Mandi Mooney
Editor-in-Chief
March 18, 2005
Q: What made you decide to run for president?
A: At first I was thinking about running for Senior Class President, but through the encouragement of some other (Student Government Association) members I decided that I could better serve the student body from the position of SGA President.
Q: What was accomplished this past year in SGA that you plan on continuing next year?
A: This year is the first year that SGA has been broken down into its three subcommittees. I believe that this better facilitates action than a whole-group setting does. It helps us to better utilize our time and gives each member a narrower focus on his or her role in SGA. This is definitely something that I'll keep in place.
Q: What new ideas are you planning? What are you hoping to accomplish throughout your term in office?
A: I would like to provide some sort of different venue for SGA members to act on their ideas. To do this, I am thinking that I will have the subcommittees meet sometime outside of the large group meeting times so they can better help motivate one another to generate ideas and action plans. This would also provide better accountability within the smaller groups to monitor progress on different issues. Also, I think Lindsey (Vogt) and Ryan (Alcott) had a good idea in setting up some sort of residence committee, and I'd like to talk with them a bit more about their vision for that coming together.
Q: You said in your campaign speech that communicating better with students and the administration is one of your main goals. How exactly are you going to accomplish this?
A: As far as students are concerned, I would like to utilize some media on campus such as The Stampede and “Wired.” Other ideas are being tossed around, but I really want to encourage the student reps to get out there and talk to people about their ideas and concerns and listen to the students more. Hopefully, this will not only let students know what we're working on in SGA, but it will provide feedback for us as well.
Where the administration is concerned, I'm not currently aware with how communication takes place with them, so I am working on researching that and developing new ideas and connections. We really want SGA to gain more credibility with students and the administration. That is the only way we're going to make any difference on campus.
Q: How are you going to work together with the other members of the executive council and the class officers to achieve your goals?
A: I have a great feeling about the group dynamics of the upcoming executive council. I feel that we will all work together nicely, and given our different backgrounds, we will have various ideas and ways of reaching students. Currently, class officers are the heads of two of the three subcommittees, and I think that all three of them will do a great job. I'd like to have them be a bit more involved with the executive council so we can all stay on the same page.
I am excited about the coming year!
Q: Have you gotten any feedback from students about your plans for next year?
A: I have gotten a little feedback from some students but nothing official. So far, most of it has been that students agree that communication is important and needs to be better. I think students are ready for SGA to step up to the plate and take on some challenges. Hopefully, that's what we'll do!