Joshua Williams, junior political science major, is running for SGA vice president.
What is your stance on campus parking, and how would you adjust on-campus parking to help with students’ commute?
My stance, like many students’, is that parking on campus is frustrating. Though, it is important to realize I do not have the power, whether voted vice president or not, to adjust on-campus parking. However, I would encourage students to continue to voice their concerns but understand that some things are out of our direct control.
What would you like to see in the future as far as student involvement is concerned?
I would like to see students continue to stay engaged with the campus and make honest efforts to leave Southern Miss better than they found it. We have some of the most impactful and sincere students and student leaders in the state, and I am confident that with each freshman class we gain, we will subsequently continue to gain phenomenal Golden Eagles!
What are a few important topics that you are running on your campaign? And what would you like to address most as vice president?
My three-point platform is very straight forward. Transparency. Inclusion. Collaboration. The most important of these is transparency because students deserve to know what Senate, and SGA as a whole, are up to! We have avenues through which students can contact us and learn about Senate/SGA related things; however, we still see low turnout. Therefore, we have to make greater efforts to meet students where they are.
What is your take on the low student involvement, specifically with clubs and organizations?
Of course, I would love to see every student organization on campus full of engaged members, but life happens. I understand that we are all human and, unfortunately, low student involvement is a result of that at times, which means we should continue to offer students every resource available to help them cope with stress, anxiety and other common forms of mental illness that college students face.
How did you cope with the exceedingly short campaign time you were allotted? Do you believe it made a difference to SGA’s relevancy on campus?
The shorter campaign was more helpful because it reduced the amount of stress I would have to face if it were two weeks longs like in the past! I do not believe it had any impact on SGA’s relevancy on campus.
