Rogers

By Anna Flagg
Reporter

Student government at Baylor has been around since 1913, but the group still plans to raise awareness for the work it does on campus. Zach Rogers, student body president, traveled to send-off parties for future Baylor students and also represented student government at every Line Camp and orientation this summer.

“One of our goals this year has been to increase our presence on campus because through this we can become more available to students,” Rogers said.

Rogers is working to find new ways to poll student opinions on campus and voice them to the administration, he said. Rogers wants to determine the most pressing issues students have and the best way to combat the problems and then present them to university leaders, he said.

Rogers serves with Angela Gray, external vice president, and Michael Lyssy, internal vice president.

Gray’s job is to represent Baylor students to outside entities including the Waco community, other conference schools, alumni, and local, state and federal government.

One of her hopes for the coming year is to involve more students in the Waco community and help them get to know their city, Gray said.

“We have countless fun places to visit, unique restaurants and distinctive shops around town,” Gray said. “I hope to facilitate an awareness of how great it is to live in Waco.”

As internal vice president, Lyssy serves as president of the Student Senate. The Student Senate meets every 5 p.m. Thursday in Cashion 403 in order to discuss pertinent issues. Meetings are open to the public.

Lyssy said he wants to improve the efficiency of the Student Senate and encourage more involvement by building relationships between senators and student organizations.

“Even though we aren’t always in the headlines for proposing revolutionary changes around campus, I hope students realize that we are constantly working behind the scenes for them,” Lyssy said. “We are continuously building upon established relations, nurturing fresh ones, and seeking out better ways and models of expressing student concerns.”

One way these student government leaders get to know the students’ opinions is by setting up an “Issue of the Week” table in the Bill Daniel student center (SUB). There, Student Government representatives can talk with students, hear what they want and build relationships with them. Rogers, Gray and Lyssy say their office doors are always open and they want to hear from students.

Rogers said his favorite part of his role as student body president is “having the opportunity to get to know the movers and shakers of the university on a more personal level.”

“I get to see the actual passion the people that run this university have for the students here,” Rogers said. “It has infused a new passion for Baylor in me.”

Freshman elections are approaching and filing begins this week. There is a mandatory candidate meeting on Sept. 15 in Kaiser Auditorium in the Hankamer Business School of Business.

Rogers

By Molly Dunn
Reporter

Houston junior Zach Rogers defeated Houston junior Ben Aguinaga for student body president and Falls City junior Michael Lyssy defeated Houston sophomore Brian Kim for internal vice president in a runoff election Tuesday.

Rogers won with 52.87 percent of the 1,880 votes cast for president.

“It was a great race; 52 to 48 percent is about as close as it gets,” Rogers said.

“I’m really proud of Zach,” Aguinaga said. “Zach did a fantastic job. [He’s a] great individual and I’m really happy for him. I think he’ll be a wonderful man with outstanding character to run the student body.”

Aguinaga said he was also impressed by the number of votes cast by students and how close the runoff election was.

“It was a great race, honestly. It was something that surpassed a lot of our expectations as far as runoffs go,” Aguinaga said.

Rogers was thankful and appreciative to everyone who cast a vote in the election this year.

“I’m very excited and looking forward to this next year as student body president,” Rogers said. “I hope that the Lord will guide my thoughts and my actions and that we will as student government be a transparent organization to represent students.”

Lyssy

With 1,828 votes cast for internal vice president, Lyssy received 60.61 percent of the votes over Kim.

Both internal vice presidential candidates said they were happy for the election race to conclude, but said they enjoyed campaigning.

“Running for this office has been a pleasure,” Kim said. “I had so much fun just getting to meet new people and I’m just really blessed that God has given me the strength to finish even with the runoff, so I’m just really thankful.”

After being in a runoff for the second consecutive year, Lyssy said he was relieved and thrilled to hear the results.

“I’m looking forward to working next year and starting off with Senate,” Lyssy said. “I think we’ll be really effective this year especially having some experienced leadership on board.”

Lyssy said he will begin working with Senate after Easter break.

