New SGA president ready for office

Cyrus Nuval
Staff Writer

Student Government Association’s President-elect Vikhyath Veeramachaneni is ready to take office and encourage students to blow away the thick grey fog of apathy and unawareness that seems to have clouded the student body.

Veeramachaneni, an information systems junior, won the position of SGA President on March 25 by accumulating 838 votes, 291 more votes than Senator Omnia Elgoodah. Now that Veeramachaneni is the president-elect, he hopes to use his experience as member and a leader of numerous student organizations to increase student engagement and school pride by breaking apathy and unawareness.

Veeramachaneni joined the SGA in fall 2012 after realizing many of the groups and activities he was involved in on campus were affected by SGA decisions.

“Whether it was funding for the final four for VCU students, the Safe-Ride or the Degree-Works Advisor Program, these were all issues that were at least being discussed at the SGA,” said Veeramachaneni. “So I knew that this was the place I wanted to be.”

Veeramachaneni decided to run for SGA president because he said he believes his past leadership experience provides him the opportunity to serve the student body and develop open lines of communication with the SGA and the student body.

Veeramachaneni has been a member and leader of various organizations around the campus, including member of the Cancer Awareness Team, delegate to the Student Health Committee, chair of Project REACH and president of the Theta Chi Fraternity.

But as SGA president, Veeramachaneni hopes to build from the foundation current President Jae Lee has laid in order to increase student awareness about the SGA and engagement.

“I want to be a voice that is visible (on) campus,” Veeramachaneni said. “You will see me at student activities, you will see me at other organizations’ events … and I am always going to be willing to listen.”

One of the immediate actions Veeramachaneni plans to take once he is in office is to develop a more efficient system for students to contact him directly.

“I want to have an online way or a social media way for students to contact me that’s easy and feasible for them,” he said, mentioning possible “office hours” that would allow students to come to him regularly with their issues.

Access to the president isn’t the only area where the SGA can be more open, according to Veeramachaneni. He hopes to steer the SGA to be more relatable and open to communication than it already is through encouraging the officers show more of a physical presence on campus and in other organization’s activities. Veeramachaneni also wants to steer away from blast messages to students and use a more personable approach to communication.

“I don’t want to reach out to a mass,” Veeramachaneni said. “I want to reach out to actual people. I want people to start saying, the SGA is here and they are doing a good job … to be something the students are proud of and I would love for voter turnout to continue increasing.”

He plans on developing a system of incentives for student organizations to attend the events of other student organizations, using a point-system that rewards each participating group.

Veeramachaneni said he will also be taking the initiative in further closing the bridge between the Monroe Park campus and MCV by increasing student engagement and unity between the two campuses. Despite VCU being a large community with nearly 32,000 students,Veeramachaneni said personal success is still attainable and collaboration is crucial.

“I would love to see MCV and Monroe Park come together. Maybe not at the speed that we were trying to go at it but eventually get there,” Veeramachaneni said. “Have a unified voice. We are not two separate schools just two separate campuses.”

Veeramachaneni said he is optimistic about the future of the SGA and its relationship with the student body especially with the 56 percent increase of voter turnout this election.

“To me, the best part of this election was how many students voted that have never voted for the student government before and how many new schools we have reached,” Veeramachaneni said about the newly elected representatives from a variety of degrees and programs.

“(The) SGA has done so many good things in the past couple of years,” he said. “I hope to continue that path (and) make sure we don’t lose a step.”