Lone Student Association vice presidential candidate Lee Weiskopf said he will be able to properly handle his duties, but he’s also focused on an issue that involves the SA as a whole.
“The SA faces a big goal that will take everyone that’s involved,” Weiskopf said. “I’m running unopposed, and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity that lies before me this next year. I’m really excited about it, but it’s also disappointing that on a campus of 16,000 people, you can’t fill enough people to run in three of the six races that are going to be held this spring, and I think that’s a big concern facing all of the leaders in the SA,” he said.
Weiskopf said part of the solution involves more openness in the Senate.
Weiskopf added that the Senate should be more open and more public to students, because for most people it is just an afterthought.
“I think it’s even an afterthought to some of the leaders in the SA. I’m a member of cabinet this year, and I can’t tell you what the Senate was doing unless I looked at it. It needs to be reconnected, and I think merging the two together will make the Senate more efficient and productive for the students of Mississippi State,” he said.
Weiskopf said televising Senate meetings again and finding another location to meet would improve student involvement.
“Senate’s done a lot of good things in the past few years. I just don’t think people know it or know where to come if they have problems,” he said. “An SA person and myself are working on a bill that’s in state Senate trying to get a student on the College Board. Big things are going on. I just don’t think people know we’re there. If we can expose ourselves, that’s going to open up a lot of doors.”
Another issue Weiskopf said he wants to address as vice president is the numbers in the Senate. Having served in the SA as a senator and cabinet member of voter registration, he has been able to evaluate what improvements need to be made.
“One problem with Senate is that people haven’t been running,” he said. “It needs to be bigger and more prominent, something people want to fight to be part of, like Road Runners or Orientation leader.”
Weiskopf said he will be a dependable leader.
“The people that elected me, I’m accountable to them,” he said. “I’m doing this to make a difference here on campus. I’m a worker. If I don’t do my job, I’ll have a lot of people on me.”
A major part of his job will be to appoint people to SA Senate committees, which he said he will do based on experience.
“You have to look at experience and if they’ve had time on Senate before, or if they’ve been part of other organizations,” he said. “The big part is in finance and handling money because they work hand in hand with the treasurer in developing the budget for the Student Association.”
Weiskopf said his status as a Phi Delta Theta member won’t effect his leadership position.
“As far as being Greek, it’s a great thing, but as far as being VP it won’t have any status whatsoever,” he said. “I’m elected to be the vice president of all the students, not just the members of the fraternities and sororities. Obviously, they’re a strong voting block and strong supporters of the SA, but so are other organizations,” he said.