It has been a busy summer within the N.C. State student government, and there is a new student body president running the show.
Unlike previous presidents, Alex Parker did not run for the position and he was not voted in, but due to circumstances out of his control, he is now standing with both feet firmly planted in the role. Now, as president, Parker sat down and talked about some of his plans and responded to some common concerns asked by N.C. State students.
Q: How did you get to the point of becoming Student Body President?
It’s kind of a wild ride. I joined student government my freshmen year as a senator and served my freshmen and sophomore year as a student senator; also being involved in other organizations, such as CSLEPS, Teaching Fellows, and Caldwell Fellows.
So I really used student government to kind of practice what I’ve been learning in classes and the leadership skills I have learned in other organizations.
I decided last year, my sophomore year, to run for Senate President, just because I thought I could really give back to the student senate, which has given me a lot, and to the student body as kind of the student body vice president, and that role.
This summer, I just got an email a couple of days before I left for studying abroad in Spain saying that our Student Body President has unfortunately resigned, and that I was kind of asked to step up and take that main leadership role, which kind of brought me to where I am today as the Student Body President.
Q: How hard of a decision was it to take the job of SBP?
Yea, it was definitely an opportunity, and a decision that I did not make lightly. When I got the news, the Chancellor’s office actually gave me 24 hours to think about it.
That was very gracious of them, but it was a little hectic, especially for me leaving for Spain, and so I really just had to take the time to talk to friends, family, mentors; I reached out to a lot of past Student Body Presidents and they reached out to me as well.
So that decision really took a lot of time for me to really think about where I am now and if this is a world that I can be successful in.
So after thinking about that, talking with friends and family, and advisors, I decided that this was a really great opportunity for me, again, to serve.
Hopefully I will be able to use this position in the best way possible for the students.
Q: What are some things you have planned for the upcoming year?
Yea, so it’s interesting, just because I didn’t run on a platform.
Usually Student Body President’s will start planning their presidency and their year on their platform the January before they run. And so if you think about it like that, I’m really far behind.
But the problem with platforms campaigning is that once you are in office and realize what it means to be in student government as Student Body President, you really are kind of dictating what you should do.
So platforms are [a] kind of top-down approach. You’re telling your organization what to do, and one of the great things about this year is that I can really have more of a grassroots track, and go from bottom-up.
And so right now, I’m convening my student-body commission, that’s a group of five to 25 people dealing with academics, transportation, traditions, athletics, all the different issues that impact students here on campus are really saying ‘hey, what do we need to focus on, what are our student needs, and what do they want to see this year.”
Q: You are attempting to create a position of Student Body Vice President, do you want to talk a little about that?
Ah, yes, well some of the ideas we’ve kind of already been brainstorming [are] ways to make student government more collaborative and efficient and ways to kind of improve this organization.
One of those ideas is creating the new role called the Student Body Vice President. That came from a discussion I actually had last year.
It actually came to the forefront of the discussion after the resignation of our Student Body President this year because, as obviously the student body now knows, it’s kind of weird to have the Student Senate President assume the role of Student Body President.
The Student Senate President runs and campaigns for the chief position in the legislative branch and so if the Student Body President resigns, this chief legislator is kind of thrown into the position of running the executive branch, which is not always the most efficient use of our leadership potential in student government.
And so we want to create a new role called a Student Body Vice President, which would help the Student Body President in his or her duties, help run the executive branch of the organization, and also be able to step in, in case the Student Body President is removed or leaves office.
Via Facebook, some students also had the following questions for Parker.
Q: What’s your opinion on the NSA partnership?
I was told about the NSA about a day before they released it and it’s actually a really cool opportunity for N.C. State.
The NSA, in partnership with the lab for analytic sciences, is going to be a really good way for us to promote ourselves as an organization.
It’s going to bring about 100 new jobs to the Triangle. We’re going to attract new government and industry partners, both private and public.
And it’s going to be a great opportunity for us to kind of market ourselves to the larger nation and worldwide with this partnership.
Again, they didn’t have to come to N.C. State. We kind of brought them here because of the unique analytics program and big data, which is a new field that’s growing quickly, and [we’re going to have] the ability now to kind of lead that, which is really exciting for us.
So I think it’s going to bring a lot of great potential and exciting opportunities for N.C. State.
Q: What should student government be doing in regards to the new voting laws concerning college students?
So, again that’s something that we’re keeping an eye on and we’re starting to be proactive in creating relationships with local government and kind of tag-team with them to see how that’s going to affect us.
Again, it’s not something that anyone’s really clear about, but we’re just trying to be proactive and reaching out to our local government and our local board of elections and city council to really say ‘what can we do to promote voting and to protect the rights of our students.’
Hopefully, there will be more to come as we get closer to an election, and we’ll be able to facilitate that voting process with our students, faculty, and staff.
Q:And finally, what’s your take on students being able to carry concealed weapons in the car with a permit on campus?
Well, I respect the right of law-biding citizens who have conceal-to-carry permits and so we’re definitely going to work with them to make sure that they are understanding of their rights and what it means to have that on campus.
We’re going to work with students who are concerned with their safety, and so I just had a meeting with campus police today and we’re kind of getting some hard, set policies in place, and informing students, both who have conceal-to-carry permits, and those who don’t about what this new law is going to mean on our campus.
Again, it is not gone into affect yet, so no one with conceal-to-carry permits can have their guns on campus yet. It’s going to start October 1st.
After that, we’re going to send out a HOWL, and campus police is going to also send out information about what this means, what it’s going to look like, and hopefully we can address concerns, and also protect the rights of our law-biding conceal-to-carry weapons permit holders.