Alex Boyd, a freshman political science and foreign language major, is a recent addition to the student senate as of this semester. In his first months as a senate member, Boyd has involved himself in the senate by representing the student government at faculty senate meetings and becoming a member of the student relations committee.

How did you first become involved in the senate?

“I had meant to get involved first semester, but once I heard about appointments, it was too late to turn in an application. Second semester, my brother had been approached by Michelle Murphy and told there were open spots, so I asked him to get me an application as well. I would like to go to law school and maybe find some connection in politics. I figured this would be a good way to get into something like that. I was involved in my dad’s election when he was running for state’s attorney and I really enjoyed it.”

How were you appointed to the faculty senate representative?

“Scott Lambert, the vice president for students affairs, made an announcement at a (student senate) meeting and I approached him later saying I would be interested in a position. I went to a meeting and it seemed to be a good thing so I stuck with it.”

What do you do at faculty senate meetings?

I attend the meetings to gain the knowledge of what they are doing and to give input on what the student senate is doing. It is kind of a liaison position; I am just there to be the connection between the two senates.

Do you give any reports during student senate meetings to inform them about what is going on in faculty senate?

“I talk mostly with Scott Lambert about it, but I don’t really have a weekly report that I give him. If anything big is going on I let him know, it is a casual thing.”

When your term is up, will you run again for senate?

“Oh yeah, definitely. I plan on running again next fall when my turn is up, but eventually when the time is right I would like to run for speaker. I would like to kind of have that experience to build off of for my future. And possibly in the future when I am older, I would like to run for an executive position. I like to think that I can relate to other people well, so I think I would be able be a good connection from the faculty to the senate.”

Are you currently working on any other projects within student government?

“I am involved in the Student relations committee, and one of the biggest thing we are planning, is in mid-April, we want to have some sort of event, not necessarily a big event, but for a couple of hours set up something in the South Quad. Our aim for this is to get people to know who their student senators are. Most of the time people only see their student senate during the elections, but we want to be able to get out there and hear them see what they want to get done to better understand what we need to get accomplished. We should have a bill on the table in the next few weeks.”

Jenna Mitchell can be reached at