By The Editorial Board
As Student Government elections will be taking place Thursday and Friday, The Baylor Lariat Editorial Board is honored to endorse Nick Madincea for Student Body President. The decision to endorse Madincea was made after the Student Body President debate hosted by the Lariat April 5.
At the beginning of the 30 minute debate, Madincea stated the three main reasons why he is running for this leading role which include: supporting his goals of furthering the traction of the Student Government shuttle, improving off-campus security and creating safer spaces for students, and continuing to uphold Baylor’s Christian mission.
As a non-traditional student, Madincea has proven to be a passionate candidate for the role of Student Body President. The Editorial Board was impressed by the details in the steps to meet his goals as president and his former experience within Student Government as External Vice President in the last year.
Back in December, Madincea worked on launching the first Student Government shuttle opened to all students who were looking to find a way to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for winter break and a way back in January. According to Madincea, over 100 students took advantage of the opportunity and bought tickets to take the shuttle to DFW. In order to make this project a permanent thing at Baylor, Madincea said the next step would have to be taking it to President Linda Livingstone and the Board of Regents to get the plan approved.
During the debate, Madincea said one of the ways he believes he has impacted the community was by getting more involved with the Baylor community and learning more from the students overall.
“I think that unfortunately, far too often Student Government is just kind of a rubber stamp for the status quo, and I’m proud to say I’ve fought to change this year,” Madincea said in the debate.
Madincea also spoke about his concern for mental health and mentioned that during his time as External Vice President he partnered with the Baylor Counseling Center to offer more mental health crisis training. Throughout the year, he said his team, along with the counseling center, were able to hold two suicide prevention training sessions.
Besides student government shuttle and upholding Baylor’s Christian mission, Madincea detailed a five-step plan to enhance campus safety, insisting students deserved to have security and feel safe on and off campus. The five steps are: redefining off-campus patrol routes, improving infrastructure, conducting police-student training, increasing awareness of resources, and prosecuting criminals and supporting victims.
After a tough debate against David Schmitt and Bethel Tesfai, two candidates who are stout competitors in the run for Student Body President, the Editorial Board is pleased to show its endorsement to Madincea.
