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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
KUNITED FROM PAGE 1A
that just the quality of saying that you're a Jayhawk truly exemplifies the community that we have as Jayhawks. I think that every student at KU has an opportunity to make their academic career whatever they want it to be. I think we have a unique situation that you can come to KU and say, 'I want to do this', or X, Y, and Z, or myself — I want to run for student body president. As a freshman, I never would have thought that was ever possible, but because of the community that KU has, I think that it's a really positive environment for doing whatever you're passionate about.
TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2013
**IN STAR**
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BB: I think when you arrive on campus, there is this atmosphere where you think, 'Man, I'm at a flagship university, I'm at a research one university', and there are so many important things going on at KU, and I have the opportunity to contribute to that. And whether it's like Brandon said, being in Student Senate or running for student body vice president or it's doing research in a biology lab or a greenhouse or something, there are just so many opportunities at KU to contribute in such a positive way, and I think that is so unique and we should not ever take that for granted.
UDK: What do you think some weaknesses of KU students are?
BW: One thing that I see, which I see as an opportunity for us to work on if elected, is that at the University, we have over 20,000 students. We have almost 600 student organizations that are registered through Student Involvement, but it seems like you see the same people involved in everything. I think that while it's a great opportunity that you can get involved with whatever you want, I think we really need to truly engage
students. Because if you get involved with whatever you passionate about or you get involved in undergraduate research or research at the graduate level, it's something that's going to lead to you to stay at the University. In a time where the University is facing retention issues at times and enrollment, I think that we really need to be focused on how can we get quality layhawks here and how can we keep them here. And so I think that's not necessarily a negative quality, but I think something we can really work on is engaging more students.
BB: I think I'd tie my weakness back into the strength in that trying to find a way to make sure that every single student that walks onto KU embraces the fact that we do play an integral role in not only Kansas and not only the region, but in the United States and the world. Getting every student in every department and from all walks of life to embrace that fact will really enhance the University and I think that we have certain groups of students who really take that on and fulfill the responsibilities associated with that. Making sure everyone is embracing that responsibility to the fullest will make the University much better in the long run.
UDK: If you're elected, what do you think that you two can do to bolster some of these weaknesses, make them stronger, but also to highlight the strengths that you talked about?
BW: I can not only use my own personal experience of someone that as a freshman, lived off-campus, wasn't involved in anything first semester, and didn't know anyone, came to class and went home and napped or went to work. I can use my own experiences to reach out with the University administration as well
as other student organizations and things like that to engage those students. Also, I think that we can really use what we've learned over time in our experience within Student Senate, Student Senate is such a powerful entity and a body that represents so many students that I think that we could expand our horizons and expand our reach to further enhance the University
AD ASTRA FROM PAGE 1A
I'll use the example of sustainability because I'm so close to it everyday, and I think that KU makes a commitment to sustainability by making sure that every student realizes that KU is prioritizing. That is one example of a way in which students should really be engaged on all different fronts. And when KU, as a leader amongst other universities, takes on an issue like sustainability, I think that embracing it from the fullest is crucial, and it takes embracing it from the top all the way to the bottom via administrators, seniors, juniors and freshman who have just arrived on campus. I think Student Senate in the capacity not solely sustainability, but with every issue in Student Senate, has such a wide reach and we have 20 percent representation with students on every board or committee at this university and student senators and board members and committee members have that opportunity to really influence those things and make the priorities that need to be made very prevalent and a way to have an impact through those.
UDK: Can you tell us about some of your personal strengths and weaknesses as leaders?
BW: I'm very driven. I think that it speaks a lot that I've been financially independent on my own since I was 16. I was able to provide for myself through part of
SEE KUNITED PAGE 8A
UDK: What do you think some of the greatest strengths of KU students are?
EH: I think KU students are No. 1 in terms of coming together from different places across campus in the face of adversity. As Ad Astra, we have picked student leaders from across campus and asked them, "You've had to experience budget cuts on a minor level because Senate has been cutting the funding of large groups; how do you think that you can apply that toward an administration? How do you think that you can use your expertise of operating under a budget crunch within Senate?" I think we have such a great resource that's untapped right now of student leaders who know how to function, who know how to get kids to meetings and who know how to spend money wisely, and I think bringing those students into Senate is exactly what Ad Astra is about.
