By Jordan Green, Editor-in-Chief
Austin Rankin, the vice president of the Northwestern Student Government Association, will be the organization’s next president.
Rankin ran unopposed for the top position in the Student Government Association, which plans campus activities and serves as a liaison between the student body and university administrators. He will take office in the fall semester.
“My passion is, and always has been, service,” Rankin said. “I’ve loved serving other people.”
One of Rankin’s top priorities as president will be to help foster better communication between students and university leadership, he said. He hopes to create a student advisory board that would meet with administrators to discuss student concerns and university achievements.
The board would be comprised of student government officers, leaders from other campus groups, students who live in university housing and student-athletes.
“You have a varying group of opinions and perspectives that are going to help us to report to administration,” Rankin said.
Rankin also said he hopes to hear students’ opinions more frequently.
“That’s an additional goal that I had this year that I haven’t quite been able to achieve,” Rankin said. “I think that’s one way that SGA can really improve is just being able to reach out to individuals if they have an issue and have SGA represent the students as a mouthpiece to the administration.”
Rankin said he would like to create a student forum where students can raise concerns about campus issues and express gratitude about good things going on. He also said he wants to conduct surveys of students by using online platforms that allow for personalized feedback.
He said he wants to make the Student Government Association more meaningful and relevant to the student body by promoting students’ interests and organizing events.
Rankin has been a member of the Northwestern Scholar Ambassadors, Spanish Club and Native American Student Association. He created the campus 4-H Club. He has served in the Student Government Association since his freshman year.
The past two SGA presidents, Dawson Maxwell and Erika Hernandez, have also been unopposed in their candidacies.