“I’m looking forward to working with the new senators and the new officers and advocating for student body,” Lyssy said.

Rogers and Lyssy join Corpus Christi junior Angela Gray, the recently elected external vice president, in student government for the 2011-2012 academic year.

All Photos by Jed Dean | Lariat Photo Editor

By Sara Tirrito
Staff Writer

Campaign season has been largely unproblematic so far this year — with only one charge brought against a student government candidate — which some believe is a result of the recent revisions to the electoral code. The season will begin wrapping up today, with voting beginning at 8 a.m.

Voting will end at 5 p.m. Thursday, and the announcement of the new student government officers is slated for 9:45 p.m. at Diadeloso. Votes can be cast at baylor.edu/sg/vote.

Student Body President

In the race for student body president are Waxahachie junior Nate Larson, Baytown junior Cristina Galvan and Houston juniors Ben Aguinaga and Zach Rogers.

Nate Larson

Larson, a pre-med/university scholar major, is the junior class president and served last year as the sophomore class president.

He said he hopes to work on helping students and student organizations accomplish their goals and promote their student activities by “removing red tape” and improving efficiency.

“I’m trying to help everybody be better at what they care about and accomplish what they want to accomplish,” Larson said, “whether that be on an individual level or be at an organizational level.”

Larson said he wants to be hands-on and use his computer coding skills to improve the efficiency of student government.

“I feel like a lot of tasks can be automated and be made better through the use of computers and that’s why I feel like it’s important that I’m able to code computers,” Larson said. “I feel like you could automate a lot, like a lot of the red tape stuff; a lot of the processes can be automated easily online. Right now, they’re doing things manually that could easily be taken over by computers, so that’d be one way to go.”

Cristina Galvan

Galvan, a management and accounting double major, is the student body external vice president and has previously served as freshman and sophomore class senator.

Galvan’s goals include making sure students’ voices are taken into consideration during university planning, addressing affordability and improving both student safety and student government operations.

Allowing students’ voices to be heard is Galvan’s first priority, which she said she can help ensure through her position as the only student representative on the university’s strategic themes committee (a committee helping to determine the themes prevalent in community input for the university’s next strategic plan).

“I’ll be able to make sure that the student voice isn’t ignored or pushed aside throughout these talks and when we submit our report to the university,” Galvan said.

Galvan also said she hopes to help improve relations with alumni to encourage them to give to the university. Additionally, she wants to improve student government itself and make it more relevant to the student body.

“I really want to improve the operations within student government so that we’re really working together to effectively and efficiently serve students,” Galvan said, “just keeping lines of communication open.”

Ben Aguinaga

Aguinaga, a political science and philosophy double major, has been a senator for two years. He chaired the diversity committee and held a seat on the Senate executive council last year, and has also held a seat on the academic affairs committee.

Aguinaga ran for student body president in 2009-2010 but did not win the election. He therefore did not hold a position in student government this year, but joined other organizations such as Bear Pit and Sing Alliance, which he said have helped him understand “the average student’s” perspective of student government.”

“What I have to bring is a sense of fresh perspective to student government,” Aguinaga said. “After working there for two years, I recognize the dangers of becoming complacent within the organization.”

Aguinaga said he hopes to help student government flourish by getting students involved in discussions that go deeper than politics.

“The central theme of my efforts is to endeavor not to make it a campaign but a conversation; the theme is join the conversation,” Aguinaga said.

“When we can establish visibility as an organization and reliability as an organization, only then can students stock up and trust members of student government.”

In order to create that conversation, however, Aguinaga said changes must first be made in student government, such as spending more time with fellow members than their mandatory office hours.

“In my opinion that’s not enough time to get to know those who have been elected alongside you,” Aguinaga said.

“When you get to know people on a deeper level, that’s when you can learn to trust each other, and even within student government to build the relationship that we’re trying to build with students on campus.”

Zach Rogers

Rogers, an entrepreneurship and marketing double major, has served as freshman class president, a member of the cabinet of the external vice president his sophomore year and this year was a student representative for the judicial affairs committee.

