Rhett Hobart, incoming Student Association president, said he is thrilled to have the opportunity to serve Mississippi State University’s student body.
“I can’t wait for the year to get started and to get the ball rolling,” he said.
He also said the SA has a lot of events coming up, and he is focusing on working together with the other members of the Executive Council to establish goals for the upcoming year based on each official’s platform.
“We want to represent every area of campus,” he said. “It’s a matter of us working together.”
Hobart said he would like to create a new section of the SA Cabinet that works with veteran affairs to better represent all students’ interests, especially as the number of veterans on campus increases.
He said he is working with the athletic department to host a midnight pep rally before the first game of the season next year.
“We have a great passion for athletics at Mississippi State, and next year, I want the freshman class to share that passion,” he said.
He also said he wanted to increase student support for all athletic events, including the smaller sports at MSU.
During the campaign, Hobart said he spoke with many students about their concerns, which included textbook costs.
To address this, he said a third party company would partner with the SA to create a website where students could sell textbooks to each other. This would provide another option from selling expensive books back to the bookstore for a small percentage of the original price and would allow students a chance to sell unbound books the stores will not buy back.
“[Choosing a third party to partner with] will be a matter of evaluating what is our best option for the student body,” Hobart said.
A comprehensive campus calendar and opt-in/opt-out e-mail system for MSU Announcements are two goals he is currently working on with the SA, he said.
“Students right now get so many e-mails every day that MSU Announcements get lost,” he said. “We have to do something to bring back their importance.”
By creating a system in which students would be able to select organizations they would like to hear from, their inbox would be less full, he said.
“We don’t want to lose any campus organization or department involvement or hurt them,” he said. “By creating a campus calendar, we can encompass all campus events and decrease dependency on MSU Announcements.”
He said a SA committee is looking at campus calendars.
“It’s a step-by-step process and through the committee, everything will evolve,” he said.
Hobart said he is excited about his year as president because he has been involved in the SA since his freshman year when he was on freshman council.
“I’ve seen things SA has done well and things we can improve on,” he said. “We have a very experienced [incoming] Executive Council this year. A foundation has been laid in the past, and we need to improve upon it.”
He said he has seen both programs, issues and events that have worked and those that need to be expanded and improved.
Hobart said the SA’s Peer Tutoring and Academic Mentoring is an example of a program that has been under used.
Peer tutors are student volunteers who provide academic assistance, and academic mentors advise younger students who have questions about course choices and majors.
“It’s a great program that has been under used, and we need to promote it more,” he said.
Hobart said he believes the SA is a great opportunity to serve the student body.
“It’s our job as a true student government to look out for the interests of all students and to be open and transparent,” he said.
Students can contact the SA at 325-3917 or contact members through their e-mail addresses, which can be found at sa.msstate.edu, Hobart said.
“We encourage [students] to contact us about issues and concerns so we can do things students want,” he said.