by Sarah DeYonge
deyongesa@mnstate.edu
When most students go to college, few think of becoming an executive officer of the governing body on campus. Neither Student Senate President Cody Meyer nor Vice President Matty Rezac had.
“I always had an interest in the student government process,” Meyer said. “I had been involved in other university committees, but it wasn’t until the previous student body president pushed me to run for a seat and then a chair position that I really get involved in the Senate.”
Rezac had a similar story.
“I never thought of joining Senate when I first came to MSUM,” he said. “I originally heard about it when I was walking back to my room after a sorority event. I was spotted by a couple of senators, and they really sparked my interest in joining just by explaining the role of Student Senate.”
The organization works as representation for the student body. Senators meet with different groups and organizations to be able to effectively voice groups’ concerns to the school.
Seats are based in the university’s colleges — the bigger the college, the more Senate seats there are to represent it.
Twenty-three students make up the Senate with room for more students to get involved. Although there are limited active seats, interested students are still able to get involved with university committees that all Student Senators are appointed to.
Students interested in joining can fill out an online application on the MSUM website under the Student Senate link.
“Student Senate is an organization that is usually written off as time consuming,” Rezac said, “but the only parts of the job that are required are our weekly Thursday night meetings at 6 p.m and one weekly hour spent in the Student Senate office.”
The Student Body President job, however, does have a larger workload. Meyer’s days are filled with meetings ranging from one-on-one student consultations, discussions with outside organizations, and exterior meetings with the community.
“I have to be deliberate in my scheduling and availability,” Meyer said. “My days normally start at about 6 a.m where I look over my daily to-do list. I keep daily to-do lists and a master weekly list to help me stay organized.”
Meyer and Rezac hope to reform the Student Senate this year in order to make it a more powerful organization that can better serve the students of MSUM. They also hope to institutionalize student voter registration into the First Year Programs orientation model.
“My favorite part about being involved in Student Senate is just getting to see the impact we make on campus.” Rezac said. “Getting to see our decisions make a change and seeing the freshmen students get involved makes my job very rewarding.”
Meyer agreed that the job was fulfilling.
“I enjoy the people I work with from the Senate to the faculty, staff, and administration,” he said. “I’m excited to see the growth with Senate and the changes that are taking place on campus. It’s a very exciting year to be Student Body President.”