Hello friends. When you read this Monday's Eagle, you will notice two major changes in your student government. First, you'll notice that I won't be here anymore, with Kyle Taylor becoming your new president. Second, you'll notice that it will no longer be the "Student Confederation," but the "Student Government." No matter who's in charge and what our new name is, I know that Kyle and the new executives will continue to work for the student body.
I've changed over the course of one year since I was first sworn in last April. Physically, I've lost over 80 pounds, but on a more personal note, this has been an amazing opportunity with the help of our student body to fight for the issues that have been important to us.
Over the past four years, I've heard people say that the SC never does anything, that it doesn't work for the students, and that it instead works to pad its officials' resumes. I can proudly say today that YOUR student government has fought, worked and advocated on your behalf. More importantly, we've shown that student government can be effective, efficient and engaging if we want it to be.
We fought to save fall break and our sports teams, kept the library open for 24 hours, created the Public Safety Advisory Board, fought and achieved an open, clear and concise parking policy, became a stronger voice for student concerns to the administration, and brought you jam-packed events, concerts and speakers. We raised more than $3,000 for tsunami relief and worked together with our friends at AU Athletics to create better publicity for our sports teams, but we also heard your concerns over seating and held town hall meetings with President Ladner, Provost Kerwin on our tuition and Tony Newman on the state of our shuttle bus service.
Now my friends, the end of my term is near. I asked The Eagle to let me write this as a chance to say thanks to AU. If you know me, you know that I love this school. I love the people, the community and the campus. I own hundreds of AU T-shirts, sweat shirts and other AU logo-stamped paraphernalia. I can sing the words to the AU fight song and even "scolded" a coach of Holy Cross when he questioned the class of AU fans.
I've honestly enjoyed working for students here at AU. It has been an amazing run, and it wouldn't have been without the help and support of my friends and family, Karen Gerlach and the Student Activities Office, Gail Hanson and the Office of Campus Life, my fellow executives Jamie Rea, Moamar Tidjani-Dourdjaye (and I can even pronounce that) and Jason Trombley, and our wonderful cabinet.
But my words of thanks go beyond the people I've worked with on a daily basis. My gratitude is with Stephen Tucker of the Screaming Eagles, who proved that AU does have school spirit; Juan Jaysingh and the men and women of our Tennis and Golf teams, whom we worked together with to save their teams; and the people of Leonard Hall's sixth floor, my floormates, who have always been open and honest about their feelings regarding our University and its policies.
While I agree that there is still more work to do, I believe we have accomplished a strong foundation because of you, my fellow students, because of your voice, your activism and your interests regarding the issues that matter the most to you. All in all, thanks for a great year, AU.
Polson Kanneth is a senior in the School of Communication and the outgoing Student Confederation president.