Rogers’ platform includes both short-term and long-term goals. In the short term, he said he hopes to develop relationships with President Ken Starr, the university administration and the board of regents, “uphold the values of a servant leader” and increase the student government scholarship to $1,000. In the long term, he said he hopes to create a student representative seat on the board of regents.

In developing relationships with the administration, Rogers said he hopes to help “make student government a reputable source of information.”

“I want to be a transparent representative for student government to the administration,” Rogers said. “Being a transparent representative is me and the rest of student government polling the opinions of students and relaying messages between the administration and the students as best as I can.”

Through his platform, Rogers said he hopes to serve and honor the Lord.

“I feel like the Lord has called us to be servants, first and foremost to serve the Lord and then others,” Rogers said. “The reason why my platform is important to me is because it’s using the gifts and abilities the Lord has given me to lead others and to honor Him.”

Internal Vice President

Vying for the internal vice president position are current IVP Falls City junior Michael Lyssy, Houston sophomore Brian Kim and Fort Worth junior Daniel Houston.

Michael Lyssy

In addition to serving as IVP, Lyssy, an international studies major, has served as a senator for two years.

“There’s a huge learning curve, I think, with this position,” Lyssy said. “It requires not only a vision, but a knowledge before you can begin, so I think already having that is a great asset and I can hit the ground running.”

Lyssy also said he believes the relationships he has built with administrators will be a “great asset for this position.”

Lyssy said he hopes to help bring about a cultural change in Senate so that time in meetings can be used more efficiently, build a closer relationship with the administration and also address the issue of affordability.

“I’m very in touch with students and not afraid to advocate for student concerns,” Lyssy said. “I know that the biggest concern that students have … is tuition and the cost of attending Baylor, so I’m very committed to working with Judge Starr and those involved with the scholarship committee to make sure we continue to recruit funds for that and we see the effects of those for the students as soon as possible.”

Brian Kim

Kim, a political science major, has served in Student Senate for two years and is the public relations chair for Senate and the branding coordinator for student government.

“Serving the students has always been a passion,” Kim said. “I knew I wanted to be in student government the day I came to Baylor, and I ran as a freshman, I ran as a sophomore and I want to continue serving my peers as next year’s IVP.”

Kim said he hopes to look in-depth at student concerns such as parking, safety on and off campus and fair distribution of student generated allocation funds.

Kim said he also wants to see stronger leadership and better communication in student government.

“I want to change the attitude and harmony of student government,” Kim said. “I want to reunite student government to more effectively work toward our goals as an organization in a positive way, and lastly I want to see strong leadership with active guidance for the newest members.”

Daniel Houston

Houston, a political science and philosophy double major who is planning to swap out philosophy for journalism, is president pro tempore of Student Senate, chair of the operations and procedures committee and vice chair of the Senate executive council. Last year he served as chair of the community affairs committee.

“Serving as the operations and procedures committee chair, I have worked with our student body documents in a manner that has allowed me to improve the procedures by which Senate operates,” Houston said. “I would like to set a clear set of expectations for the Senate leadership, the committee chairs and the senators, and to do so requires implementing new systems and procedures for achieving the goals that the students would like to see.”

Houston said he hopes to see Senate become more active in working with university administrators, something he believes he has demonstrated in the past by speaking with administrators as he created a proposal to lower the price of parking decals for the East Campus Parking Facility.

“What we would like to actually see is a Senate that is active when it comes to voicing student concerns but isn’t just making statements on behalf of students, isn’t just sending pieces of paper to administrators, but is actually working with the administration to accomplish the goals that students would like to see us accomplish,” Houston said. “I have a clear record of working with the administration to actually implement solutions on behalf of students.”

Houston also said he hopes to address the inefficiencies of meal plans, continue addressing the issue of parking and also to set clearer goals for the Senate.

“The leadership has not had a clear set of goals and priorities coming into any session of which I have been a member; we rely on individual senators to work on issues that are important to them and their constituents, but these individual senators cannot do it all on their own,” Houston said, “and that is why, if I am elected, I will work to coordinate the activities of our committees to make sure that issues important to students do not fall through the cracks.”

