The Daily Gamecock

Sole candidate for speaker of the student senate aims to strengthen relationship between Student Government, student body

Maura Hamilton, a third-year nursing student, is running unopposed for a second term as speaker of the student senate. 

During her time as speaker in her previous term, she made bridging the gap between student senate and faculty senate one of her main goals. 

In her previous term, she worked with the Office of Student Advocacy and faculty senate to create a pilot program dedicated to allowing students to obtain excused absences for mental health reasons. Hamilton said this project took a lot of cooperation and collaboration between the student and faculty senates. 

"I think one of the biggest hallmarks of that is for a very, very long time, student government had been working on mental health days for students and having mental health days being excused absences," Hamilton said

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Hamilton stated that in her term as speaker of the student senate, she worked on passing over 120 pieces of legislation, 40 more than under the previous speaker. 

For her upcoming term, she plans to strengthen the relationship between the student body and Student Government. 

One of Hamilton's main goals is to increase Student Government’s outreach to the student body, so that it can learn more about students’ needs and their opinions on Student Government initiatives. 

Hamilton also has a goal to make Student Government more transparent and straightforward. She said this could help increase the number of students involved in Student Government. 

“I mean, I've been in the organization for three years, and I'm still learning new things every single day,” Hamilton said. “I want someone random to be able to walk into our office, ask us a question and have a simple answer to that.” 

Hamilton plans to fortify the relationship between student organizations and student senate by working closely with the treasurer’s branch. That is one of the main reasons why Hamilton is running on a split ticket with Ashley Reynolds, a candidate for student body treasurer. 

Working closely with the treasurer branch will create a collaborative environment that is efficient in making it easier for student organizations to receive funding, Hamilton s aid. 

Hamilton is passionate about her role and involvement in student senate and plans to continue her efforts throughout this upcoming term if elected, she said. 

“I’m very proud of the effort that I’ve put into the senate this year, and I think that the results have shown the amount of effort that I’ve put in,” Hamilton said.


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