With the 2019 Spring General Election taking place on March 4, Technician spoke with all of the current student body officers and discussed in depth the different positions. The officers also explained what their positions entail and how they impact the NC State student body as a whole.
According to Meredith Spence-Beaulieu, student body vice president and a Ph.D. student in entomology, the student body president and student body vice president run together and work in tandem.
The president acts as the leader of the executive branch of Student Government, votes on the board of trustees and is a leading representative of the UNC Association of Student Governments, Spence-Beaulieu said.
She also explained some key differences between the student body president and vice president.
“The student body president role is traditionally more outward-facing, while the vice president does the day-to-day, internal things,” Spence-Beaulieu said. “These tasks include leading the executive cabinet meetings, helping to advise and work with the directors, and otherwise being responsible for the various operations of the executive branch.”
On the other hand, the Student Senate president is responsible for ensuring that the Student Senate operates smoothly. The Senate president affirms that all rules and processes are followed in the Senate, according to Adam Schmidt, Student Senate president and a third-year studying civil engineering.
“It is really critical that a person in this role is objective and impartial and unbiased,” Schmidt said. “They cannot put their own bias onto the student senators they’re supposed to serve.”
In addition, the Student Senate president is expected to take up resolutions passed by the Senate to university administration alongside the student body president and vice president, according to Schmidt.
According to Molly Mueller, student body treasurer and a fourth-year studying political science and international studies, the treasurer is considerably more administrative and behind-the-scenes, as they serve as chief financial officer to the student body.
Mueller said that the role of treasurer includes processing finance requests along with developing new budgets. This role constitutes a large amount of logistical processing.
“It’s really important to understand the logistical processes,” Mueller said. “One of my goals in transitioning with whoever the new person will be, is sitting down and going through a list of timelines, spreadsheets, and helping them understand exactly what needs to happen when it needs to happen. That was one of the biggest challenges for me coming in.”
Lastly, the student body chief justice serves on the Conduct Board, primarily as the presiding officer for Conduct Board hearings. Jodi Svetaketu, the student body chief justice and a third-year studying English and Spanish, elaborated on some of her specific duties.
“We refer really heavily to the Code of Student Conduct and the policies within the Policies, Regulations, and Rules,” Svetaketu said. “We have kind of a procedural structure that we really have to follow, [whereas] the other branches of Student Government have a little more autonomy… My job is really about facilitating discussions.”
Voting for Student Government officers opens on Monday, March 4 at 8 p.m.
