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THE STUDENTS’ VOICE SINCE 1887
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Sorbe, Ireland begin SGA campaigns Kelli Susemihl
Kelli.Susemihl@coyotes.usd.edu
At the first Student Government Association meeting of the semester on Jan. 23, two senators announced their plans to run for executive office. Senator Josh Sorbe is campaigning with running mate Madison Green, and senator Marcus Ireland is campaigning with running mate Caleb Munce.
I.M. for You
Ireland, a junior political science, criminal justice and philosophy triple major, has been on the SGA Senate for three years. In that time, he has been a committee secretary, a committee vice chair and now serves as a committee chair. He also was the Project Main Street coordinator and was a Vermillion City Council student representative. Ireland said he believes he’s qualified to be president because of his extensive SGA resume. “Those kinds of experiences have helped build my communication skills and have helped me build my presence among the students and among the community,” Ireland said. Munce, a junior political science major, was recently swornin as a senator-at-large at the SGA meeting on Jan. 23. Ireland said he chose Munce as his running mate because of the way he has voiced student concerns in the past concerning the General Activity Fee and the sexual assault town hall.
IRELAND
“I knew that he was not going to be afraid to butt heads if he had to,” Ireland said. “Sometimes, if you want to be the students’ voice, you have to be able to butt heads when the students want to butt heads.” The team’s campaign slogan is “I.M. for You,” which uses an acronym of their two last names. The slogan ties in with their main platform of awareness. “I want students to be more aware of what Senate does, who is on Senate and when they can speak with the senators,” Ireland said. Although Ireland wants students to feel comfortable coming to senators with concerns, he said he also wants to reach out to students. “It’s part of our commitment as student representatives to make the time to go out to the students and not force them to come to us,” Ireland said. Munce said he wants conversation between the SGA president and the students to be more direct. “Student voices could be channeled better,” Munce said. “I believe that students could be made more aware of what SGA can do for them.”
A New Era
Sorbe, a sophomore political science and business administration double major, has been involved with SGA for two years. He has been the student committee chair as well as a faculty senate community
SORBE
Year: Junior
Year: Sophomore
Majors: Political science, criminal
Majors: Political science, business
Years in SGA: Three
Years in SGA: Two
Platform slogan: “I.M. for You”
Platform slogan: “A New Era”
Running mate: Junior Caleb
Running mate: Junior Madison
justice & philosophy
Munce
administration
Green
Logan Rahn I The Volante
Sophomore Josh Sorbe (middle left) and junior Marcus Ireland (middle right) announced their plans to run for SGA president Jan. 23. Their running mates are junior Madison Green and junior Caleb Munce, respectively.
service representative. “I decided to run for SGA president because I knew that there are a lot of opportunities on campus that I’ve been afforded and I’m incredibly thankful for that,” Sorbe said. “I want to take the knowledge that I have and be able to spread it to students that don’t necessarily have access to that same knowledge.” Green, a junior English and criminal justice double major, was sworn-in as a senator-atlarge at the SGA meeting on Jan. 23. Sorbe said he chose Green to be his running mate because of her passion. “I can see the passion and the conviction in her voice and I knew that I wanted to run with
somebody that cared about the students as much as I did,” Sorbe said. Green said their campaign is focused on the voice of the students and to make sure the students are fully aware of their rights. Alongside their campaign slogan “A New Era,” their campaign’s main platform is “Advocate, Advance, Achieve.” They plan to advocate by making sure the students’ voices are being heard by USD administration and the Board of Regents. To advance the well-being of all students, Sorbe and Green said they plan to work on lowering health costs for students, including STD testing. They also
plan to work with mental health facilities to expand staffing in order to accommodate students and to help reduce wait list time. Overall, Sorbe and Green said the goal of their campaign is to form a stronger bond between USD students and the community. “Community collaboration is huge to make sure that the community of Vermillion and USD are one and the same,” Sorbe said. The SGA presidential debate will take place Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. in the Al Neuharth Conference Room. Ashley Haneke contributed to this story.
