Student Government 2023-2024 President Helen Getachew and Vice President William Ramirez said they are eager to begin enacting campaign policies on housing, health equity, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs for students.
Getachew and Ramirez were elected in the spring 2023 semester and said they believed their vibrant campaign which prioritized students and various campus organizations is what connected with the student body, winning them the election.
“We were already very active on campus,” said Ramirez, a humanities and economics senior. “I think when you’re already a part of a community and people have seen you do work in this sense of advocacy, a lot of people just want to support people they’ve seen in their previous communities.”
DEI initiatives are a top priority in light of the passing of SB 17, removing funding from state universities with DEI offices and the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action, Ramirez said.
According to their DEI policy memo, Getachew and Ramirez hope to increase visibility of the Multicultural Engagement Center and the Gender and Sexualiy Center, as well as create The State of Students Summit. The Summit includes outreach for and data collection from identity-based organizations leading to a multi-day conference where findings would be presented and new initiatives would be planned.
The alliance said they also hope to speak with administrators about leveraging the University’s influence in West Campus to address rising housing costs and students being stuck in leases of unfinished apartments.
The alliance said they seek to implement policies that outlast their leadership, like equalizing access to menstrual products across campus as a part of their health equity initiative.
“It’s something that’s been ongoing and various presidents of various organizations across campus have tried to tackle it, but it has been something that has only been sporadic because people only serve one year terms,” said Getachew, a business and government senior. “And so for our health equity initiative, one of our things would be to try to make a sustainable initiative that would allow menstrual products to be implemented that supersedes us and doesn’t really have to stick to our term.”
Getachew said part of their platform is getting as many relevant organizations and stakeholders involved as possible to best address issues. They acknowledge the challenges this presents, and said they are prepared to face them.
“A delayed message may delay a project, but different ways we want to address that is through having multiple stakeholders involved,” Getachew said. “Just so we aren’t dependent on one party or one group, but also (making) our policies still pursuable without being contingent or dependent on relevant stakeholders.”
Getachew said their identities play an important role in their work. Through being authentic, they can best connect with students while implementing their policies, she said.
“The most exciting thing about being in such a visible role is being able to talk to all the students,” Ramirez said. “It gives me hope because sometimes you get put in these positions and get pushed down so much, (but) then you talk to students who have the same ideas as you and the idea, and the hope, that things can get better lives on.”
