session I was a zero star that did not bring a bill, I had no experience, and I was not super involved”.
Chief Clerk Schonfield is a three-star delegate with two sessions under his belt with one special session. OIL is an organization at the University of Oklahoma where any major can join for free and they meet once a week. By doing so, most individuals do not understand what session entails until they attend their first one. Chief Clerk Schonfield was one of those individuals. “Participating in session changed a lot for me and made me feel included as soon as we went to house chambers”.
From their experience so far, they believe that having civil disagreements with others during the legislation process is one of the biggest things individuals can get out of OIL. This year he is very happy to be a part of the House administration and knows this year’s leadership values the purpose of controversial bills on the floor.
Chief Clerk Schonfield got his position through doing assistant chief clerk activities on the last day of his first session. Chief Clerk Schonfield reflects back on this memory, “I would help now and then but would leave to caucus. Those moments aiding Chief Clerk Amanda helped me understand how to do it. Now I am chief clerk and I wanted to ensure I have plenty of assistants to make sure the chambers ran smoothly. I also wanted to know I would be leaving this position with a knowledgeable successor”. Currently, his assistants consist of volunteers, but also April (OU), Patel (OU), and Gonser (NWOSU). Assistant Clerk Gonser was an assistant with Schonfeild at the same time he was when McCumber was Chief Clerk. Being in a student organization like OIL, where applying for leadership roles is a great opportunity for students to practice their leadership skills, Chief Clerk Schonfield will not be reapplying for the position in the fall, “I don’t want to hog the position and I want to pass it down”.
Fortunately, Schonfeild does not plan to leave the organization when he is no longer Chief Clerk, “I will be in OIL all the way through undergrad. It is so fun and this is my FAM-OIL-Y”.