This campaign is not about a school. It’s about a home. After talking with hundreds of students, community leaders, and reflecting on our own experiences, we realized that so many students feel unsafe and unheard by our academic institutions. That must change. Your home should be safe, accessible, engaging, inclusive and empowering. 

Like so many other students, when Connor and Camille first came to the University of Texas at Austin, they did not feel at home. That is why they are running to be your student body president and vice president: to build a home so that every student feels safe, empowered and a part of our UT family. This is the lens that has guided their entire campaign because they believe this school is better together.

We plan on taking totally achievable, smart and tangible action in improving the communication and transparency between the student body and our administration. A home is a place where you feel safe and can trust the people around you. If our UT administration isn’t honest enough with us to actively communicate the reasons for their actions, how can we trust that they have our best interests in mind? Connor and Camille believe that our leaders must be held accountable for every action they make and plan to create space for that dialogue to take place. Connor and Camille want to implement a town hall each semester between the administration and student body where the concerns of students can be discussed. 

But words are just words if there’s no action behind them. To ensure action is taken and solutions are found, we want to create a Student-Led Working Group with representatives from the administration and faculty that isn’t limited to talking about one issue, but rather can talk about every issue. Our concerns, ideas and questions must be addressed, and we propose an action-oriented way to combat a complete lack of transparency. 

We all come from different backgrounds, experiences and ideas, but we’re united by the place we call home. A family is a group of people that rallies behind the same causes and challenges its members to be better, but it also seeks to understand, listen and celebrate each one another! Connor and Camille want to create a Homecoming Week where we dedicate ourselves to having fun and celebrating each other and our University. We also want to fund the Big Ticket for every student — no one should be excluded from the UT experience. 

This is just a small piece of Connor and Camille’s platform. They address so many issues in nine Opportunities for Change which include mental health; transparency; safety; sustainability; student resources; school spirit; diversity, equity and inclusion; accessibility; and community engagement. They are proud to be running on such a broad, comprehensive and detailed platform — this platform has something for everyone, and we hope you find something that resonates with you, too.

51,832 students, 25 platform points, nine opportunities for change, two candidates and one UT family. What starts here changes the world. Changing the world takes more than everything any one person knows, but not more than what we know together. Let’s be better together.