As the Student Government Association campaign week kicks off, Ross Rowland, Courtney Sharp and Drew Shapiro have a busy week before them.
Campaign week began Wednesday and continues until voting begins on April 5 and Reach members will be busy bolstering their platform.
“I am running for the presidential candidate of the Reach campaign for SGA,” Rowland said. “A lot of times, people see SGA as a branch that is responsible for reaching out to people and making sure there is communication between students and SGA. The primary goal for president is to be the liaison of SGA and the student voice to the administrators. I’ve grown up through my college tenure with SGA. I’ve seen it grow, develop and change. And that experience can help me mold SGA into a great organization students can utilize.”
Ross Rowland, an undecided junior, has no lack of experience. Having served SGA, as well as several other campus organizations, for three years, he said he feels he has the ability to handle this position.
“Currently I sit as senate chairperson,” Rowland said. “I’ve been on the executive committee of SGA for three years now. I was freshman council chair. I have been SGA commissioner of safety, which is responsible for safety initiative on campus. I also sit as the Tennessee Higher Education Commission representative for the Tennessee system.”
Rowland’s close work with the Tennessee Higher Education Commission has helped him to adopt his main platform of the campaign — getting the Hope scholarship approved for students to use during the summer term.
“I want to focus on the Hope Lottery scholarship and extend it into the summer,” Rowland said. “It’s been a pet project of mine for several years now, and we’ve had great success this year with lobbying the legislature.”
Alongside Rowland is Courtney Sharp, junior in Spanish, who is running for vice president of SGA.
“As vice president, you are the president of senate, our main governing body,” Sharp said. “You are also the chairman of freshman council.”
Similar to Rowland, Sharp has held various positions with SGA, including freshman council, freshman council advisor, senate secretary and press secretary/historian on the senate executive board.
An idea Sharp wants to continue implementing if elected is called “Senate Blitz,” in which senators will have times to meet with the constituents they represent.
“The Senate Blitz is a really good way to get senators out talking to their constituents,” Sharp said. “If you have problems, don’t complain about it only during elections. Get in touch with your senator and let them research the subject and fix it for you.”
The most important platform for Sharp has to deal with is campus safety.
“We know safety has been an issue on campus,” said Sharp. “I know from being in the Fort and then having to walk to Cumberland (Avenue), you can feel very unsafe very quickly. UT has tried to fix the problem by putting up the blue light system. We want to establish a reverse text-alert system. No matter where you are, running or hiding, you can send a text and receive help in a short amount of time.”
The third member of the executive committee of Reach is Student Services director candidate, Drew Shapiro, senior in history.
“I see that the Student Services director is mainly in charge of two things: to help organize the Student Services branch and to help plan events for the committees that make up the branch,” Shapiro said. “The Student Services branch is consisted of an executive board and nine different committees that help facilitate interaction with the student body.”
Shapiro has worked with SGA on the Volunteer Services Committee, which represents SGA at events like Relay for Life, as well as City of Knoxville’s Student Advisory Board, which represents students to city leadership.
“I am running for this position because I see a gap between SGA and the student body,” Shapiro said. “Student Services director has the opportunity to fix this gap by having more interaction with the student body. I want SGA to truly represent the student body, and by starting at the source of interaction, more of the student body can be involved with SGA.”
The third platform for the campaign deals with student parking on campus.
“We believe that SGA should truly represent the student body, and we plan on doing this by addressing a major concern of the students: parking,” Shapiro said. “We have many ideas to help the situation ranging from posting the rules and times for specific parking areas to changing the way students appeal citations. We also want to reach up to the administration. We believe students should have a direct voice with the administration so important issues can be fixed in a timely manner.”
Voting begins April 5 at 7 a.m.
More information on Reach can be found on its website, www.reachutk.com/, or on its Facebook page, Reach UT.
“We really have the opportunity to be the student’s voice and tell the faculty about problems they had no idea existed,” Sharp said.
