With his only full semester as Mississippi State University’s Student Association president coming to an end, Thomas Sellers said he hopes the groups and ideas he helped create continue to grow.
Sellers transitioned into the role of SA president in March 2010 and has since been taking steps to improve student life both on and off campus.
Sellers said one of the issues he has been addressing is raising awareness among state lawmakers about the importance of higher education.
“We really want to bring to state lawmakers’ attention to how their funding of MSU impacts the future of its students,” he said.
The newly-created Bulldog Interest Group Sellers helped establish will be traveling to Jackson in the spring to explain to lawmakers how budget cuts affect all students. The group is composed of 15 selected MSU students.
“The foundation has been laid,” Sellers said. “Now we just need to see it in action when the next session of legislation begins.”
He also serves on the Student Body Presidents Council along with seven other student body presidents from higher learning institutes across the state.
“We have been working together to spread the message that budget cuts affect all students,” Sellers said. “As a group, we represent every student of every public higher-learning institute in the state.”
He said he is also working on creating a monthly online newsletter that will outline previous SA events, such as Bulldog Bash, and what results they produced.
“Unfortunately, we do not always do the best job letting the campus know what was achieved through the events we hold,” Sellers said. “We want all students to have a clear understanding of what we are doing.”
He said he also hopes to introduce a comprehensive online calendar of events that will allow all student organizations on campus to post upcoming activities.
“We hope the calendar will benefit all student organizations, large or small,” he said. “The university does currently have a calendar, but we want one more students will utilize.”
Sellers said one issue he had little time to prepare for coming into the fall semester was the re-introduction of the cowbell to Davis Wade Stadium.
“I was told there would be things you can plan for and things you did not know you would be confronted with,” he said. “The cowbell situation developed quickly over the summer, and we immediately knew we would have to have strong student involvement to make it work.”
Brent Varner, junior educational psychology major, said he thought cowbell usage was mostly within reason at the games he has attended.
“I think that at games like the one against Auburn, cowbell usage was pretty well controlled,” Varner said. “There might have been some small abuses though.”
Catchot said he feels MSU fans are starting to adjust to the new cowbell rules.
“It is taking a little time, but I think we are getting better each game,” Catchot said.
Sellers said MSU was told by the SEC prior to the Oct. 30 home game against University of Kentucky it was not doing a good enough job controlling its cowbells.
He said many student groups devoted time to the issue prior to the last home game, and he said he believed fans showed improved cowbell discipline.
“It was a group effort between alumni, students and fans,” Sellers said. “We still have one home game left, and it’s crucial we do well against Arkansas so we can continue to preserve such an important tradition.”