MT: I think the greatest strength of our student body is the desire to leave our community better than we found it. Through Ad Astra I've been really moved by some of the individuals who have come forward who have really great, positive ideas that have, maybe not been neglected from the Student Senate process before, but haven't quite felt engaged. Ad Astra has really been moved by bringing these individuals to the table, and it's something that I'm very passionate about in being the lason of their voices at that top level. There are a lot of students on campus that haven't been a part of the Student Senate system before, but I think they have leadership qualities that are absolutely representative of a Student Senate that Ad Astra wants to represent.
UDK: What do you think some weakness-?
re?
es are?
EH: I think the fact that for the past several years voter turnout has been abysmally low is a massive weakness of the student body. It wasn't a decision made by each student on this campus to be disengaged; it was the fact that they didn't know where to go, didn't know that there were alternatives in terms of democracy, and didn't feel engaged in the system because the prevailing attitude has been, 'Why should I vote?' 'What's possibly going to change?' or, 'I don't know anything about Student Senate.' I think that has been changing already with Ad Astra and with our democratic reforms. We're looking at increasing voter turnout so that students aren't only active within our community here, but so that they're prepared to go on into the real world and be active citizens and vote in their local elections, vote in the national election, and just be more engaged as citizens overall.
MT: I think that the biggest problem is that there are gaps between our communities and it seems like we have these constructed barriers even though we all have mutual aspirations to leave the entire University better than we found it. We want the same thing, we're fighting for the same goal, but there are barriers between the scholarship hall community, between the Greek system, between residence halls, between non-traditional students. These barriers are constructs, these barriers are stereotypes and these barriers are reinforced by lack of engagements from something like Student Senate. I think Student Senate can be a mechanism to bridge that gap between these communities. We need to bridge the gap not only from an executive
administration, from that administration to the senators. I wager that most KU students don't know who their senator is who's representing their community. That's a problem, and that's a problem with how we as a Senate organize ourselves and engage those constituents. I'm not just talking about during election year when there's a party that's relying on that person's vote. I'm talking about engaging that person throughout the year. I think we need a proactive, engaged Student Senate to bridge those gaps between the communities and between the structure from Senator, to representative to the top of the ticket.
**UOK:** What are some of your best personal leadership qualities, but also some of your weaknesses as a leader?
MT: It's been a really positive experience, but certainly one of the things that has definitely been a detriment in terms of my leadership, I'm not very good at delegating down sometimes. I think I'm a little bit too much of a perfectionist in that I really want to be included on every little aspect of what the campaign is up to. I guess maybe I'm a little bit too "micromanagey," but I think that's because I'm just really a passionate leader who is excited about the people involved within our campaign. It's definitely been a team effort, certainly you can't do it by yourself, but that's something that's been a fun transition for me to depend on others throughout this whole process.
EH: For me personally,
I think that my greatest
strength as a leader is that
I'm not someone who will
talk at people. I'm the kind
of person who will sit at a
table and make sure that
every single person at that
table speaks up before we
SEE AD ASTRA PAGE 8A
Tomorrow and Thursday are the two days to vote for Student Senate.
Students can go to www.ku.edu to vote
online
POLICE REPORTS
Information based on the Douglas County Sheriff's Office booking recap.
- A 24-year-old male was arrested yesterday on Interstate 70 under suspicion of driving while intoxicated. A $500 bond was paid.
- A 23-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 1500 block of Haskell under suspicion of operating a vehicle under the influence. A $500 bond was paid.
- A 22-year-old female was arrested yesterday on the 1900 block of 19th Street under suspicion of driving with a suspended, revoked or canceled license. A $100 bond was paid.
- A 19-year-old male was arrested Sunday on the 100 block of Indian Avenue under suspicion of criminal damage to property. A $250 bond was paid.