In Rudder Plaza Monday morning, as students were headed to their first class, Student Body President candidate senior Jody Sanmuen was handing out campaign stickers.
She has kept her staff small as opposed to other candidates’ large volunteer base, and said, “If I only have 10, well then, they are the best 10 for the job.”
Through the campaign, Sanmuen said she has found difficulty in being the only woman candidate. Sanmuen said that she does not want to use her position as the only woman as leverage in her candidacy.
She said that if she placed herself above the students in her campaign, she would have to wear that suit everyday as SBP. “I wouldn’t be able to keep that up. I will be who I am everyday, campaigning or not,” she said.
Sanmuen said that one of the main differences between she and the other candidates is that she did not do the deep research when developing her platform, but used what she has learned through her experiences at A&M.
Through her four years studying as a food and nutritional science major, Sanmuen has been actively involved within many facets of campus including the Residence Hall Association, TAMU Orchestra and the Dining Services Committee. Sanmuen is the only candidate that is an Aggie Ally.
For the past two years, Sanmuen has represented Northside as a student senator and has served on the student services committee in which she has been able to provide input for legislation dealing with the basketball ticket pull, dining services and parking concerns.
“I hope to develop discussions by creating monthly engagements to discuss University relations and interactions with the students and senators,” Sanmuen said. “One way to do this would be to hold a Senate meeting in the MSC Flagroom and have students freely come and go as they please to listen to Senate.”
She said she would like to establish increased dialogue between graduate students, Greek life, International Students, GLBT Aggies, Student Disabilities and any other group in which students need representation and need for their voices to be heard.
The issues Sanmuen said she sees as most pressing are that the Senate decides on student fees.
She suggested that making that information readily available to students in order to not only inform the students, but to keep the administration accountable to the students’ needs at all times.