Strength in experience

ABBY ANN RAMSEY Managing Editor

In the spring of 2022, only one campaign ran for office in the SGA elections — a situation that led members of the student organization to consider how other students view the club and what the future would look like.

Now, however, two campaigns are vying for their candidates to take office in the 2023-24 academic year.

Members of Commit, one of the campaigns, see SGA taking steps toward becoming more well-known for serving students since last year’s single-campaign season but still see work to be done. They are running on the pillars of unify, inspire and reputation.

Commit’s top four includes Mark Hancock, a junior political science major running for president; Lindsey Campbell, a junior finance major running for vice president; Josie Drumwright, a junior political science major running for student services director; and Mary Hajdik, a junior majoring in finance and public administration running for executive treasurer.

The candidates running for the top four executive positions have all been deeply involved in SGA and say their campaign is based on forging connections and helping people get involved on campus.

A major hallmark of Commit, however, is its pillar of “reputation,” as the candidates want to work to rebuild campus’s perception of the student organization.

“Our organization has suffered,” Campbell said. “I don’t wanna say the word COVID, but I think COVID had a lot to do with it — with tension and just our image in general.”

The candidates said that when the student body may not fully understand the inner workings of student government, it can lead to confusion about why goals aren’t reached and why student requests aren’t met. SGA’s senators work to pass legislation based on their constituents’ concerns.

When a bill gets passed through SGA’s senate though, that doesn’t mean it comes to fruition. In fact, it must go through several more steps before becoming a reality, which means

SGA must work closely with administration to express the importance of bills and show that students are concerned about the issues brought forth.

Hancock currently serves as student body vice president, but was a senator before that. In his time as senator, he co-sponsored a bill calling for UT to partner with Headspace in order to have another resource for mental health. The bill passed SGA’s senate, but a partnership has yet to happen because, according to Hancock, UT said they were exploring similar options.

“Early in my role, I was told that sometimes it takes administration five times to hear something to be like, ‘Oh, this is an actual problem,’” Hancock said. “So sometimes there are repeat bills or it can take a long time, but that’s just kind of how it works. But it’s still just really important that legislation is passed so administration can see like, ‘oh, students actually care about this.’”

All four candidates emphasized how many different opportunities they’ve had in SGA and on campus, preparing them for the roles they’re running for. Each candidate has at one point in time held an executive position in the organization — Hancock as current vice president, Campbell as current executive historian, Drumwright as current executive communications director and Hajdik as a previous executive historian and interim chief of staff.

The Commit candidates believe this is just one aspect of their campaign that shows how fitting their name is. While not all of them have been involved in SGA every year of college, they say they are committed to the organization and also to campus as whole, as they have experience in other student organizations.

In fact, they say the name even reflects the countless hours they spent on FaceTime trying to settle on a name.

“We had all these words we liked, and we were trying to narrow them down,” Drumwright said. “Commit just encompassed all of them, and it honestly made sense because we sat for so long trying to think — we were obviously committed to coming up with a name that really fit us.”

While they are involved in other areas of campus, they say having that commitment to and experience with SGA is of the utmost im- portance because while the process of getting things done might be slow, they understand how it works.

“The most beneficial thing our experience gives us is it helps us understand how the system works,” Campbell said. “Because I know everyone wants to fight the system or make this insane change, but I think what we’ve learned through our maturing and through our years in SGA and just involved in the university in general, is that it’s showed us how we can build reputation with administration and the student body and how we can actually go through steps to make change.”

Hancock echoed that the top four’s experience in the club is what would make him trust the campaign if he were a student voting regularly.

“I’d have a lot of trust in this campaign,” Hancock said. “I’d want someone representing me that knows what they’re doing and has experience in roles in SGA.”

Commit plans to improve SGA’s reputation by increasing transparency, hosting more town halls and having more events that make the club visible on campus. While reputation and experience are important to this campaign and important to unifying the campus as a whole, Commit also expressed their desire to inspire others to get involved — whether it’s in SGA or another club on campus.

They want students to have a space that makes them feel as included and excited as SGA does for them. Drumwright and Hajdik got involved with SGA later in college than Hancock and Campbell did, and they feel like the club gave them the community they were looking for.

“It’s where I found a place I feel like I belong on campus, and it’s really influenced my career aspirations and what I wanna do with my life in general,” Hajdik said.

When it comes to inspiration, the Commit candidates want to leave a legacy in SGA that not only promotes the organization but promotes helping students reach goals and make changes on campus.

“I think it’s really important to inspire people so next year when the next campaigns are running, there’s more than one campaign,” Drumwright said. “There’s that sense of challenge and sense of responsibility.”

Voting for SGA elections will take place April 3-5 at votesga.utk.edu.