A Look Into the Future With ASG Presidents Past and Present
story: Emily Scott photos: Bo Brueck design: Emily Scott ASG President Madelyn Jett (left) and Vice President Aidan McKeon will aim to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion in many different areas of student life. Jett said she is excited to work with all of her fellow ASG members to better the Miami community. Photo provided by Madelyn Jett.
F
ormer Associated Student Government (ASG) President Jannie Kamara hopes to see three things in the future of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at Miami University:
1) Grassroot efforts to change university policy 2) An increase in shared governance between students and administrators 3) A shared sense of accountability Kamara became the student body president in May of 2020. After a summer of loss, protest and change, Kamara hoped that the momentum would continue into the 2020-21 school year on Miami’s campuses. There has been change throughout the last school year, including the creation of a DEI Taskforce, which is tasked with making recommendations to the University about new policies to implement and creating a clear vision of what DEI should look like at Miami. While she acknowledges this is an important step for the University, Kamara wants to see real action. “Money talks at the end of day,” Kamara said. “Money does talk. If they’re not putting that financial backing behind these different 32
MQ Magazine I DEI
departments, these different programs, these different majors, then it’s not truly transforming our campus.” It will not happen overnight, but Kamara said that shared governance is an important step in accomplishing change. By creating better relationships between students and administrators, a better partnership will be created. Kamara said it is vital that this relationship is seen as a partnership, not as a customer-consumer relationship. She thinks the lack of information sharing between Miami and its students has been frustrating. Current ASG President Madelyn Jett agrees and thinks that students often do not have a say, because the administration does not know students want a say. “It’s kind of repetitive under our administration that they tend to ignore students,” Jett said. “Student voices aren’t heard because administrators don’t think that students care about issues, just because they’re not in the room. Getting students into decision making rooms is really, really important, but it takes a lot of great student advocates, which we do have.” Both Kamara and Jett recognize that change in Miami’s DEI policies will have to come first from students. When students make their voices heard so that the university feels a pull towards change, then it will occur.