External Vice President

Contenders for the external vice president race are Cypress junior Alex Baqui and Corpus Christi junior Angela Gray.

Alex Baqui

Baqui, a biology major, has been a member of the public relations committee for two semesters.

He said he believes his experience in leadership positions in other student organizations will help him as EVP.

“Characteristics that I’ve developed through my experience as a student leader I’d like to apply through the position as EVP because I believe I can expand the office of the EVP to better the students and our community,” Baqui said.

Baqui said he also enjoys coming up with ideas and seeing them put into action, which he expects will be another strength if he is elected.

“I always like to take an idea and form that into a tangible project or outcome,” Baqui said, “so I think that is also a strength that I will apply to the position of external vice president.”

Baqui said he hopes to continue the projects of former EVPs, and also to create a weekly local community service program for students and student organizations and increase communications between those groups about existing service projects.

“My platform, in general, does target students and student organizations mainly,” Baqui said, “but I will also devote much of my time to work with alumni relations and communicating with the Big 12 Conference.”

Angela Gray

Gray, a bioinformatics and pre-law major, chairs the campus improvements committee, is a student representative to the all-university teaching, learning and technology committee and sits on the board of directors of the Baylor Alumni Association. She has also been a senator for three years, chaired the public relations committee and has been a member of the communications committee.

Gray said she believes her work in student government at Baylor and her participation in discussions with student governments at other universities have given her a greater perspective on the organization.

“I have a bigger vision and perspective of how student government can work and serve students,” Gray said.

Gray said she hopes to continue community service sponsored by student government, to represent the student voice to alumni, the Waco community and local and state governments and to increase communication between the organization and the student body “so that we can properly identify concrete concerns that students have.”

“I feel like my goals for the year embody what an EVP should do with students and out in the community, taking student concerns beyond just Baylor,” Gray said.

Gray also said she hopes to improve the university’s bus routes and expand them to serve students who need transportation to the new School of Social Work downtown. Additionally, she wants to help create reconciliation with alumni so that they will feel better about donating to the university.

“I’d like to use my relationship with the administration and alumni to help re-facilitate relations there,” Gray said. “Students feel like we’re losing a lot of funding for student scholarships because of the disconnect with alumni.”

Lyssy, Gray represent consistency for students

Every year the Lariat editorial board interviews student body officer candidates in order to understand platforms, gauge abilities and represent the student body’s voice. This year’s editorial board has chosen to continue the endorsements. We are endorsing Falls City junior Michael Lyssy for internal vice president and Corpus Christi junior Angela Gray for external vice president.

The editorial board came to a split 2-2 student body president vote between Baytown junior Cristina Galvan and Cyprus junior Zach Rogers.

Only four members of the editorial board participated in the interviewing of and voting on student body president candidates to avoid a conflict of interest — a move that reduce the voting members to four and resulted in a tie.

Those four members voted to run comments about both candidates’ abilities.

Internal Vice President

Out of the three candidates, current Internal Vice President Michael Lyssy, a Falls City junior is sure to provide the most stable foundation for the revamping of Senate culture that is so desperately needed.

Lyssy’s experience in this position is advantageous in that the burdensome intricacies of the position are not foreign to him. Having a working knowledge not only of the senatorial process, but of the IVP responsibilities in particular, will allow Lyssy to continue on a more progressive path faster than the other candidates.

He expressed an understanding of the IVP role as a pillar in the Senate. His ability this year to maintain a sense of fairness and efficiency was echoed by his opponents. Lyssy battled unsettled animosity from the electoral commission fiasco that happened during last year’s elections for much of his term as IVP.

We are seeing, after major changes to the electoral code, a much cleaner and fairer race this year and any divisiveness in the lead Senate position would stir dissent rather than foster unity.

Each IVP candidate alluded to the inharmonious nature of the Senate, a sign that dissension is present. With Lyssy at the helm of the Senate, impartiality and holistic thinking — rather than activism and stubbornness — will reign supreme.

Lyssy will need to improve his use of his committee chairmen.

