Thursday, August 25, 2005
Brittany Ramos never got to participate in student government in high school. After being vice-president of the safety patrol at her elementary school in Dallas and vice-president of her middle school student body, sports became the focus of her extracurricular activities in high school.
But now Ramos, Overland Park freshman, is getting an opportunity to join student politics. She is running in the upcoming freshmen elections for Student Senate.
“I really like being in charge of things and making big decisions,” Ramos said. “I regretted not being able to participate in high school.”
Each fall, freshmen run for one of five spots available on Senate. Tomorrow is the deadline for freshmen to turn in applications. Freshmen elections will be held Sept. 6 and 7. Only freshmen can vote in the elections.
Freshmen have had their own elections since the 2003 school year, said Kevin McKenzie, Salina senior and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator, who co-authored the referendum that added the elections in 2003.
“We fought for senate seats for freshmen because they were a huge group of students at KU who did not get to elect their representatives,” McKenzie said. “The motivation was to ensure that all students had a chance to help determine who their elected representatives were.”
Last fall, 24 students ran for freshmen spots, according to an article published in the University Daily Kansan.
Luke Thompson, Spring 2005 elections commission chairman, who also worked with freshmen elections this year, said he expected around 20 students to run, but he wouldn’t be surprised if more applied.
Thompson said the number of students running in freshmen elections has increased each year since the elections began. Hannah Love, Dodge City sophomore and sophomore CLAS senator, said there are several major differences between freshmen elections and general Senate elections held in the spring. Freshmen candidates don’t align themselves with a coalition, such as KUnited or Delta Force, or use issues or platforms in their campaigns. Instead, their most important task is to talk to as many people as possible and get their names out, Love said.
Ramos said she planned to publicize her campaign by making fliers.
“I plan on standing outside with pens and candy, something to attract people,” Ramos said.
Emi Erekosima, Rose Hill freshman who is running for a freshman seat, is planning on making buttons, stickers, posters and T-shirts that will read, “Vote Emi, Absolutely”.
Erekosima said she chose her slogan because she uses the word absolutely so frequently in her everyday speech.
Erekosima said she worked in student government in high school. She decided to get involved in Senate after an orientation assistant gave her a list of clubs during her summer orientation. Erekosima said her background in student government was what led to her interest in taking student leadership roles at KU.
Love said one of the difficulties of being a freshmen senator was learning everything about Senate as quickly as possible.
“It’s very intimidating,” Love said. “You don’t know anybody except the five freshmen you come in with.”
But Love said somebody was always willing to help her if she had questions. Selena Self, Norman, Okla., sophomore and former freshmen CLAS senator, said becoming a senator as a freshman is a great way to become involved. She said being a senator helped her meet people and get involved in other campus organizations.
Self is currently a sophomore CLAS senator and plans on staying involved with Senate throughout her four years at the University.
As a freshman senator, the main goal is to learn about how Senate works and how different committees work, Self said.
She said campaigning was also a learning experience.
“You don’t know what to expect or what to do,” Self said.
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