An established slate in the undergraduate student government
decided to go back to its roots recently, when it reverted to its
ancestral name.
During the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s
spring elections, Student Empowerment! will again be called
Students First!, the slate’s original name when it was
created in the mid-1990s.
The name change is reflective of the slate’s growth, said
First! candidates.
“We do evolve from year to year. … We hope to change
with the times to adequately represent the student body,”
said First! presidential candidate Anica McKesey.
Current Empowerment! members agreed that the slate has expanded
since last year.
“Members of student organizations that hadn’t
historically been running with the slate will be running this year
(with the slate),” said Academic Affairs Commissioner Chris
Diaz.
Candidates said they felt the new name is also reflective of the
slate’s objective ““ to empower all students, not only
the ones at the USAC table.
“Acquiring office in USAC is not the only way students can
be empowered,” McKesey said. “We want to empower
students by putting them first.”
At the same time, slate representatives said the name change is
bringing the slate back to its historical roots.
First! will embrace the same underlying principles as did its
predecessors, Diaz said.
It will place students’ needs, such as education policies
of the university, over the needs of councilmembers, Diaz said.
Candidates also said they would be concentrating on
extracurricular learning during their campaigns.
“In addition to improving the quality of education, we
will be improving the relevancy of education in the classroom by
promoting education outside the classroom,” McKesey said.
This is not the first time this coalition of students has
undergone a name change.
In 1998 First! became Praxis, which was then changed to
Empowerment! in 2001.