Amyah Brooks and Amani Dalieh were elected president and vice president of MUSG last academic year, however, at the beginning of this semester they both resigned and new students were elected. Brennan Wills, a junior in the College of Communication, is executive president and Thilini Mendis, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, is the executive vice president.
Brooks provided the Wire with a statement about the transfer of power.
“I want to thank everyone for their unwavering support throughout our campaign and for believing in Amani and I,” Brooks wrote. “True leadership is not from a title but from everyday interactions. I will remain committed to being a positive force of change on campus through consistently showing up for myself and others. I will continue to amplify students voices on campus. Thank you.”
Wills was supposed to be the legislative VP this year and Mendis was supposed to be the VP of communications.
Both students served on MUSG last year, Wills as a senator and Mendis as the chief of staff for the previous vice president. Mendis ran for president last spring but wasn’t elected. Wills chose her as his running mate when he was elected this semester.
Brooks and Dalieh ran on a platform of awareness and interconnectedness. They wanted to bridge the divide between MUSG and the student body. Wills and Mendis are looking to do the same thing while also working to continue past initiatives and be proactive about future elections.
Here’s what to know about their plans for the semester and what they’ve been working on.
Awareness and outreach
Wills said their main objective is to increase awareness and participation among the student body within student government. He said only around 23% of the student body voted for MUSG election last semester.
“We have a new communications vice president,” Wills said. “He’s doing very well. And we’re going to make sure that we can utilize that department heavily to work on advertising all the time.”
Wills also said they want MUSG to get out of the office and be more present in the community.
Continuing past initiatives
Their second focus is continuing to work on former president Abby Moravec’s campaign to provide free menstrual products and dispensers in women’s restrooms on campus.
Even though the process was dormant for a while, Mendis and Wills said they got a funding request approved, and now they’re working on having conversations with facilities and deciding how they want to direct the funding.
Being proactive
Their third objective is to create a layout for each position so there can be a smooth transfer of power each year.
“It’s difficult for the both of us to come into positions that we didn’t originally plan for,” Mendis said. “This entire summer, Brennan was prepping the Constitution as his role as the legislative VP, and I was prepping all my social media posts … so to have a quick turnaround like this, it’s obviously it’s a great opportunity, but if it were to happen again, that would really suck for whoever is next in our position.”
Mendis and Wills want to define their campaign by the word “proactive.” They both said they want MUSG to be set up for success in the future.
“Everyone that’s here really is passionate about making some kind of change on campus,” Mendis said. “I feel like doing whatever we can to make sure that nothing is left unanswered, so that people have an easier time transitioning to whatever roles that they’re a part of.”
Unionization Bill
This semester, there will be a bill proposed to the student government regarding student support for a faculty union.
There is growing anxiety among some faculty and students about the Steering Committee for the Marquette 2031: Securing Our Future plan to reduce spending by $31 million by the year 2031.
“If the student body wants to support faculty’s protections through a union, then the Senate representatives will support what the student body wants,” Wills said.
Diversity of membership and sustainability
The two also stressed they want to make sure MUSG is representing all students on campus and giving everyone a voice.
They’re also working on holding sustainability events in collaboration with the MUSG sustainability committee.
This story was written by Sophia Tiedge. She can be reached at s[email protected].
