Recent constitutional adjustments to the position of Student Government Association executive vice president have rendered the job a governing liaison between the organization’s offices, and Alex Clark, current member of the Presidential Advisory Board and a junior majoring in public relations, feels confident her leadership style is a successful match for the responsibilities the position entails.
“My job is not about initiating and putting my name on all these programs. I’m not the most creative person, and that’s why I feel like this position is so key for me,” she said. “It’s more about managing and effectively leading, being a good team player and making sure that other people are doing their job while, at the same time, I’m doing mine.”
According to Clark, her job as executive vice president would focus on connecting different SGA departments, making sure everyone remains informed on the working of other sectors of the organization and ensuring all work done is for the benefit of the student body.
“My job is making sure that the people I’m leading are doing things in an ethical, open and honest fashion and that we really work on initiatives that engage and really encourage students to want to be involved in SGA and want to come to SGA for support,” she said.
Clark said student involvement, not just in SGA, but in all campus organizations, is one of the most significant issues facing the University at this time.
“The biggest issue I see would be the lack of opportunity on campus for students to really get engaged or the lack of desire for students to really get engaged,” she said. “I feel like the lack of relationships that people cultivate outside of their comfort zone is a serious issue that we face. I think that plays a lot into the type of citizens students become after they leave and how they interact and grow here at the University.”
Clark wants to use the executive vice president position to combat this lack of connection by interacting directly with students and organizations. She feels everybody wants to have their thoughts heard and know they are a part of the campus community.
“I want to go to these [club meetings]. I want to go and establish and cultivate relationships with these students,” she said. “That way, they feel comfortable walking into the SGA office or just coming up to me or seeing me on campus and just talking to me about these things.”
Clark, a member of Advance UA for this election who said she has never had any connection to the Machine, is confident her experience, both within SGA and as a member of the entire campus community, has prepared her for success in the role of executive vice president.
She cited her SGA beginnings as a First Year Councilor and past role as director of Student Life, as well as her roles as the executive vice president of the Chi Omega sorority and director of Career and Personal Development of the Honors College Assembly, as testament to her diverse background of campus leadership.
“I am aware of how SGA internally functions, but I’m also aware, with the type of students I’ve dealt with outside of SGA, of how it’s externally perceived. I’ve been able to kind of balance and keep in perspective how other students are feeling about it, and I think that’s something I can offer to the position.”
