Hilton Stallworth, a third-year in mechanical engineering and the current sergeant-at-arms of the Student Senate, is running for student body president. His running mate is Chima Nwosu, a third-year in computer engineering.
Stallworth and Nwosu’s campaign slogan is “Home is where the Pack is.” Stallworth said this slogan represents the campaign’s dedication to making NC State feel more like home to students, providing them with the four pillars of wellness and security, student life and community, diversity, and school spirit.
“The goal of the campaign is to essentially make NC State feel like a place more like home,” Stallworth said. “Especially within this last year, we’ve seen the effects of what happens when students don’t feel at home here in this University.”
Regarding wellness, Stallworth said implementing a mental health training program for first-year students would be imperative to make sure all students are able to identify resources in the future. Stallworth also supports the implementation of more wellness days, adding protections surrounding work assigned near wellness days, as well as establishing mid-semester course evaluations and suggesting professor-student check-ins as an effort to encourage closer relations between students and professors.
Stallworth said he wants to listen to students and amplify their voices.
“I’m a big believer in ‘If you like it, I love it,’” Stallworth said. “Since I’m supposed to be a representative for the people, if the people want something, I should try every bit as hard to make it happen.”
Stallworth said he hopes to increase cooperation between Student Government and University Police in an effort to increase transparency. He also advocates for improving lighting on campus, expanding the escort service and expanding education on safety on campus and around Raleigh.
Stallworth said establishing a universal extension policy is imperative to alleviating the academic toll on students.
“There should never be a situation where professors don’t do extensions on assignments … that doesn’t seem very equitable to me,” Stallworth said. “Of course, it needs to be balanced, because the professor has a schedule that needs to work with that, but there always needs to be a sense of compassion.”
Stallworth said a key wing of the campaign’s efforts towards wellness would be to increase cooperation between Student Government and Dining to expand the variety of food options in dining halls by providing more alternative and allergy-friendly options, as well as more options in general.
In terms of diversity, Stallworth wants to establish a Living and Learning Village for women of color, as well as expand the Disability Resource Office and build more wheelchair-accessible ramps on campus.
Nwosu said his and Stallworth’s experiences as engineering majors make them passionate about issues on Centennial Campus, especially dealing with the lack of food options and a dining hall on the campus. If elected, the two would like to advocate expanding dining options and spreading the sense of campus community through activities and other resources on Centennial Campus.
Stallworth also advocates for departmental engineering career fairs, as he said the engineering career fair in its current state does not provide sufficient opportunities for all engineering majors.
Stallworth’s campaign endorses the Howling Wolves Initiative, an effort to turn Wolf Plaza into a pylon of school spirit, similar to the Belltower. This initiative aims to modify Wolf Plaza to light up red, play the sounds of wolves howling from the Plaza and send campus-wide messages on athletic or academic achievements. Stallworth said the initiative would create a more accessible hub for school spirit, as Wolf Plaza is in a much more central location than the Belltower.
Stallworth said Nwosu’s status as the only candidate who has not previously held a position in Student Government contributes to the wealth of shared experience between the two.
“We cover a lot of identities here within NC State University,” Stallworth said. “Chima, for example, he’s coming from it from an outsider’s point of view. … On the other hand, I’ve been in Student Government for a while now, I know how the flow works. … I’ve had conversations with different people within the executive department about what things are going on there.”
Additional details on Stallworth and Nwosu’s campaign can be found on their website and Instagram account.
Students can vote March 6 and 7 through the Get Involved website.
Chima Nwosu a third-year studying computer engineering answers a question during the debate held by Technician and Nubian Message in Talley Student Union on Friday, March 3, 2023.
