A profile of SURV candidate Sean Mclemore

When Sean Mclemore came back to school at Wichita State, he wanted a way to get involved on campus instead of just going to class. The Student Government Association was a good match.

As a General Studies major with minors in Sociology and Political Science, Mclemore was already interested in politics and government. He admitted that he was cautious when he began at SGA.

“I was skeptical at first,” Mclemore said. “I thought it was just a bunch of people up there in the RSC playing government. When I got there, I realized there was a lot going on.”

After being involved in SGA for about a year and serving as the programming chair, Mclemore decided this was his year to run for president.

Under his party name, SURV (Shockers Uniting Reality & Vision), Mclemore said they have created an inclusive party.

“I would define our party as some of the most non-traditional, diverse students that have ever come together to form a party,” Mclemore said.

Mclemore said that although he is a “non-traditional” student having come back to school after an absence, his party is non-traditional and different from many of SGA’s previous administrations.

“We have [a member] who is involved with the veterans here on campus, we have music (students), international students, engineers, and they are all a group of highly-engaged students here on campus,” