Student Senate President has dual responsibility.  He or she must represent the student body as a whole and referee the senators as they debate major issues within the university. My main goal for Student Senate President is to work to unite the student body.

If elected, I will make sure all of the funding Student Government gives out will benefit groups promoting this goal. Also, as a co-chair for the fees committee, I will make it my goal to keep student fees as low as possible.

I also want to work toward a later dining option. Along with this, I think it is important for Senate meetings to be more accessible, which we could accomplish by having a more open meeting place. The Brickyard would be a great location for these, it doesn’t get much more open than that. I want to expand the resources we already have. For instance, we could use Moodle to better connect students to their student leaders. CALS is already doing this, and I want to expand it to the entire student body. Using Moodle in this way would be easy, efficient and entail little to no expense. We have the resources, why not use them?

I know I am ready for this position, because I had the honor of being the Senate President Pro-Tempore this year, the vice-president of the senate. Along with that job, I also chaired the appropriations committee and oversaw the distribution of $165,000 to student organizations. This year is my third year in student government; it has been one of my favorite things to do at N.C. State. One project I worked on this year with the executive branch in Student Government is the fee for Distance Education. Now, the provost is creating a task force to deal with this issue.

All campaign ideas aside, the topic on every student’s mind is the budget and how that will affect tuition. The best way for students to change how the legislature operates is to have a greater presence downtown.  That may mean writing letters to our representation, calling or even making a little visit. I definitely think students and student leaders should be more outspoken again the increases we’ve seen with tuition. Serving as Senate President would be a great honor for me. I really enjoy talking to students and getting their perspectives on how we can improve our already great institution. Vote for me for Student Senate President and let’s get to work.