Search committee forms to appoint next USD president Ashley Haneke
Ashley.Haneke@coyotes.usd.edu
Morgan Matzen I The Volante
USD students and faculty joined in the Sioux Falls women’s march Saturday morning. Michelle Novak,
a first-year doctor of audiology student (right), said she marched because of her future healthcare career.
Students travel to Sioux Falls for second annual women’s march Morgan Matzen
Morgan.Matzen@coyotes.usd.edu
More than 2,500 people from Sioux Falls and the surrounding area joined in demonstration downtown for the second annual women’s march Saturday morning. The theme of this year’s march was “Power to the Polls,” as midterm elections approach. Hundreds of sister marches popped up worldwide in support. Marchers met at EmBe gym early in the morning to make signs, register to vote and sign petitions. Later, the crowd lined up at Carnegie Town Hall and made their way toward the Minnehaha County Courthouse where speakers and mayoral candidate Jolene Loetscher stoked the crowd. Several march participants were USD students and faculty, including SGA at-large senator Michelle Novak with senior Olivia Mann. They were accompanied by Sara Lampert, coordinator for women, gender &
sexuality studies and assistant professor of history, and Bridget Diamond-Welch, assistant professor of political science. Novak, a first-year doctor of audiology student, said she went to both the Vermillion and Sioux Falls women’s marches last year after Donald Trump’s inauguration. This year, she said one issue she stood for was CHIP. “Being a future healthcare provider, I want to make sure children have access to appropriate and affordable healthcare,” Novak said. Two other USD students joined in the march to represent their new student organization, the social work club. Both junior social work majors, Briana Sargent and Maria Letcher made the trip to Sioux Falls to bring light to their social work club. “It’s a pretty new organization and we do a lot of volunteer work in the community,” Letcher said. “I think if something is important to you, you should let it be known.” Sargent said this was her first
time involved in a demonstration, and she said she was excited to join in the march. “There’s power in numbers,” Sargent said. “When you all get together and just share your concerns and views, it makes it more powerful,” Sargent said. One issue in mind when marching was the Time’s Up movement. Sargent said it’s important for women’s voices to be heard at a time like this. “I think all the issues around the sexual assault and sexual harassment are really important and something that could really make a lot of changes,” she said. “Women are very resilient, I think, and now everyone’s coming out and speaking loud and with purpose.” Sargent said it’s necessary to get involved in marches and demonstrations like these. “I think that these marches show that we’re only going to move forward, we’re not going to go back on these issues and become silent again,” she said.
The South Dakota Board of Regents is going through the process of finding a successor for President James Abbott. The search committee was appointed by SDBOR President Bob Sutton in early November. There are 13 committee members, including students, faculty and alumni. There was no application process to join the committee; members were appointed. Each member represents a constituency group, student SDBOR board member and senior finance major at USD, Conrad Adam said. “Sometimes depending on the constituency group, the board president will receive a list of names and choose from that list,” he said. Adam said to be a qualified member of the search committee, members only need general knowledge of the university. “It’s going to be comprised of some pretty unique individuals who provide a lot of different insight to this process,” he said.
Looking for presidential qualities
Skye Gade, a sophomore criminal justice major, said she’s looking for three distinct qualities in a president. “They’ll need to be hardworking, open minded and also be able to work with the students,” she said. Over the past few years there’s been frequent presidential turnover in South Dakota, but it’s been 21 years since USD had to go through the presidential selection process. “Recently in the last few years SDSU (South Dakota State University), NSU (Northern State
“
The board absolutely appreciates everything the campus does to make this happen.
Molly Weisgram, executive
assistant to the CEO and board and system director of student affairs
University), SDSMT (South Dakota School of Mines & Technology) have all had new presidents appointed as well as BHSU (Black Hills State University) and DSU (Dakota State University) not too long ago. So it really depends,” Adam said. Molly Weisgram, executive assistant to the CEO and board and system director of student affairs, said the collaborative effort to find the next president is a big project. “The board absolutely appreciates everything the campus does to make this happen,” Weisgram said. “You’ll see it unfold as it gets closer to campus interviews. It’s a big effort.” This is the first story of a two part series on the presidential search committee.
ONLINE ONLY Watch a video
with additional student interviews about what they are looking for in the next president.
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