Mechanical engineering junior Colin Raby and broadcast journalism sophomore Georgia Peck have entered the Student Government presidential race under the ticket name “Rise Tigers.”
Raby and Peck announced their candidacy over Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook on Jan 10 in a short video detailing their qualifications.
“We are ready to rise to the occasion and bring all tigers to the top,” Raby and Peck said in the video.
They are currently competing against the Scott-Rovere and Evolve tickets. Major goals they have stressed are to end partisanship in SG and create further dialogue between students and SG.
“We have great plans to actually get our initiatives done,” Raby said. “One of the things we all agreed on was that ideas are good, but making ideas happen is way better and too often in Student Government people promise big but never deliver. On every initiative we talked about we have a plan to get it done and to actually achieve it.”
Raby is a senator for the College of Engineering and an RA. He also served as a governor’s fellow during the summer of 2021 and has been involved in the Ole War Skule. Peck is an RA, former reporter for Tiger TV and an LSU ambassador.
“I had pretty much zero involvement with Student Government until now, which I think is an asset because I bring in that different perspective,” Peck said.
Raby said that they view their campaign through the “ABC’s,” which stands for Advocacy, Breakthrough and Community, as well as Diversity, Environment, Fun, and Greek/Grad.
“If not us then who, if not now then, when?” Raby said.
Raby said that he wants to establish a President’s Club, where the leaders of all student organizations will be invited to meet with him —possibly once a month or once a semester— to discuss the issues that they are having and what resources SG can provide for them.
Raby and Peck also said that they want to have the uses of students’ fee bill money be itemized and made public, improve campus biking with air pumps and more bike lanes throughout campus and add extra days to each semester so make-up days aren’t necessary when school is canceled due to emergencies.
Raby said that they also want to have some African American Studies classes count towards general education credits to improve the likelihood students will take them. Raby said that he intends to support Greek life and improve the university’s graduate programs.
The Rise campaign is the only SG campaign currently running whose candidates are not already involved in the SG executive branch
Peck said that their campaign plans to hold more ticket meetings and further their social media initiatives. Raby said that a portion of the money they raise for their campaign will be donated to charitable causes.
“Really, we’re not interested in partisanship; we want to rise to the top over petty partisan politics, unite a divided campus and move forward, united together to achieve goals,” Raby said.
Raby and Peck said that what sets them apart is that they have the dual perspectives of someone who has been entrenched in SG and someone who, up to this point, has just been a regular student.
Raby also said that his willingness to serve is evidenced by him having to quit his job if he wins.
“I will be the only candidate taking a significant pay cut, since the Student Body President is currently not allowed to hold any on campus jobs,” Raby said.
The presidential campaigns are expected to ramp up over the next few months as election day approaches. Election day will be held on March 30 and the results will be announced April 1 at 4:30 p.m. Students will be able to vote through TigerLink.
