LSU Student Government presidential candidate Stone Cox and vice presidential candidate Hannah Barrios are running on the “Reach” ticket on a platform of sustainability, accessibility, inclusivity and health and safety.
Mechanical engineering junior Stone Cox and English and political science junior Hannah Barrios have been involved in SG at the University since they were freshmen. Cox has worked in Student Senate and the Executive Branch and Barrios has worked in College Council and the Executive Branch. Cox and Barrios said their experience in the organization sets them apart because they know what they’re working with.
“Student Government is a very simple idea in terms of advocating for all students’ behalf, but how SG works can be very complicated at times,” Cox said. “Having that experience is going to allow Hannah and I to hit the ground running from day one rather than trying to figure out how it works while also trying to accomplish all of our initiatives.”
Cox and Barrios are running alongside almost 80 other students representing all 12 senior colleges, making their ticket the largest and most diverse. The pair attributes this to their outreach team and ability to unite students.
“We worked really hard to build an inclusive, diverse ticket that hits so many different areas of campus,” Barrios said. “We worked hard on reaching out to communities and people that have never been reached before.”
The candidates have numerous initiatives all centered around the concept of “powerful, purposeful and possible.”
“If we don’t get [initiatives] all worked through or we just get them started, we leave them for the next people and give them our plan to continue it,” Barrios said. “Because some things can’t be accomplished in a year.”
Barrios’s personal favorite initiative is to allow students to pay off parking tickets with cans donated to the food pantry. Cox’s favorite is the Collegiate Recovery Program.
“At LSU a lot of students deal with substance abuse,” Cox said. “Some of my best friends have dealt with substance abuse and had to leave school because of that. Having an outlet for students to deal with their addictions and get better while being able to stay at LSU, having these services on campus instead of pushing students off is really important for the student body.”
Cox first decided to run after a friend proposed the idea to him. At first he found the concept ridiculous, but as time went by he couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“I knew there was stuff that I wanted to see change on campus. I ultimately was like, “If I want to see all these things get done, and all these people are believing in me, why not do it,?’” Cox said. “I’m passionate about serving the students, why not at least put myself out there?”
This is when he approached Barrios about it. Barrios had considered running for vice president in the past, but wasn’t sure she would actually pursue it.
“We have worked so hard to create a staff, community and ticket from day one that we would be proud of and want to show the student body,” Barrios said. “We built that, and I’m really glad that I said yes to doing this.”
Voting will take place on Tigerlink all day March 9.
