Students vie to become next Student Senate Cabinet

Odell’s Cabinet advocates for increased communication with students, improved school spirit and giving students a voice in college-wide decisions.

“We don’t want to decide the issues. We don’t want to be a group of 25 people that picks out what is important. We want to be a school of 1200 that picks out what are the important issues and what do we do with that,” Riley said during Tuesday’s debate on the Edge radio station.

The Odell-Stathopoulos-Riley-Provance Cabinet proposes sending Student Senators to campus organizations’ meetings at least once a month.  Other ideas include creating a Student Senate blog and dinners with faculty or administration.

The Warm-White-Brodrick-Wood Cabinet platform includes making several little, specific improvements around campus. The Cabinet believes these smaller changes ultimately will make a big iimpact for the College. These include fixing potholes on campus, repairing the Semple deck, 24-hour visitation for all residential halls, student artwork in the Union and increased transportation to Kansas City. Also, the Cabinet believes that by encouraging students to decrease energy costs on campus, the College will benefit by saving money.

“We kind of have a solution for the financial straits that Jewell is in. We recognize that we are not going to solve it, and we are not going to be some great financial genius, but we have talked to Facilities Management. If Jewell were a little more energy conservative and we were a little more environmentally friendly, we could actually make big impacts. There is a statistic going around campus that if everyone turned off their lights when they left their room, Jewell could save one million dollars,” White said during Tuesday’s debate.

White suggested that if the campus were more concerned about energy consumption, the money saved could help fix the “big problems” concerning William Jewell students such as living off campus and the changes in study abroad funding.

Both Cabinets participated in a debate Wednesday morning, moderated by Tim Brooks, current Student Senate treasurer. During the debate, Odell stated that she believes her Cabinet’s unique advantage is diversity. “Each of us are involved in very different things . . . This sets us apart from the other cabinet and helps us reach out to other students,” Odell said. 

The Warm-White-Brodrick-Wood Cabinet cites their cohesive, unified approach as a strong advantage. 

“We think that we are pretty cohesive as a team. We are going to work well together as four people taking on all tasks together,” White said. He also stated that his Cabinet has previous experience on Senate and will be realistic with promises for the upcoming year. 

Each Cabinet explained some of the most important elements of their platforms during the debate, with both Cabinets agreeing that one of the biggest areas of improvement for the College is within the residence halls. The Odell-Stathopoulos-Riley-Provance Cabinet also emphasized the importance of effective communication.

“As we think about what are the things that are important to us as a Senate to accomplish, one of the most important things is to continue to build this community,” Riley said. Odell believes community can improve when communication increases.  

“I think there are several facets of communication. Having more open meetings in the Union Atrium or in 221 and making meetings more accessible for students. Also, having more faculty at meetings . . . In addition, we also talked about having monthly dinners where Senators go to the cafeteria and talk with faculty and students,” Odell said.

Warm, who is currently studying abroad, Skyped into the debate. She elaborated on her cabinet’s position on environmental sustainability: “As a Jewell student, one of the biggest criticisms I have is that we live in a bubble. The idea of conservation may help to add a little hole in the bubble. If we understand our global impact, then we can become more aware of our place in the world.” 

“If we are going to have an impact on the environment, why not have a positive one?” Brodrick said.

Voting will be Monday through Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Union.

Jessie Newman can be reached at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.