The passion to make things happen

As part of their application process for student body vicepresident, candidates have been allowed to write commentariesdetailing their platforms. Voting will run from Feb. 25 to Feb.26.

Hello Mustangs! My name is Liz Healy and I would love theopportunity to be your next student body vice-president.

I feel blessed to be able to attend SMU, and I am thrilled toshare with you my passion for both our amazing university as wellas Student Senate.

We are all so fortunate to call ourselves Mustangs. It is atitle that carries respect, tradition and uncontested status.

Among the amazing opportunities we are offered, SMU puts anunbelievable amount of trust in student organizations and leavessome of the most influential decisions in our hands.

As an active voice on this campus, it is our responsibility toappreciate and promote the incredible assets of our school, whilenoticing its shortcomings and doing something about them.

With your support, there are a number of different issues that Iwould like to tackle as vice-president. It is undeniable that wehave a parking problem on our campus.

While many people have complained that the problem lies in thenumber of parking spaces available, it has recently been brought tomy attention that the problem lies rather in the efficiency ofusing those spaces. Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying thatI have never circled for half an hour to find a spot at myresidence hall. I have had my fair share of parking tickets, and Iam constantly amazed at SMU PD’s consistency.

However, working with the new director of parking and ID CardServices, I see many opportunities to increase the efficiency ofour spaces by opening the Meadows parking garage for all studentsto use, as well as changing some of the 24-hour faculty/staffspaces to provide more parking for residents and commuters.

How many times have you found yourself running to class withouttime to sit down and grab a hot meal?

In order to better accommodate the students of SMU, I amproposing that Dining Services provides some sort of to-go optionat campus dining facilities. I feel that integrating to-go meals aspart of existing meal plans (or even as its own option) is withinour reach and would satisfy the needs of our busy schedules as wellas encourage students to stay on campus and grab a convenient mealon the go.

Unity on any college campus plays a vital role in the nature ofthe university as a whole. As a proud member of the greekcommunity, I realize the wonderful things that greeks do on campus,but I am also aware of the segregation that exists between thegreek and non-greek communities.

We all need to make a conscious effort to team up more often andparticipate in campuswide events in order to increase studentspirit and campus morale.

As vice-president, I would love to work with groups such as theSports Marketing Advisory Committee and Program Council to promoteunity through athletics and other forms of programming to increasethe bonds between all students at SMU. After all, we are allMustangs, regardless of affiliations.

Finally, while the university is extremely generous in offeringboth merit-based and need-based scholarships, it is essential thatthe school considers the approximate 7 percent annual tuitionincrease and index its values. Through well-written legislation, Ibelieve that Student Senate is the place to start in making thesechanges occur.

This year, I have been so fortunate to serve the school in avariety of organizations. I am the TGIF (Tournaments, Games andIntercollegiate Fun) chair for Program Council and one of theMustang 11. I sit on the Student Business Advisory Panel, serve onthe Organizations Committee, and am a first-year senator forStudent Senate.

I would be honored to continue to serve the students of SouthernMethodist University as student body vice-president.

I have the passion, dedication, experience and motivation thatit takes to make a visible difference at SMU, and the first step tomaking things happen is earning your support and your vote nextWednesday and Thursday.

Liz Healy is running for student body vice president. She maybe reached at [email protected].