News > April 19, 2007

By Maya Yette | Staff writer

The Old Gold & Black sat down with junior Whitney Marshall as she revealed her goals as 2007-’08 SG president and her drive to serve the student body.

What motivated you to run for SG President?

I really enjoy Student Government and I enjoy interacting with the students. I think it’s addicting to see results, to see projects that you work on come into fruition, so I thought it would be cooler to do that on a larger scale. I want to work for the students. I think it’s fun.

What experience do you bring to the table?

I’ve been on SG for the past three years. Freshman year I was on the Public Relations Committee, sophomore year I was on the Campus Life Committee and was press secretary and this year I am co-chair of the Academic Committee.

What is first on your agenda?

Dealing with Shorty’s and working with senior Shannon Philmon to come up with a way to preserve Shorty’s and Campus Grounds. Another thing I would really like to do is take a look at the LEAD projects that were recently presented and see how SG can help those students get results.

Many students do not believe the programs you work on will really be implemented. How do you deal with this lack of faith?

One thing that students don’t realize is that for certain projects it takes a semester or two to work on it, but I’m planning on staying here all summer. The programs will be implemented. We actually do get things accomplished, but students don’t hear about them, so I want to work on public relations next year to increase the legitimacy of SG. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure we do things that students have brought up.

What are the biggest changes you will bring?

Making sure that every single student at Wake Forest knows that if they have concerns, if they bring them to SG we will do everything in our power to work with administrators to find a solution. Pretty much everything on my platform and continuing to work on projects that Shannon Philmon has already been working on, including changes to the social life in terms of working with Greeks to bring parties back on campus and to increase the sense of community.

In light of the recent student outcry over Shorty’s, do you think we should make it Starbucks?

I want Shorty’s to stay on campus; it doesn’t have to stay in this location, but it is something we need to preserve. If we get a Starbucks, I would like to see Campus Grounds stay in business and if we bring in an outside vendor that student initiative will more than likely go under. You have to think about everything the students stand for and the university promotes students to be entrepreneurial through the available minor. Campus Grounds was a new venture, so to shut down the student-run business sends a message that students aren’t taken as seriously as we would like to be.