Brett Harris — junior from Florence, Miss. — business management and marketing double major
What on your platform are you the most passionate about? 
“I feel a lot of the time that people don’t necessarily realize what the president does. The president is actually the voice of the students, sometimes he is the only person in the meeting — whether it be about parking or what dining services are coming to campus or what new options are coming to campus — so the point that I’m most passionate about is actually being the voice of the students and actually doing what the students want.”
What have Michael Hogan or other past Student Association presidents done that you would like to continue or build on? 
“With this past administration, and Michael, I’ve actually had the opportunity to meet with Michael and athletics about online ticket sales for football. So we have been working with them, and I’d love to see that continued. Also Shelby sort of started talks about a meal plan option where you can give back your extra meals at the end of each semester to students in financial need, and so I know my freshman year I had a lot of extra meals, and so I would have been able to give those to students in need for the nest semester. I’d love to see that continue as well.”
Is there anything you would change? 
“I think Michael has done a great job this year working with administration and still representing students to the best of their needs. Anytime they need something they go to Michael or somebody on exec., and then we tell Michael and he’ll go out and fix it or try to fix it or argue on the students’ behalf. I think that’s something that really needs to be continued, and I think he’s done a great job at it and I’d love to see that continue.” 
What experiences have you had at Mississippi State University that motivated you to run for president? 
“I started off a freshman on Freshman Council where we planned the Big Event, and I was one of the students that got to help do that, and that helped me grow into being a cabinet member the next year. There, I started the Glow Run and Battle of the Bands with my co-director, and then that helped me grow to where Michael appointed me this year to be on exec., and so I’m chief programming officer, where I help plan all the programs that SA puts on. So, those experiences have helped me grow, and a lot of times Michael can’t go to a meeting and he’ll ask exec. to sit in. So sitting in through these meetings you actually realize how important it is to have a voice for the students in these meetings, and I think that is one of the most important things.”
How do you plan to further the connection between the SA and the student body if elected president? 
“That is one of the points where SA, in my opinion, struggles the most. We have an executive assistant on exec. right now, and I think it would be very important to start more of like a delegate program to where each organization around campus sends a delegate from their organization to a meeting that the executive assistant would be over and it would be sort of a talk-to-all-the-students thing. Every organization is represented there, and it would be a talk to the students and see what they need, see what we’re working on, see what events they’re working on, if we can help them. And then you have a delegate from every organization there, so they can go back and tell their organization. I think that would be a huge thing to get started here at MSU. And also little things like putting a dry erase board down on the Drill Field and saying, ‘What can the SA do for you’” Because a lot of times students aren’t going to seek things out — a lot of times you have to go to the students because, I mean, I know I’m not going to come up to the third floor of the union and say this is my problem, I need it fixed. But if there’s a dry erase board on the Drill Field then you can write down what issues you’re dealing with whether it be pipes busting in your dorm or parking, and then we can go work with that and see what’s really needed.” 
What are your thoughts on the “Vote Anything” campaign? 
“I think it’s great. After going to the SEC exchange, you realize that most schools are around the 20 percent mark of students who vote. Voting is so important. It really determines the course of student life at MSU sometimes, and so the campaign that the SA is doing, along with several other organizations, is very important, and I think it’s reached out to a lot of students who wouldn’t have necessarily have voted before.” 
Where do you see the biggest potential for change on MSU’s campus? 
“I think informing students is going to be one of the biggest things, I know coming up, hopefully tickets going online will be a great thing that happens. But getting the information to students on how you’ll buy your tickets and things like that is really important. I know I get like four Maroon emails a day, and so it’s a lot to read, all four of those emails, so we have to find innovative ways to inform students about upcoming programs and new initiatives and things like that.”