Shelby Balius said she believes many students feel disconnected from the Student Association, and, through that, students feel disconnected from Mississippi State University as a whole – that is something she wants to change. By increasing transparency and using public relations resources to communicate with students, she said she hopes to serve them by being a voice for the students to the administration.
“The Student Association is an overarching student organization; every student is a member of it,” she said. “The things we try to initiate and implement are for the students.”
Having worked with academic affairs for the past two years, Balius said she has built relationships with the administration that will help her initiate her platform.
This year, Balius has worked with administrators to reform the teacher evaluation process. She has tried to get the process moved online — the proposal has passed through associate dean’s council and still needs to go through dean’s council and faculty senate.
“If everything goes well, teacher evaluations will be online in the fall,” she said. “But my ultimate goal is to have at least part of those evaluations public for students to see. They would log in with their net ID and net password and see either the ratings or some of the comments.”
She said Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Florida have the processes online.
“We would be catching up with the SEC, but I think that’s something that’s necessary,” she said.
Another academic affairs policy Balius said she wants to implement would be dead week. Dead week would consist of the five calendar days leading up to exam week and instructors would be kept from administering tests or graded class assignments worth more than 15 percent of the course’s overall grade. However, some exceptions would include classes that only meet once a week or a project assigned through the syllabus within the first two weeks of class.
“It would allow us to have enough time to force instructors to divvy out their time wisely; it would give us a bit more time to study for our finals,” she said.
As an orientation leader this summer, Balius said she had the opportunity to meet transfer students and hear their concerns.
“It’s amazing to see the difference of experience they’ll have versus someone who comes in as a freshman,” she said. “I think it’s important to make sure we have a really great communication line with them.”
By adding a cabinet position for a transfer student representative, it would open a clear way for transfer students’ voices to be heard, she said.
Noble Calls, a baseball spirit event that would be similar to Cowbell Yell in that it would celebrate the beginning of the season, is something Balius said she would be excited about beginning.
“Noble Calls is a fresh, new idea that we have. (When we began Cowbell Yell), starting from scratch, getting to throw all this energy into a new project was really encouraging … it wasn’t something we had to fix or revamp,” she said. “It was something we got to make our own thing. I’m really excited to do that with Noble Calls.”
Balius said many past SA presidents have been very programming heavy, and she saw a need to work with the policy side of the job.
“I’m most excited about putting out programs that students are going to enjoy and get a lot of benefit out of but more so serving as a voice to the students to ensure that I represent them at a university level,” she said.
As the current administration, which Balius said she sees as one of the most productive in a long time, comes to an end, it is important to build on the past before moving on to new programs or events.
“As small as our budget is, it’s very important we use it effectively and use it in the best interest of the students,” she said.
She said from a personal side, although the position of president is important and a big responsibility, she finds so much enjoyment and passion in being able to help others, it’s almost second nature to do it.
“It’s amazing for me to see the impact MSU has had on my life, I just want to do everything I can do to give back,” she said. “I’ve found a home here. More than anything, why I’m running is to give back to Mississippi State because I love the university so much.”