Patrick Ronk
It’s that time of year again: SGA election season.
Student government candidates will be swarming McKeldin Mall trying to convince students that their political party is superior and persuade them to vote for its slate. You might be overwhelmed with campaign information, be dazed and confused by what all this means and maybe just want to be left alone.
I’m currently serving as your student body president and am running for re-election with the Next Party. Before you vote, I want to let you know why Student Government Association elections are so important for you as a student at this university, what the Next Party has achieved and what some highlights of our platform are to let you know what I strive for next year, if elected.
Apathy is our enemy, and who sits in the electoral positions within the SGA matters. It is true that the SGA does not have the power to reduce tuition, erase DOTS parking tickets, ensure everyone earns a 4.0 GPA or make the dining halls a Michelin-star experience. Nevertheless, we have the ability to use our collective voices on the campus and at local and state levels to urge those in power to mitigate tuition hikes, ensure student resources such as mental health are adequately funded and guarantee that professors care about our education.
This year, we have had huge successes in our efforts to improve this campus. Next Party members and supporters got the University Athletic Council to approve beer and wine sales at university athletic events; we successfully fought to pass a state bill that protects interns from sexual harassment and discrimination; and we helped protect student groups in advance of the Cole Field House renovation. These are just a few of our achievements.
It is important to recognize that we cannot simply bask in our past successes; these wins are just the beginning. Regrettably, one year is not enough time to enact all the changes needed on this campus, especially when you are dealing with administrators who are here for 40 years.
If I am re-elected, I promise you we will fight for a comprehensive student bereavement policy. I promise we will battle to ensure that, at the very least, students in South Campus Commons will be able to park their cars on the campus to go grocery shopping and participate in internships. I promise we’ll expand on-campus tailgating to more student groups to make game days safer, more organized and more enjoyable. I promise we’ll work as hard as we can to make sure every student is given in-person peer sexual assault training so we can help combat rape culture on the campus.
If you would like to learn more about what members of the Next Party have done this past year, you may read our 18-page plan to see what exactly we will do to help all students on this campus, go to www.nextpartyumd.com and check us out on Facebook.com/nextpartyumd or on Twitter at @nextpartyumd.
No matter what you decide, I hope you vote in SGA elections next week so you can make sure the best students are in place to make your time at this university better.
Patrick Ronk is the Student Government Association president and a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at sgapresident@umd.edu.
