John Woodard and Taylor Parks are preparing a campaign they hope will bring unity to the University for the approaching Student Government spring 2013 presidential and vice presidential election.
Woodard, finance junior, and Parks, psychology and communication studies junior, said they are running on the theme “UNITE LSU.”
Woodard said he and Parks are running in this election because they feel strongly that there needs to be unity on campus.
“As a University and as Student Government, we have to remember the past and unite in the present to improve the future of our flagship University,” Woodard said.
There are several initiatives they hope to implement if they are elected, Woodard said.
Some of the initiatives they hope to achieve include implementing a Student Organization Board of Delegates, moving the Middleton study room reservations online and pushing to live stream SG meetings to promote transparency.
Woodard said he and Parks believe they can make a difference for the University if they are elected.
“We can use the cliché adage that ‘we want to make a difference’ — and we do — but anyone can want to make a difference. We are demanding one,” Woodard said.
Woodard and Parks said they are qualified for this position because of previous leadership experience that they both bring to the ticket.
“There are several different areas across campus that Taylor and I have served in leadership roles,” Woodard said. “We have experience working in highly involved and demanding situations.”
This experience is something Woodard said has prepared him and Parks for the position of president and vice president.
“We’re both strong-willed attitudes that won’t give up in our quest to improve this campus,” Woodard said. “We also have a great deal of knowledge in working with people and coming to agreeable solutions that can help us move forward.”
Parks said if elected, she hopes to utilize her personal experience from when she was involved in the University’s S.T.R.I.P.E.S. program and being an orientation leader.
“Being an orientation leader has given me a really unique perspective of what it’s like to be an incoming student,” Parks said. “Working as an orientation leader, you really encounter a diverse group of students.”
Woodard and Parks said they hope to bring a fresh perspective to SG.
“I think the thing SG needs the most right now is a new perspective,” Parks said.
Woodard said SG has done a wonderful job, but like all things, it needs a fresh and new perspective.
“Student Government has and always will be a voice for the students,” Woodard said. “I think that’s what we need to get back to.”
Parks said they also need to address the way students perceive SG.
“I think right now, a lot of people view Student Government in a way that is not entirely right,” Parks said.
Woodard also said he believes SG has done good work, but he hopes to spend more time promoting and advocating what he says SG has achieved.
“We want to spend the time to promote and advocate what we’ve done so students can see the difference we’re making,” Woodard said.
Woodard and Parks hope to create a unified student front, which they say will improve the way the administration views the student body.
“If we were a more unified front, then we would be able to present our voices to the administration in a more powerful way,” Parks said.
Voting in the general election will open at 7 a.m. March 11 and close at 6:59 p.m. March 12.
“As a University and as student government, we have to remember the
past and unite in the present to improve the future of our flagship University.”
