From the president

While the year continues to be a long and winding one, it seemed like only yesterday when I wrote my first column in the summer of 2006. I was ready to start working with my brand new cabinet and to get the ball rolling on the most important issues of the day. Now during this exciting time of election week, all of you out there are getting ready to pick my successor, who will soon have the same experience I did when I first became your student body president. I suppose time flies when you’re working hard for the student body.

Last week I endorsed Jessica Lee for student body president because I think she is the best person to do the job, but ultimately the choice is up to you. I encourage all of you to get to know some of the candidates, join their Facebook groups, and find out what they can do for you. We had a live debate last Thursday, and there is an audio vice presidential debate podcast that can be found at www.vcusga.com Don’t forget to check it out!

SGA Executive Tickets
William Moehl, Aine Norris, Monica Motley – vcuordie.com
Clint Titsworth, Josh Learn, Erin Joseph – vcunited.org
Jessica Lee, Emad Maghsoudi, Kiffy Johnson – votevcu.com

Not only are there presidential tickets and senators to vote for this year, there are also two referenda. One of these is to support extending the drop period for classes, and the other is to support a service day, where classes would be cancelled and students have the option to spend the day participating in community service events. I support both ideas and encourage you to vote “yes” for them. Don’t forget to vote! Voting will be online at www.vcusga.com. The voting starts on Tuesday at 8 a.m. and continues until Thursday at 5 p.m. Remind your friends to vote at www.vcusga.com!

In other SGA news, last Monday the student senate passed three bills. The first was the water fountain maintenance bill, an effort to push the university into fixing the water fountains badly in need of repair. The second was the vending machine bill (nicknamed “Let Them Eat Cake”) to make Aramark put dining dollar swipers at all snack machines, not just a few. Right before the bill was passed, Sen. Jessica Lee added an amendment to prevent Aramark from raising the prices in order to do so. Finally, the senate passed the bill to put the service day on the ballot to be decided on by you, the student body.

While the senate passes bills, the executive branch meets with university staff to bring the bills to life. Last week, cabinet members Nitin Yerram, Mohamed Sayed, Kiffy Johnson and I met with Sue Ann Messmer, chief of staff to VCU President Eugene P. Trani. One of the issues we discussed was the Ram the Streets project where SGA is attempting to get VCU’s Ram logo painted on some campus streets. We also discussed the loss of funding for the Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Resource Center. Director of student affairs Kiffy Johnson is working tirelessly to get VCU to offset the lost grant and save the resource center. Expect to hear more about this in upcoming columns and podcasts.

There will be an open forum on parking on Wednesday, March 7, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the University Student Commons, Richmond Salon II, to learn students’ opinions about the VCU parking and transportation program. Free pizza and drinks will be provided. Students should bring a valid VCU card to participate. For more information, contact Miriam Maddux at madduxmf@vcu.edu.

Finally, I encourage everyone to participate in an exciting public forum called “We Are the Change: Democracy and Inclusion in the 21st Century.” This event will take place at VCU on April 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.