Xzarria Peterson is a junior majoring in political science and criminal justice who currently serves as a senator for the College of Arts and Sciences.  

Q: How did you get involved with SGA?  

A: “The previous year I decided to run for Senate, I was in the Environmental Affairs Committee, but that was during COVID, so we didn’t get to do anything SGA-related.” 

Q: What made you want to run for this position? 

A: “I decided to run for VP of DEI mainly because, after seeing how successful the current VP of DEI was and serving as her DEI chair in Senate, I felt like I could expand on some of her ideas and implement some of my own if elected. I really loved the implementation of the revamping of the previous DEI program and the revamping of the DEI passport program … because it kind of modernized it just a little bit and made it a little bit more accessible for students to come to the DEI events that the school hosts.” 

Q: What’s your number one goal with this position? 

A: “My number one goal would mainly be to bring awareness to diversity, equity and inclusion as a whole because while it is known on campus and people know about it, I still feel like there’s a lot of gray areas that need to be fixed.” 

Q: How would you foster a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion on campus? 

A: “I want to basically connect with student organizations and connect with students on a personal, face-to-face level rather than reaching out over email. I want them to see me in person, hear me in person, and I want to say ‘Hey, how can I help you help students connect with diversity, equity and inclusion on the campus?’ I would like to start on an individual basis. I feel like once I get an individual basis going, I can kind of group them together and see if we have like-minded goals and aspirations for the organizations on campus.” 

Q: How do you plan on increasing SGA transparency? 

A: “I would like to be extremely transparent. I want to start a newsletter specifically from me to alert students and alert organizations about what I’m doing that week, where you can find, where I’ll be at, what club I’ll be meeting with this week, so on and so forth.” 

Q: What is one last thing you want voters to know about you? 

A: “Just remember to vote on Feb. 28 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Roll Tide.”