In the next few weeks, the student body will have the opportunity to elect next year’s representative. As student body president, I would work 24/7 to connect the Northeastern community and give everyone the opportunity to make their experience the best it can be.

As a junior, I’ve had the opportunity to see how great this university could be. I’ve taken a variety of classes, completed two co-ops in Boston, been involved in Student Government Association (SGA), been active in Greek life as a member of Kappa Sigma, showed my pride by being a tour guide, hung out at Conor’s (I love the Guinness Burger) and simply enjoyed being around campus with friends. I know what great opportunities and experiences are available and my goal next year is to strengthen the community so that everyone can have the chance to experience life at Northeastern.

There is a lot of room for improvement in the way SGA serves the student body and I think the biggest change that needs to be made is who we represent. Right now, I feel like SGA excludes so much of the population in our day-to-day work and I have a lot of ideas to restructure the organization so that we can begin including more of the student body. Athletics needs more support from the community, and if the department had the resources to promote their events and bring up their issues, they would have that support.

Student groups often go through a lot of the university’s red tape on their own, and if group leaders had a regular opportunity to connect, they would be able to find others to help them through the process. We need to increase programming for off-campus students to help them find apartments, negotiate leases and stay connected to the on-campus resources. Co-op students should have a way to rate their co-ops so that other students can view those ratings before applying for positions.

This all comes down to communicating, and as SGA President, I would take the steps to ensure that SGA is the central piece to enable that communication. This includes communication between students and communication with the administration. We need to increase the general programming on campus so that there are always opportunities to meet other students. For many students, the need to make friends does not end freshman year. If you move off-campus or into a new residence hall, there is always a need to connect to other students and build relationships.

– Rob Ranley is a candidate for the Student Government Association presidency and is the current SGA vice president for financial affairs.