Class of 2022 Senator Marissa Kearney is one of the three candidates for Student Government Association (SGA) president.
Kearney is a junior majoring in business management. She was elected to SGA at the beginning of her freshman year. Since she joined, Kearney has been a member of SGA’s public relations and awards committees. Last year, she served on the senate’s special committee for sustainability and ran for president, but lost to current president Karine Kanj.
Kearney also served as one of the two co-chairs of the Public Relations Committee last year, where she managed the official SGA social media accounts.
She previously worked as a teaching assistant, an orientation leader, and vice president of the 10 West St. Hall Council. She is also currently a resident assistant at Miller Hall.
Kearney believes she can best serve as SGA president because of her prior experience and connection to the student body.
“I’ve been in SGA the longest… and I’ve done so much not only within SGA but around campus that I feel that I have a good enough gauge of the Suffolk undergraduate body to advocate for everybody,” Kearney said.
Kearney is running on the slogan “Be good, do good, no matter what,” which she explains is the approach she would take to being SGA president.
“When I ask myself why I’m running for this role, [it is because] I want to be a good person and I want to do a good job,” Kearney said. “It’s as simple as that.”
One of the major issues that Kearney would like to work on is transparency between SGA and the student body. She said ensuring that students better understand SGA’s function on campus is important to both the students and the organization’s success.
“Transparency is something I’d like to uphold, I want to work closely with the PR committee next year to uphold that,” Kearney said. “I’d also like to make some fun videos of SGA explaining how the senate works.”
Kearney previously worked on a resolution to ensure that SGA publicizes upcoming votes on resolutions over social media so that students are aware of what is happening.
Kearney said that, if elected, she would like to take steps to unify SGA to function better as a link between the student body and administration. Kearney explained that she thinks it is vital to listen to students, and a major part of her policy includes talking to the student body and bringing up issues in SGA that are important to them.
In 2019, SGA voted in favor of arming the Suffolk University Police Department.
When asked about the issue of arming the department, Kearney said that if the discussion were to come up again, she would gauge student responses and advocate for what the student body supports. She emphasized that the issue is worth discussing.
“We know with everything going on today that it’s a lot more than arming or not arming,” Kearney said. “It’s been two years since the conversation [regarding SUPD] happened, and a lot has changed since then.”
When asked about her thoughts on diversity initiatives, Kearney emphasized that “there’s always room for improvement.” She said that since she has not been affected by these issues firsthand, she would listen to student’s ideas and advocate for them as best she could.
Kearney also said she is hopeful for the future of SGA no matter who wins.
“I honestly feel like no matter what happens, SGA will be in good hands,” Kearney said.
Follow Will on Twitter @woodringwill.
