Soon Marshall University’s student body will vote on who will be the new president/vice president duo of the Student Government Association (SGA). Voting will take place on Mar. 30 and 31 on HerdLink.  

The two campaigns are headed by Isabella Griffiths and Cameron Donohue who are running for president, and their respective running mates Walker Tatum and Nico Raffinengo for vice president.  

Donohue and Raffinengo, meanwhile, plan to improve campus life and increase student involvement on campus through their campaign. According to Donohue and Raffinengo, they have a four-part plan.  

“It’s kind of one large step with three little steps underneath it… community, innovation, justice, and Marshall,” Raffinengo said.” Community is the big one and the first step”  

According to Donohue “less than 25% of students are involved in an organization or anything on campus. I can’t blame them for feeling like they’re not part of something.”  

“By doing things like getting more students on campus,” Donohue said, “they are more likely to be in an organization, lowering the barrier to a lot of these organizations so that students feel less isolated.”  

Another goal for the two is to increase involvement in SGA from non-SGA members. 

 “We are taking a different perspective to leadership,” Donohue said. “Instead of leading from the front, we want to lead from the middle. We want it to be a collaborative effort to make a lot of these changes.” 

Raffinengo is from West Palm Beach, Florida. He is currently a freshman majoring in political science and a minor in international business. His interests include debate, cycling and he also serves as a presidential ambassador on campus.  

Donohue is from Ironton, Ohio. He is currently a junior studying political science and minoring in physics. Donohue enjoys photography and graphic design.  

Their competitors’, Isabella Griffiths and Walker Tatum, campaign message revolves around continuing efforts to improve mental health initiatives on campus, serve the community, and improve student involvement on campus.  

“We hope to continue the efforts started under the Parks/Griffiths administration while adapting to the new changes on campus and in the community,” Griffiths said.

The two want to increase student involvement not just on campus but also within SGA.  

“I think that when it comes to student involvement with SGA sometimes, most students don’t understand necessarily how SGA works,” Tatum said. “It would be nice to kind of close the gap. There’s a lot of change on campus that we can make. And we can truly do that. By being a voice for our peers and our constituents.”  

Their goal hopes to create a welcoming atmosphere for students in a time after Covid-19.  

Tatum is currently a sophomore biology major with minors in chemistry, pre-professional health care studies, general business, and psychology. He is from Wayne, West Virginia. He is involved in Baptist Campus Ministries, Student Government Association, and Dance Thunder.  

Griffiths is from Ironton, Ohio. She is junior health sciences major with minors in biology, chemistry, Spanish, mathematics, and dance. Griffiths is currently the vice president of the SGA. She is involved with the Society of Yeager Scholars, Alpha Xi Delta, and the Rotaract Club.  

Much of the student body worries that they don’t know who will be representing them. Sophomore Madison Sowards said, “I’ve seen the signs around campus and a YouTube ad about the election, but I don’t really know who they are.”  

She added onto that by saying, “I looked them up, but I don’t really know what they want to do to improve campus life for the rest of us.”  

Freshman Madison Flora had similar feelings about the upcoming election. “I ended up looking up Isabella and Walker on Instagram after I saw the signs near the Student Center. They look nice, but they don’t give any information about themselves. Even with looking them up, I still don’t understand what the campaign message is?”