Morgan Toms will be the sole can­di­date run­ning for Student Government pres­i­dent, which vot­ing opens for on Monday, March 29.

Toms is the only indi­vid­ual reg­is­tered to be on the bal­lot for President this spring, mak­ing the Wednesday, March 24 pre­sen­ta­tion, which is usu­ally held as a debate between can­di­dates, a speech and ques­tion and answer session.

Toms, a junior in the busi­ness administration/legal stud­ies pro­gram and cur­rent mem­ber of Student Government, deliv­ered her speech for the Student Government pres­i­den­tial posi­tion Wednesday evening.

In her speech, Toms dis­cussed some of her goals for Student Government, includ­ing putting an empha­sis on underclassmen.

“They will be around the longest on cam­pus,” said Toms. “They are our most impor­tant asset and we should be breed­ing them to be leaders.”

The sole can­di­date for the posi­tion of President of Student Government at Ferris State shares her goals and answers ques­tion dur­ing a speech on Wednesday evening. Photo by: Kristyn Sonnenberg | Photo Editor

Another goal Toms spoke of to make Student Government more avail­able to Registered Student Organizations (RSO) on cam­pus, and to help events become more acces­si­ble to stu­dents. She plans to hold RSOs account­able for not refund­ing fees.

Other plans include start­ing a pub­lic rela­tions com­mit­tee for adver­tis­ing and keep­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tion open with Department of Public Safety (DPS), as well as bridg­ing the gap between the stu­dent body and the city of Big Rapids through form­ing a stu­dent com­mit­tee for the city.

Earlier in the semes­ter, Toms wrote a Pedestrian Safety report and con­nected with the Pedestrian Safety Taskforce. She has been work­ing with Jerry Scoby, vice pres­i­dent of admin­is­tra­tion and finance, on issues regard­ing pedes­trian safety.

Those who attended Tom’s speech asked ques­tions regard­ing park­ing issues on cam­pus and bring­ing more fun activ­i­ties to Student Government.

“Anything fun we do should be notice­able to the cam­pus,” said Toms.

As for park­ing prob­lems, Toms said she would do her best to keep com­mu­ni­ca­tion with DPS open and wel­come more cre­ative, inno­v­a­tive solu­tions that have not yet been heard.

“It’s a huge con­cern with the major­ity of stu­dents on cam­pus,” said Toms.

Toms also said The BIG Event will con­tinue with the same amount of pas­sion and excite­ment as that of cur­rent Student Government President and founder of the BIG Event, Claire Gould.

Additional plans of Toms’ include recruit­ing new peo­ple for Student Government next year with a men­tor pro­gram to make new mem­bers feel wel­come, get­ting more stu­dents engaged with activ­i­ties and events put on by RSOs and start­ing a hol­i­day food drive.

“I was very impressed, for being a mem­ber for only a year, she spoke like she’s been a mem­ber for­ever,” said out­go­ing Student Government President Gould.

Gould also said she is excited to see the changes Toms plans on mak­ing for Student Government.

Voting for Student Government’s next pres­i­dent will begin on Monday, Mar. 29 and end on Wednesday, March 31.

“It’s all about the enthu­si­asm you show. If we remain pos­i­tive and pas­sion­ate, we will see great things from Student Government,” said Toms.