Student Senate is meant to give students a forum for expression of student views and the leaders of the senate are the people who help put plans into action.
The senate pushes to improve student cultural and social welfare while also developing better educational standards, facilities, and teaching methods at Wayne State.
In Student Senate, members are elected to represent the student body and ran by an elected president. Recently, Blake Aspen and Jacey Hammer won the 2021 election for president and vice president, respectively.
Their main goals are to add cameras to parking lot 10, more lighting on campus, increased club allocations, club support and safety.
Their opponents were Katie Ryckman and John Munter. They focused on keeping the student body involved in the workings at Wayne State.
The vote came in as 64.5 percent (728 votes) for Aspen and Hammer and 35.5 percent (400 votes) for Ryckman and Munter. This totaled to only 1,128 votes in this year’s election which was a record turnout.
This is a small portion of the students that attend Wayne State. Student Senate is a form of government that allows students to express their concerns at WSC and those concerns will now be in the hands of Aspen and Hammer.
Previous Student Senate President Adam Smith was happy in passing the torch to another leader for the students of Wayne State. “The student democracy won big on this one,” Smith said. Smith has served as president of Student Senate during the whirlwind of the last year. “I take pride in knowing this position and the student voice is in good hands.” Smith said.
Aspen worked with Smith in January to pass a resolution to renovate the WSC tennis courts. This is a $100,000 renovation that has not been done in 30 years.
This will include a resurfacing of the courts along with an addition of more basketball hoops and a new section for the sport of futsal.
“This has been a project that multiple candidates for senate, senate president, and senate vice president have promised in campaign, but had previously backed down from the challenge,” Aspen said.
This first success happened before he was elected. Aspen and Hammer hope to bring change to Wayne State with their new positions.