Two dogs ran up to Donnie Iorio as he walked down the Horseshoe. He bent down to give them each a scratch behind the ears.
“Your dogs are gorgeous,” he told the owner.
He didn’t know the woman walking her dogs, but that didn’t make a difference. Iorio connects with people of all kinds.
Whether it’s his residents in Woodrow College, his coworkers at Carowinds or a stranger on the Horseshoe, Iorio just wants to interact.
And he surrounds himself with people wherever he goes: as a resident mentor, as SG’S chief justice, as a March of Dimes volunteer and as Phi Beta Lambda professional fraternity’s national president.
He sees scores of people each week, but it’s his residents who have taught him the most, he said.
“Sometimes they do some not smart things,” he said, laughing. “But they made me realize how much I like working with and seeing other people.”
And now, Iorio hopes to bring his love of people to the vice president’s office.
The vice president’s chief role is to preside over the student senate, of which Iorio is not a member.
However, Iorio would feel prepared to oversee the body if he is elected, he said, as he often attends meetings and knows the organization’s codes and legislation like the back of his hand.
As chief justice, Iorio has read through all of SG’s legislation dating back to 1985 and compiled the information into a searchable database. He also conducted the legislative audit of SG’s codes that took place at the end of the last academic year and found the codes pertaining to the house of delegates.
“There were lots of internal things that needed to happen, and this was the year for it to happen,” Iorio said. “Now it’s time to focus on our students.”
And after working in SG’s judicial branch for the better part of his collegiate career, Iorio took a leave of absence and decided to run for an executive office.
Safety, academics and student engagement are the three tenants of Iorio’s platform, issues that several other candidates have included in their own platforms. But this doesn’t concern Iorio; he said he knows most candidates want the same things.
“I’m not comparing me to anyone else,” Iorio said. “Ultimately, it’s how you get there. You can say whatever you want, but you have to see what the students actually want to see changed.”
In order to improve campus safety, he wants to improve the relationship between students and USC’s Division of Law Enforcement and Safety.
While Iorio was on duty in a residence hall on the Horseshoe last week, officers from the division walked through the door, and he assumed the worst. But the officers weren’t there to respond to any complaints.
Instead, they watched the Olympics with some residents and chatted for a few minutes before saying goodnight and walking back out the front door.
“They just came in to talk to the residents about what was going on, and I was like ‘this is awesome,’” he said. “That’s why one of my platform items is making USCPD more visible.”
When it comes to academics, Iorio wants to tweak the teacher evaluation system by adding two questions to the evaluation forms students fill out at the end of a semester: was there a required textbook and did you use it?
“I spent $500 on books this semester,” he said. “That’s crazy.”
In terms of student engagement, Iorio would like to change the survey system SG currently employs to emulate that of Louisiana State University, where surveys are sent to a sample of the student body, not the entire population.
Iorio said campaigning has given him the chance to talk to so many people and he has really enjoyed getting his platform out around campus.
Plus, since he’s not chief justice anymore, he can speak more candidly to the media.
“It’s cool talking to The Daily Gamecock with answers other than ‘no comment,’” he said.