I have been a student at this university since August 2014. Since then, I have experienced three student body presidents and three student body vice presidents, all of whom had varying degrees of involvement with and within the student body. With our newly elected SBP and SBVP sworn in for the next year, it’s important to reflect on what we expect from our new leaders. 

Over the years, my own involvement as a member of the student body has grown exponentially. I went from being as intentionally uninvolved as possible during freshman year, to making a conscious effort every day to stay up to date with events and news around campus. In a similar trend, my active involvement in Student Government politics has increased as well.

It’s very easy to be apathetic in the face of campus politics. The fact is, that our time at college is temporary and fairly short in the grand scheme of things. This temporality, paired with the fact that Student Government often seems removed from the general student body and student happenings on campus, creates a disconnect among students. 

When I say students, I mean all students, including those who hold positions within Student Government. A fundamental part of serving and representing the student body is recognizing that we, too, are students. In fact, our status as students is what allows us to represent our peers in the first place.

We are influenced by and active parts of the culture at NC State. What’s more, we play a vital role in influencing the culture we and our peers live in every day, and especially as representatives of the student body, it’s up to the leaders, particularly in Student Government, to have a responsibility to be involved, first and foremost as students.

Thus, the most important thing I expect of the newly elected SBP and SBVP is to be integrated within the student body as students before leaders. Past student body presidents and vice presidents have proudly touted involvement with the students as though surface level appearances at events around campus are deserving of the highest accolades. Involvement is a part of the SBP job description. Integration demonstrates a thorough understanding of the role of the student body president.

To be involved is to rely on secondary sources for any and all news about the student body; to be integrated is to be your own primary source on campus happenings. It shouldn’t take multiple complaints from other students to decide to enact change. Rather, the purpose of being SBP is to experience the problems first hand — to understand the issues as and when they are happening, as opposed to after they have had a lasting impact.

The roles of SBP and SBVP are demanding, time consuming and unfathomably difficult. As a minority student who works for the student newspaper — a publication that represents the student body — I understand the importance of representation, but more importantly, I understand that it is impossible to represent every single student individually.

Student Body President Jackie Gonzalez and her vice president, Mia Connell, focused much of their campaign on diversity, inclusion and representation on campus. Other aspects of their platform included improving Student Government programs and maintaining active communication with the students they will lead. 

While previously elected student body presidents have mentioned similar goals within their platforms, I have seen a distinct lack of delivery or follow through. Nonetheless, I am cautiously hopeful that this upcoming year will be different — that this year, our SBP and SBVP will put their words into actions and focus on their roles as students as the essential part of being student leaders.