He needs to take a heavier management role when dealing with committees to ensure that the fairness and efficiency he has locked in for student allocations will permeate the student senator’s legislation.

The editorial board’s vote for the three candidates was 4-1-0 with all members participating in interviews and the voting process. The single vote was cast for Fort Worth junior Daniel Houston.

External Vice President

Corpus Christi junior Angela Gray intends to maintain the university’s commitment to community service while preparing the school for lobbying efforts at the state and national level. She is, in turn, the best option for an incoming external vice president.

Gray has a broad view of the role of an external vice president — a view that will allow for much growth in the EVP office.

Gray is prepared for progress on the community service, city engagement and lobbying fronts.

The strength that will provide the most for this university is Gray’s acknowledgement that the transition of student body officers each year often stunts any productivity that occurs under each administration. The university has developed fantastic community service initiatives (and is still improving) and it is now time to develop the EVP’s role in engaging community leaders and developing plans for Baylor’s involvement on a larger scale.

The university’s location in Waco provides numerous opportunities for service. However, a reversal of that truth — the idea that Waco can improve the university and its students — has not always been recognized.

If Gray is elected to the EVP office, she has the initiative and know-how to create a myriad of contacts that will improve the university’s local engagement. Gray is looking to cooperate with community leaders to create partnerships that will further the university and city’s causes.

With the creation of such dynamic initiatives like the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative, the incoming EVP needs to maintain the university’s service endeavors while furthering city cooperation. We trust Gray with those tasks.

The editorial’s board vote for the two candidates was 5-0. All members of the editorial board participated in the interviewing and voting processes.

Student Body President

With experience as a two-time student senator and currently serving as the external vice president, Cristina Galvan understands students’ desire to be heard.

Galvan’s platform seeks to unify students’ concerns and channel them through the right avenues for productive change, as well as fostering alumni support to improve the affordability of Baylor and bettering the communication and operation of student government.

Galvan’s experience dealing with the administration and the Baylor Board of Regents along with her time on various task forces and committees —like the service learning community task force — will aid her well in the lead student body officer position.

Galvan mentioned very specific changes, such as improvements to the campus security notification system, that provide for a well-rounded platform.

On the issue of transparency, Galvan said she believes changes the university makes that are in opposition to a majority of the student population should require more justification from the administration — a stance we feel would increase students’ awareness and the accountability of the administration if followed.

Galvan has emphasized the current strategic planning process as an opportunity for student ideas to be heard. Galvan’s experience and proven track record as an altruistic student advocate qualify her as a lead student body president candidate.

Zach Rogers is a student body president candidate that has the ability to bring a fresh perspective to student government. Although he has not served as a student senator or a student body officer, Rogers has held student leadership positions as freshman class president, cabinet member of former external vice president Emily Saultz and student representative for judicial affairs as appointed by current student body president Michael Wright.

Rogers is a personable candidate who can easily relate to students. In conjunction with that, Rogers has a passion to cultivate student concerns with student government affairs. To establish this connection with students, Rogers plans to actively pursue students’ opinions, not through surveys, but through personally approaching students and discussing key issues.

It can be disconcerting that he has little experience in Student Senate. However, his hard work ethic, as displayed through his work as freshman class president and subsequent work thereafter, indicates that Rogers will work hard to ensure that both his short-term and long-term goals will be accomplished.

Of Rogers’ short-term goals, the most promising is the goal of increasing student government scholarships through fundraisers. Rogers’ long-term goal of placing a student representative on the board of regents is lofty, but one that needs to be carefully considered. Rogers is a competent leader and he has the potential to assertively and respectfully work with the Baylor administration.

The editorial’s board vote for the four candidates was 2-2-0-0 with votes going to Zach Rogers and Cristina Galvan. Carmen Galvan, assistant city editor and the sister of candidate Cristina Galvan, did not participate in the interviewing or voting processes, resulting in a tied vote without the option for a tiebreaker.

Student Body President

Cristina Galvan “I want to continue to ensure that the student voice is heard and acknowledged and listened to and working to make Baylor more affordable for students.”

