Editor’s note: This column was submitted to the Texan by members of the UT community.
It’s no secret that UT’s Student Government feels disconnected from the general UT student body at times. Staunch believers in UT’s potential as a university, Ramya Nambala and Jonathan Wilson are here to change this. Realizing our university’s true potential includes a plan to restructure resources and unify both Student Government and the student body, as well as create cohesive, collaborative ecosystems across UT’s campus.
Our three primary platform points are clear: restructure resources after the Texas anti-DEI legislation was passed, ensure students experiencing food and housing insecurity have their needs met, and unifying the UT community.
After the passage of Senate Bill 17, we believe that restructuring resources to maximize support for marginalized groups on campus should be one of Student Government’s top priorities. Through connecting students to host diverse speaker seminars, bringing back cultural recruitment dinners, seeking alumni funding for initiatives that have been cut from UT funding, creating student experience forums where students can reach out to us to ask for support for under-resourced students on campus, and transforming the space formerly known as the Multicultural Engagement Center so it can continue to promote and facilitate student leadership.
Committed to ensuring no student on campus goes hungry, Ramya and Jonathan plan on ending on-campus food deserts, providing free and reduced meal plans for off-campus students, and utilizing unused meal swipes to ensure we maximize UT’s meals served and minimize food waste. We also plan to centralize the housing search, making the housing process more accessible and stress-free for students.
With our overarching mission to unify Student Government and the general student body, and unifying the UT community through campus-wide initiatives to promote partnerships and collaboration, our vision maximizes Student Government’s connectivity to the student body. By hosting weekly town halls when any student can chat with Ramya and Jonathan about their concerns, holding monthly campus-wide open forums where student organizations will meet and create partnerships, and creating a feedback loop between Student Government through an Instagram campaign and social media outreach, we are devoted to unification of the UT community.
By uniting, we will be solving real problems for real students. Our campaign is a campaign for your voice, your agenda, and your UT.
We’ve already begun connecting with our community, periodically reaching out to students and asking for their concerns on campus. We’ve heard from you – from your requests about free breakfast on Speedway to security against hate crimes to improving student’s mental wellness on campus, we’re here for you and to support the causes you care about on campus.
Vote Ramya Nambala & Jonathan Wilson on February 26th and February 27th at utexasvote.org for #YourUT. Follow us on Instagram @nambala.wilson.2024 and message us about the change you’d like to see in the UT community, and we’ll get it done for you.
Nambala is a triple-major at UT, studying Canfield Business Honors, Management Information Systems, and Politics, Philosophy, and Public Policy from Austin, Texas. Wilson is an International Business major from Grand Prairie, Texas.
