Julia Oller | Echo
Kasey Leander and Camila Chiang
What's your ticket's mission statement?
Leander: Being fully engaged with our student experience in the present moment, because it could be really easy with all the expansion that's happening next year to lose sight of what makes the Taylor experience so amazing. "Here and now," we think, kind of encapsulates that in a big way.
Do you have any specific ways you plan to live this out?
Leander: The first way, in terms of the Student Body President and Vice President's role, is to help cast the vision that even though there's change going on this year, we can use that and maybe even make campus better this year just because w e're having to rely on each other and roll with the punches.
Chiang: With the new student center, I think we're going to have to be creative with how we're going to have the events. That's a challenge that we're going to take on.
Leander: We want to push hard to make sure that something like the (old) ETC is available for students next year. A lot of people have told us how much they miss being able to get decorations, stickers, buttons, et cetera.
What would you bring to this role?
Leander: We think that as a ticket we help bring a wide perspective to campus. We're absolutely stoked. We feel like we could do a good job of bringing different sides of campus together. It does sound really ideological, but kind of unifying around that best part about Taylor, which is the relationships. We'd really try to cast that vision well so that when the cabinet leaders are getting together to plan events that's at the forefront of their minds, like "What makes Taylor awesome."
Chiang: This place has done so much for us and we've seen so much growth, not just in ourselves but in the people that we know, that it would just be an honor to represent Taylor and represent Taylor well.
Erin Hoeft and Steve Lancaster
What's your mission statement?
Hoeft: We have three words that kind of sum up our main point: experience, advocate and hospitality. Experience, just to sum it up: our ticket is the only one that has three years of experience working with TSO. For advocate, this is us just being that direct line to those who can change things.
What things would you like to change?
Hoeft: We have some ideas that are brewing right now. In the category of meals, we're going to go to a point system or deductible. We're going to fight for healthier meal options.
Lancaster: Weekday open house hours . . .
Hoeft: It's mostly for academic purposes. Just a shorter time from 7-10. It's easier to be at your desk working with group partners instead of on an Olson lobby couch with all the couples near you.
Lancaster: Just a small thought we were thinking-even just simple things in the dorms that could be updated or renovated. If there's something we can do within the budget, we want to make it so people can actually bake and cook without feeling like they're going to burn the building down.
Hoeft: So all of these things we want to change really just cater to building this community and also leads us to our third point of hospitality. We want to . . . make lives easier for the students and to cater to their needs, even if it's just replacing the microwaves so they can make Easy-Mac easier. Bethany Russell and Mikal Lake
What's your vision for this role?
Russell: Our vision is that we want to foster the ideals and policy of the previous presidency alongside a strategy of creative aptitude and open engagement. Although we haven't be en on campus as long as others, we want to preserve the Taylor tradition and the spirit of the campus but we also want to be heading toward a future with creative outlook and fresh perspective.
What ideas would you like to pursue next year?
Russell: We have a variety of ideas we're thinking about implementing. One of them is pursuing healthier alternatives (in the DC). Along with that, one of our ideas is to se t up a bike recycling system for students on campus who can't bring a bike and have classes in places such as Randall. In addition, we want to provide the option for the dorms to get together floor by floor. Taylor's community is already really strong and we just want to expand that to the whole campus.
Russell: The last thing we have resulted from talk about the campus not being wheelchair-friendly. Living in Olson, on the second floor we have a handicap shower but how are they supposed to get up the stairs to get in the handicap shower? What we want to do is help make the campus more accessible to those who are injured or have that condition through ramps or maybe even elevators if we can find a way to fund those. Darius Farmer and Kaitlin Kinnius
What's your mission statement?
Farmer: Usually people have a couple words to describe themselves, and ours are awareness and performance. We think it's really important to become aware of student concerns, but sometimes student leaders get caught up with the concerns of the students and they don't think about being more aware of the administration. The administration is going to be here long after we're gone, so if you want real change you need to make sure you're aware of what they think, where they stand and what they can actually do.
What are some of your ideas for next year?
Farmer: We spent a lot of our time actually learning the concerns of people, because not only does it make people feel like they're being heard, but they're actually going to come up with good ideas. A lot of people talk about how they love the unity on their floor, but they say that because of how tight-knit they are on their floor, it's hard to connect with people from other halls. Even for Broho, it's hard for us to even connect with Sammy II, and then if it's hard for us to connect with Sammy II, it's going to be a lot order for us to connect with Wengatz. (We're) trying to find a way to change that.
Farmer: Obviously we have the new Student Center coming up (and) a lot of people really want to be able to swipe in their friends. As of now they want to create this thing called declining balance, where you get $200 and every semester you can spend that however you want. I heard someone mention that they want to do a point system like IWU does with their swipes, and I think that's something we should definitely look into.
Farmer: I've heard a lot of people say that they want more trees around campus, especially for hammocking.
Why are you running for president?
Farmer: I have a brother that's 10 years older than me, and I was eight when he came to Taylor, so when I thought of college, I thought of Taylor. When I applied to colleges, I only applied to Taylor. I think that Taylor's in a really transitional time right now, so I just think it's an awesome opportunity to be a part of the legacy of Taylor.
