"Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance." -Abigail Adams.
I, Will Mount, am running for Residence Hall Association President. I am also running on a ticket of motivated, dedicated individuals with RHA experience and a team that can and will work together for the students. Yes, I am the same Will Mount who ran for Student Confederation President and other positions in the past. I am running for what I believe, not for myself. Your tuition dollars go to the RHA no matter what, so let's use that money to make this campus fun. Before I continue, I know my critics will call me "the man who fishes for offices," a "position whore" or worse. Go ahead. Anyone can continue to keep on heaping the criticism, because I am not going to quit fighting, no matter how harsh the attacks.
I started my run for Student Confederation President with goals for a better American University. My ticket for this RHA election could not have a better understanding of these goals and plans to accomplish these goals. I wanted simple improvements for the school: a student entertainment center, a flat tuition rate, and a student security force. Many of my critics and opponents argued that I am unrealistic and that my goals couldn't be achieved. I disagree, and ideas like my student security force are now actually being implemented. Chief McNair said in The Eagle on March 29, 2004, "I'm looking at probably doing a student patrol as soon as I can ... my interest is a paid student patrol where we train them and they may do more than just patrol the campus." These ideas have not been accomplished in the past, because the student governments of our campus have not focused on the students and their needs. Meanwhile, tuition rises, students are assaulted, and the campus has no real social atmosphere. The goal of the RHA is to advocate and serve the resident students of this campus. We are the best ticket to accomplish those goals. The Residence Hall Association is another great organization for change on this campus. I am offering that chance for change once again.
I am on a ticket with four other great people. They asked me to run with them, and I feel quite honored for them to have asked me. Scott Goldstein will run for vice president of Community Coordination, and Jon Engel will run for Vice President of Programming. Scott and Jon were members of the Anderson/Centennial Hall Executive Board this year. They created great events like Anderson/Centennial Hall Casino night, where 250 people came out, gambled, and won free prizes. They try to make campus more fun. Josh Kaushansky will run for vice president of Administration and Finance. Josh ran his entire Hughes Floor Board Council by himself this year; he can handle money quite capably. Finally, J.J. Jerrell will run for National Communications Coordinator. J.J., a member of my floor council, is one of the friendliest people that ever attended this University. She cares deeply about the student body and she always has a great attitude.
Our platform is "Advocacy, Community, and Communication." We believe that RHA must become an advocacy body for the students. Neither the Student Confederation nor the Residence Hall Association has advocated enough to the administration in the past. Therefore, ideas like a student entertainment center and a student security force are examples of potential RHA advocacy projects. These ideas do not necessarily need to be my ideas, nor the ideas of the other members of our ticket. This leads to our second point: community. We must have community at AU. In order to have community we must have campus spirit, and in order to have campus spirit we must have more fun. Therefore, we propose ideas like pool tables, Ping-Pong tables, big screen TVs and other forms of entertainment in the dorms. While these items do not constitute a student entertainment center, it is an important first step. We need to know the demands, wants, ideas, and questions of the students at American University. Rather than have the students come to us, we will go to the students next year.
Whether or not I win RHA President, I will continue to work for you. The position of RHA President will facilitate the implementation of my goals faster, but I will continue to fight regardless of what office I hold. I wish to add my thanks once again to all the students of this University who have supported me in the past. I could not have accomplished what I have without you. Thank you so much, and vote for Scott, Jon, Josh, J.J., and me this weekend.
