'We are capable of more': RCSGA presidential candidate's message

It is an incredibly exciting time at the University of Richmond. I hold this sentiment to the same extent today as when I decided to apply here as an early decision applicant and as when I first arrived here as a freshman in August of 2011.

Richmond continues to be an exciting place and I find new reasons every day. New buildings are rising across our campus, new students arrive each fall and immediately start to make a difference in our community, other students are preparing to leave and use their experiences from this place they have called home for the past four years to make a difference beyond the bounds of this university.

Having participated in student government in high school, I was eager to see the effect students were capable of making at a place like University of Richmond. As a freshman, I joined the Richmond College Student Government Association and enjoyed participating in what some might find prosaic discussions like those with the architects describing the buildings we are just seeing come to fruition now or the changes that the dining staff sought to implement across campus.

Along with the whole of the student body, I demanded a greater role for the voice of students in university decision making.

I am running for president of the RCSGA in order to lead an organization that serves to improve the student experience at a place that each of us has chosen to spend four years of our lives at. At the RCSGA, we serve to shape this institution that does so much to shape us.

A recent project of ours has been to make academic standards more consistent across the different schools at the university. I would like to continue this push by allowing all students at the University of Richmond to take a class of their choice pass/fail. In the spirit of a liberal arts education, students should enroll in courses that will challenge them intellectually and that they would enjoy, not simply the ones that will be beneficial to their grades.

As president, I will continue to push for greater student representation for general student concerns as well as the high level university decisions which truly drive our satisfaction with the university.

I repudiate the idea that an institution that fundamentally exists because of the student will act in a way as to omit students from the process of decision making which determines our satisfaction, our education, and our way of life. We are capable of more, we deserve more.

Please consider supporting me for President of the Richmond College Student Government Association. Voting will take place on Tuesday, March 4 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at wwws.richmond.edu/vote.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at brad.groves@richmond.edu.