Student Senate elections ramp up for spring 2022

Sims, McDonald and Britt campaign for executive president

Sean Repuyan, Design Editor

With Student Senate elections ramping up this April, the executive board assembles the ballots for all the eligible candidates.
Elections take place April 4 through April 5 where ballots will close and election results will be announced.
For many students on campus, a familiar name remains on the ballot for Student Senate Executive President.
Junior Tiffany Sims is campaigning for leadership with the slogan, “In Pursuit of Positivity.”
Sims has previously served on the senate board as Freshman Class President, Sophomore Class President and Executive Officer of Academic Affairs. With many years under her belt, she explained she was taking time away from senate her junior year to focus on other academic pursuits and activities.
“Unfortunately when I ran for vice president when ballots were open last election, I lost the race,” Sims said. “However, that has given me the ability to put that time into other organizations and be more connected.”
Currently, Sims participates in the Theater department, serving as Alpha Psi Omega President. She is also an Ashbrook Scholar, a member of the Honors Program and regularly attends The Well.
“My main focus with this election is to hear from students first. I want to make sure that there is clear communication with representatives and constituencies,” Sims continued. “There are a lot of awesome student organizations on campus that are spearheading a lot of important discussions, like faith, community service and Title IX. Senate needs to be supporting these organizations and seeking them out.”
Sims explains that she wants the student government to better represent, support and communicate with the student organizations on campus. She has also acknowledged the rising issue surrounding mental health on campus, especially coming out of the recent years in the confusion of the coronavirus pandemic.
“There have been a lot of grants for mental health purposes,” Sims said. “I would like to see student discussions on where that grant money goes and how it is used.”
“I have had a lot of great conversations with the Board of Trustees to consider implementing a dead week, which is something a lot of universities do around Finals,” she added.
Sims discussed that the idea would mean there would still be classes that week before finals, however students would not have any assignments so they could focus on finals.
Sims is not the only candidate campaigning for executive president in this election.
Freshman Kayin McDonald currently serves on senate as Freshman Class President.
Like Sims, McDonald devotes his time to the Ashbrook and Honors programs, as well as Young Americans for Liberty, Ashland University Jazz Orchestra and the Kappa Sigma Fraternity on campus.
McDonald opens his platform with the slogan, “Ready for Change, Ready to Lead,” as a new face on campus.
According to McDonald, it is to his knowledge that he is the first first-year student to campaign for Student Body President.
“I believe as young as I am, I have bright, new ideas for change on this campus and ideas on how to get them through to the Faculty Senate,” he said. “A lot of major changes that need to happen are not being done. The way it stands now, student senate has little power and is not very effective. The process of student senate works like a filter. We listen and express concerns, but we don’t have that much power.”
McDonald has expressed that his main concerns stem from on-campus athletes, current dining services and meal tickets, community service involvement and student workers.
As far as student dining services go, McDonald wants to push for an improvement to meal ticket policies.
“Improvements like giving more swipes for certain plans,” he explained. “For on-campus students that live with a full kitchen, meal tickets should not be required.”
“Nursing students spend a lot of their time in Mansfield, but it seems they only have access to one campus or another when it comes to dining or recreational services. I would like to talk to more nursing students to learn more issues,” he added.
Similar to Sims, McDonald would like to see the university adopt a schedule that instead gears toward student athletes.
“Many students on campus are athletes. Right now, the master schedule for athletics that is offered during classes seems to be limiting athletes in order to take the classes they need. I would like to see AU adopt a schedule similar to afternoon classes ending at a certain time and afternoon practice and activities beginning after that time,” he continued.
The current executive officer of Academic Affairs, Reina Britt is also campaigning for executive president, with the slogan, “Vote Inclusivity, Vote Empowerment, Vote Advocacy.”
With three years of senate experience with her, Britt also participates in the Ashbrook Program, Panhellenic Council and the Delta Zeta Sorority and she is the founder of Elevate on campus.
Britt was unavailable for a comment.
All three candidates expressed excitement to campaign in a healthy race.
“I am open to hearing what people have to say, as well as criticism. I want everyone to be able to express concerns that I can help fix,” McDonald said. “The only way we’ll be able to fix things is together as a student body.”
“Win or lose, you are still able to give back to your community and give back to the university,” Sims added.
“I love it here at Ashland, where I have been blessed with opportunities, friendships and a sense of community,” she concluded. “Deciding to make my campaign slogan ‘In Pursuit of Positivity’ sums up why I’m running. It would be an honor to be able to just serve people and give back to a community that I have received so much from, and I would be grateful to receive the opportunity to do that as student body president.”
As of Tuesday, the status of the current ballots on other open positions within the senate remains unknown due to an appeal of candidacy that the senate voted on during the regular Tuesday night meeting.