CANDIDATE PROFILE

Paula McCusker

Candidate for Vice President for Student Organization

http://paulamccusker.blogspot.com/

Questions:
1. What experience and qualifications do you have?
2. What is your platform? What do you hope to accomplish if you win?
3. What I really want students to know about me is…. ?

Candidate Responses:
1. Leading a student organization at UMBC presents many unique challenges. During my first three semesters at UMBC I served as Vice President of Freedom Alliance, planning and organizing many successful events and programs. As a result of this experience, I am very familiar with everyday challenges like fundraising, scheduling, recruiting new members, and requesting money from Finance Board. Over Winter break of this year I joined SGA’s Department of Student Advocacy, which has allowed me to work on projects such as the transcript fee investigation, early spring move-in, gender-neutral housing, investigating the current implementation of the smoking policy, and many other important issues. Joining SGA so recently has also allowed me to gain a very strong understanding of the inner-workings of student government while maintaining a fresh perspective.

2. Imagine if, as an ordinary student, there was one person in SGA who you knew you could approach with any question or concern and receive not only an answer, but a commitment to following through on the issue. As VPSO, I will hire staff with expertise in fundraising, event planning, constitution-writing, and advertising in order to assist student organizations with some of their most challenging functions. I will also actively seek to change policies that make processes like event-planning and allocation requests unnecessarily difficult. Beyond this vital support and advocacy, I have a broader vision to strengthen connections between groups on campus. It is often difficult to reach out to other organizations or uninvolved students. One solution I am currently exploring with the myUMBC team is the possibility of an online collaboration space where all students can post events and ideas freely.

3. Because I previously held a leadership position in a very active student organization, I am often the one who presents the outsider’s perspective in SGA meetings. I remember what it was like to be highly involved in my ‘section’ of campus without having any idea what SGA or other student organizations were doing. I often notice the problems and injustices that others do not, and I am more than willing to seek out the root of these problems to address them. I hold myself and those around me to high standards. Your elected leaders should be advocating for everyone, not just for those who are just like them. If elected, I will continue to present the perspectives of those who are often underrepresented in SGA. I will bring fresh ideas to my position and question inefficient practices that others will not.

Brief Platform Statement:

  • Provide specialized staff to support student organizations in fundraising, advertising, constitution writing, and event planning.
  • Actively investigate policies and practices that hurt or hinder student organizations.
  • Promote a unified campus culture by facilitating collaboration of events and ideas between student organizations.