Golden Eagles have officially elected new leadership to Marquette University Student Government. Julianne Browne, a fifth-year senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and Adam Brzezinski, a junior in the College of Communication, were elected president and executive vice president of MUSG respectively. They defeated incumbent President Brennan Wills and running mate Rhoda Akosah.
Both Browne and Brzezinski are outsiders to MUSG. They currently serve on the executive board of Marquette’s Trap and Skeet Club, Browne in the role of outgoing president and Brzezinski as treasurer. Browne said that it was not her original idea to run for office, but rather an idea brought to her by peers on campus.
“I was approached by a number of people involved in different facets on campus,” Browne said, adding that she hopes to prove that the best leaders are those who don’t want the job, a theory that was told to her several times during the campaign.
This sentiment was echoed by Brzezinski, who expressed his confidence in Browne’s ability to serve the Marquette student body.
“I know how committed she can be and how much she wants to help the campus,” Brzezinski said.
Browne and Brzezinski inherit an ambitious MUSG agenda. One of their top priorities is expanding awareness of the Student Organization Fund, which makes up a significant amount of the MUSG budget. The budget saw a surplus in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic as student organizations slowed down their activity on campus.
Browne and Brzezinski emphasized the importance of organizations being aware of the SOF considering continuing university budget cuts.
“We know that with Marquette’s Securing Our Future Plan that finances for student [organizations are] going to become increasingly more difficult to access,” Browne said. “As a student body government, we are here for these students, and one of our biggest responsibilities, if not our biggest responsibilities, is that student organization funding.”
In addition to expanding knowledge of the SOF, Browne and Brzezinski said they would like to expand senator office hours. MUSG senators are currently required to hold office hours for a minimum of one hour per week. Browne said that she would like to expand that to require senators to hold three to five office hours per week.
Browne and Brzezinski also provided an update on the $500,000 “Omnibus” proposal to invest in improvement initiatives around campus. Brzezinski mentioned several specific proposals to upgrade several campus buildings, including Lalumiere Language Hall and Olin Engineering. He indicated that the MUSG Senate passed resolutions supporting these measures, saying they are a demonstration of MUSG’s support for an initiative.
“Resolution is the first step to showing support for an initiative,” Brzezinski said, adding that the second step is then presenting the idea to university officials and working with them to initiate new projects.
In addition to the infrastructure initiatives, MUSG passed a resolution to provide Marquette’s Muslim community with a larger prayer space. The current Muslim prayer space sits in the AMU, however Marquette’s Muslim Student Association has been advocating for a larger prayer space since the 2021-2022 school year, citing that their current space is not big enough to accommodate the needs of Marquette’s growing Muslim community.
“We deeply appreciate MUSG’s recent resolution calling for a new prayer space and see it as a meaningful step in the right direction,” Marquette’s MSA board said in an email statement.
Voter turnout in the MUSG election was low, with only 23% of Marquette’s student body making their voices heard. Matthew Schacht, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said he feels it is important that students make their voices heard regarding the student body leadership.
“At the end of the day, we want people to be engaged with the roles that will determine the fluidity of our student body,” Schacht said.
As the newest student body leaders, Browne and Brzezinski know they are not going to be able to fulfill their entire agenda in their one-year term. Browne says their goal is to get initiatives moving so that future administrations can continue the work that they start.
“I want to make a snowball, and I want to push it down the hill,” Browne said. “I want to get the ball rolling on all of [the initiatives] with heavy and strong momentum behind it. That’s truly what I want to see.”
The Marquette Wire would like to apologize for a misprint in the Marquette Tribune. The body text for this story was misplaced, displaying a different story instead. We deeply regret this error. Accuracy matters and we appreciate your understanding.
This story was written by Sahil Gupta. He can be reached at sahil.gupta@marquette.edu.
