USU Student body Candidates tell all
Taylor Leavitt, a candidate for Associated Students of Utah State University president, admitted that running for presidency has been a lot of hard work and stressful at times.
But, he said, “It’s worth it. I would never discourage anyone from running.”
“I’d love to be able to serve the students,” he said. “My goal is to make a difference. I can do it.”
A few of Leavitt’s qualifications and past involvement with ASUSU include: president of ASUSU Senate, College of Business senator, member of the President’s Leadership Council and the Hispanic Student Union.
Leavitt said, “As my involvement and experience grew, I felt there was something unique I could do [as president]. I decided to go full speed ahead.”
Leavitt’s platform includes a tuition payment plan that would allow students to pay tuition in increments rather than in one lump sum. Leavitt is currently working on this proposal and said he has no doubt he can make it happen.
“I’ve already gotten the wheel turning,” he said. “I won’t let it fall through the cracks. It will definitely happen.”
Leavitt also hopes to lobby for an increase in scholarship money as tuition increases.
Leavitt proposes to keep advisers in check through adviser evaluations. As the College of Business senator, Leavitt said he noticed “the biggest business concern is in counseling.” He said this adviser evaluation plan would benefit students by checking up on advisers to ensure they are doing all they can to help students stay on track for graduation.
Thirdly, Leavitt said he promises to lobby the Utah Board of Regents for a better formula-funding program for USU students.
He plans to be an advocate for students with the Legislature so students’ voices can be heard. Leavitt said he has an inside knowledge of what the Legislature is doing and knows a lot of people on the Board of Regents. That working relationship is important, he said. He said he believes as the student body president and a friend, he can make a difference.
“These are all issues that involve every student and not just a handful,” Leavitt said concerning his platform.
“Because I have been on the [Executive] Council and have a knowledge of all the issues, there will be no wheel turning to get things going for next year,” Leavitt said.
He said he is a great presidential candidate because he knows what students want.
He said being involved in every aspect of ASUSU has helped him understand how it is run.
Running for president has involved long, laborious hours of sleepless nights and hard work.
Leavitt’s day starts at around 7 a.m., when he gets the shuttle going in the mornings.
From there, Leavitt spends the remainder of his day meeting people, introducing himself and campaigning.
From 6 to 10 p.m., Leavitt and his campaigners visit on-campus residents. Leavitt works late into the night with publicity manager Erica Jarvis reviewing the day’s work and planning out and fine-tuning campaigning strategies for the following day.
“We’ve tried to keep things pretty professional,” Jarvis said.
Their key strategy has been repetition.
“The more you see something, the more you get your name on the ballot,” she said. “We’ve tried to get Taylor’s name out there.”
More than that, Jarvis said, they’ve tried to find ways to be involved one-on-one with students.
Jarvis said she sees this one-on-one interaction as their most effective campaign strategy. All the volunteers for Leavitt’s campaign have gotten to know him personally, Jarvis said.
“We’re not afraid to let [the volunteers] stay at the door and talk to people,” she said. “In fact, we’ve found it works best.”
Perhaps their second most effective campaigning tool has been the “Mission Impossible” video they’ve shown in the residence halls, Leavitt and Jarvis agreed.
“It gives us a unique edge to things,” Leavitt said.
“It’s a fun and different approach,” Jarvis said. “It’s not serious.”
The video is a refreshing way to show the fun side of the candidate and lighten the political mood a bit, Jarvis said.
One thing Jarvis and Leavitt wish they would have done differently in their campaigning was to have more volunteers wear Leavitt’s T-shirts everywhere, instead of merely sporting his stickers.
Overall, both the candidate and publicity manager have been pleased with their campaign.
“Erica has done it all,” Leavitt said. “She has done an excellent job.”
In all their hard work, Leavitt, Jarvis and their campaign committee and volunteers haven’t forgotten to have fun, Jarvis said.
“We started goofing around one night writing songs on the guitar about Taylor,” she said.
Then there was a card game at 2 a.m. when they knew they should have been in bed.
“We kick back as much as we can,” Jarvis said. “We run a good campaign but make sure we have a good time doing it.”