The NC State Executive Cabinet met Wednesday in Talley Student Union to discuss various projects including a new Student Government social media campaign in the mold of “Humans of New York,” a canned food drive and Belltower tour improvements.
Student Body Vice President Mia Connell, a third-year studying sociology, led the meeting, which was attended by representatives from the departments of the Executive Branch.
The meeting began with a welcome statement from Student Body President Jackie Gonzalez, a fourth-year studying political science. Following this welcome, each department under the Executive Branch prepared to give their statements on upcoming projects.
“The cabinet is made up of myself and Jackie,” Connell said. “The executive assistant, chief of staff, our [Association of Student Governments] delegate, our associate delegate and the other student body officers make up our cabinet. We go through business, primarily what’s going on in the individual departments. That’s where a lot of our initiatives should be housed just because of the function and the roles of the departments.”
The departments that are a part of the Executive Branch include: Athletics, Communications, Diversity Outreach, Government Relations, Graduate Student Affairs, Philanthropy and Service, Sustainability, Traditions, and University Affairs.
“They have to get things approved from us if there’s ever spending; they have to get budgets approved at those meetings,” Connell said. “We have a timeline in terms of event planning, initiative planning that they have to follow. Primarily what just happened [in tonight’s meeting] was updates from the different cabinet members.”
The departments talked about the major projects or issues they are each focusing on.
The Traditions Department is in the process of developing monthly tours of the Belltower and Reynolds Coliseum for students, held by Tom Stafford, former vice chancellor of Student Affairs. Their plan is to advertise the tours more frequently and make the sign-up process for these tours easier for students.
The Communications Department is focusing on a project to feature on social media that involves interviewing students about Student Government and the events that they hold.
“The idea that I had is making it kind of more on-the-go,” said head of the Communication Department Tate Cohen, a second-year studying media communication. “Kind of like a ‘Humans of New York’ kind of thing where you can just walk up to somebody and ask them what they think. I feel like when it’s more avant-garde like that it tends to be more candid.”
Their ongoing goal is to personalize Student Government social media to make it more relatable to students.
The Graduate Student Affairs department is working on making ticket sales available to graduate students, whose dues go toward athletics, but cannot access the student ticket website.
Connell, along with the Athletics and Philanthropy departments, is working on a canned food drive to host during the NC State football game against Louisville on Oct. 5.
“We’re working to make sure that students are aware that they can bring a canned food to tailgating lots — that’s still trying to be worked out — and then our hopes are [for] them to be entered in a giveaway that will be announced at halftime to help with food security [in North Carolina],” Connell said.
While it is not yet actively advertised, students are able to attend these meeting as guests and raise any concerns that they have.
“I want people to know that [Executive Cabinet meetings] are every week, [and] that if you want to know what’s generally going on within this branch, it’s a good place to come and listen,” Connell said. “There is an opportunity to give feedback or comments from guests if there’s something they are particularly concerned about.”
Executive meetings are held every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the 5101 conference room in Talley Student Union.
