By Hamilton Smith
When you ask people what they love about AU, they always say the people. Victor and I take that belief to heart. We decided to run for Student Body President and Vice President because we love AU and the people that make this university what it is.
For the past two years, we have served on senate. This is the legislative branch of SGA. On senate we addressed the issues we heard around campus. We confirmed new charters for clubs. We voted to accept or reject money requests for clubs here on campus. We built relationships with faculty and staff through discussing fresh ideas for this campus. Yet, after two years we strived for more.
We looked for a new position to better serve the student body. We looked for a outlet that would let us dream big but make realistic decisions that can have a lasting impact. That opportunity presented itself.
Victor and I found ourselves in an interest meeting for the next two individuals to spearhead the executive branch of SGA. Now, here we are, you have elected us.
Victor and I are truly grateful for not just the support, but for your engagement in the entire election process. From letting us knock on your doors, to engaging in conversation about ways to make this campus better and even for not taking down our numerous flyers.
I would be remised if I did not publically thank Jana Plyley for designing all of our campaign flyers. A sincere thank you for voting last Thursday, the results showing that you trust Victor and I with this large responsibility.
Quite honestly, my words at chapel were not any campaign rhetoric. We do have many ideas to navigate this campus, yet the best ideas we heard were from knocking on your doors or chatting with you at dinner.
You are all creative and have walked through circumstances on this campus that allow you to see and experience things that we do not. We are committed to hearing your ideas. We are committed to making AU better.
Let me be clear, we are not trying to create problems by any means. We hope to do the opposite. We want to be proactive, inspiring and competitive with other schools. We aim to make our four-year experience better for all.
We are not simply trying to solve problems, we want to capture ideas that will make our student experience better.
Victor and I have communicated our plan to do this. It starts with going out of our way. We cannot hear your ideas by spending our time in the SGA office. We will be committed to being engaged and involved on campus. What we have to do is continue knocking on your doors and consistently being approachable in the Marketplace or the KWC during IMs.
I think the common idea is that, once a politician is elected, they stop. They stop being in public places and talking to the people. Victor and I realize that, in order to get behind the students, we have to be an advocate for everybody on this campus and that starts with knowing you.
We hope to build relationships with you and better understand parts of this campus that we might not be familiar with at this point. We aim to represent every angle of this campus.
We are excited to do this! We are passionate about AU, and we are dedicated to doing the job you have elected us to do at the best of our ability. We hope that our love and enthusiasm for this university carries on through the student body and it resonates with all of you.
We are all Ravens and we get to leave this place even better than we found it.
I am proud to represent this student body as your SGA President as AU enters another 100 years of service. God Bless and Go Ravens!
Hamilton is a junior marketing major from Anderson, Indiana.