Zach Rogers “The Lord has given me a passion to serve and with this passion, I want to use this passion for students for I believe that I am a servant leader.”

Nate Larson “I want to help students and student organizations accomplish the goals that they want to accomplish, focus on things that they care about.”

Ben Aguinaga, who has filed to run for student body president, did not attend

Internal Vice President

Brian Kim “I want [to] increase the number of propositions we write as a senate, secondly I would like to see stronger leadership as a stronger IVP and, lastly, equally and fairly distributing the Student Government Allocation Fund.”

Michael Lyssy “I know how senate works, I’ve been a senator, I have experience I’ve Been IVP and I believe the connections that I have made as a SBO will really help this position next year.”

Daniel Houston “I am willing to work with students and provide a Senate that functions effectively enough that when a student comes before us with a concern and says ‘This is where we want to see student government in the next 10 years’ then we’re going to be open to actually be receptive to that.”

External Vice President

Alex Baqui “I would like to develop a weekly consistent community outreach program in Waco, in which every week student organizations and students could get involved in a weekly program.”

Angela Gray “I would like to reestablish connections at the state and federal legislators, establishing more connections outside of Baylor administrators.”

Student body senate passed several bills and revisions in yesterday’s meeting, several of which financed events held by various student organizations.

Senate passed three bills that will help finance student organization events, including Phi Beta Sigma’s inaugural Blue & White Charity Banquet, which will raise funds for Glimmer of Hope and raise awareness for the need for clean water in Ethiopia. The senate also approved funds for the Hispanic Student Association’s Fiesta 2011, which will bring dancers, performers, carnival games, food and other forms of Latin entertainment to the SUB Bowl, and the Latin Dance Society’s Salsa Invasion, which will feature a weekend of professional Latin dance classes in the Waco area for Baylor students and locals.

“Students can go and get really good Latin dance lessons for a very, very low cost,” said Corpus Christi senior Angela Gray. “There’s a lot of attendance from the Waco community and from out of town as well so it’s a big deal.”

Senate also voted to revise several articles to its constitution, mostly to improve grammar and style but also making several substantive changes. Changes made to Article III dealt with eligibility of student body president candidates, ruling that those who are studying abroad can run.

“If you can win a student body president while studying abroad, more power to you,” said Virginia senior senator Logan Snow.

Other changes made to Article III clarified that the student body president, as well as any elected official, would not be able to study abroad while they were serving in their elected posts.

“If they do go on a vacation for a week, you’re still attending Baylor, I mean, that’s allowed,” said Houston Junior senator Cody Orr. “It’s just if you go on some official minimester or something.”

The revisions made to Article IV of the constitution also concern the student court. The eligibility requirements for court clerk were changed so that freshmen are eligible, and it officially designated the chief justice as the official who swears in new associate justices. The revisions also designate the Chief Justice as the court official who determines what constitutes an unexcused absence.

“It’s a very straightforward bill. It doesn’t change much, but it puts us one step closer to having a highly respectable document,” said Fort Worth junior senator Daniel Houston.

The meeting also included presentations by representatives from Relay For Life detailing how someone could sign up for a relay team by visiting the website, relayforlife.com/baylorutx, as well as a presentation by Baylor’s sustainability coordinator Smith Getterman.

“We are nearing completion of the university garden [a vegetable garden],” Getterman said. “We have a pilot bed in place right now and we anticipate actual planting in the coming weeks.”

Getterman went on to outline various ways Baylor is working toward creating a sustainable campus, including giving Baylor Line Camp leaders iPads instead of extensive instructional material. The leaders would then have to turn the iPads back in once Line Camp is over.

“We are charged with taking care of God’s creation,” Getterman said. “We often miss the Lord’s biggest gift and that’s the earth.”

Senior class president Mary-Katherine Leslie was also at the meeting to make an announcement about the senior class gift, which raises funds for scholarships through fundraisers at Chick-Fil-A, Chipotle, 3 Spoons Frozen Yogurt and McAlister’s Deli. Dates and times have yet to be announced.