Richard Ferry
Student body officer elections

The student body secretary - to many, this position is seen as one of grunt work and a merely internal Senate office. I am sure that at least some of those who are presently reading this commentary are wondering why the student body secretary is generally elected or why they should even care about who this person is. The fact of the matter is that the student body secretary plays a vital role in the realm of student representation at SMU. It is precisely because of this that I, Richard Ferry, wish to serve as your student body secretary for the 2002-2003 school year. I want to put the "student" back into the student body secretary.

People may think that the only job of the student body secretary is to type up minutes for the Senate meetings. While this job is important, it is only the tip of the iceberg of the many roles that the secretary has. One of the greatest roles is as chairman of the student code of conduct committee. This year, the code committee will be even more important than ever. Starting at the end of this year and continuing into next year, the committee will be working with the Dean of Student Life to re-vamp the code and make it easier for students to understand and abide by. This code covers every element of university life, so this change will impact us all. I hope to use my experience as a member of the code committee to help guide this process.

Another aspect of Senate-student relations is communication. As your representatives, the Senate thrives on frequent, frank and accurate communication with the people to whom we are responsible. The student body secretary can play a pivotal role in this communication. As your secretary, I would always strive to the best of my ability to implement ideas that would help students to be better informed about the actions of the Senate. Among my many ideas is the creation of a Senate listserv for students who are interested in the events of Senate. Interested students could subscribe to this listserv and receive weekly updates on the actions of the Senate. I also wish to utilize the Senate's Web site to post the minutes, legislation and other pertinent information for the public to see.