The Marshall University Student Government races have begun, with the election scheduled to take place March 31 through April 1. At the top of the race is the election for Student Body President and Vice President.  

The two campaigns are headed by Alyssa Parks, the current Chief of Staff to the Williams and Powers administration and Senator from the College of Liberal Arts, and Cameron Donohue, the IFC President and Senator from the Honors College. Their running mates are Isabella Griffiths, who currently serves as the Secretary of Alumni Engagement and Mary Doherty respectively.  

The Parks and Griffiths’ ticket has separated their platform into three main components: diversity and inclusion, health and wellness and community service and outreach.  

“I think sometimes people can be intimidated by the fact that they have to run for senate… so we would like to make that more inclusive and welcoming to students,” Parks said, explaining her desire for the SGA senate to be more diverse.  

Parks said SGA is her second home and feels her experience in SGA, over the years, has given her the knowledge and ability to make an effective Student Body President. Parks also expressed her desire to continue and expand the initiatives seen throughout the Williams and Powers’ administration as well as beginning to advertise getting vaccinated and using facilities like the recreation center and the consoling center to boost overall general health.  

The Donohue and Doherty ticket is particularly concerned with mental health and sustainability, including increasing the bandwidth of the consoling center.  

“One of the biggest things with everything that we are working towards is giving the students a platform to speak out on where they feel like the university and community can improve,” said Doherty, explaining the reasoning behind their platform.  

Both Donohue and Doherty said they felt the move toward virtual and at-home learning as made a disconnect between the university and its students.  

Doherty is particularly passionate about the sustainability part of their platform and hopes SGA can do more to reduce waste and making it easier to recycle.  

Both platforms are attempting to improve student wellness during a challenging year for many students, but with differences in focuses on sustainability and community service as pillars of their platforms.  

Tyler Spence can be contacted at [email protected].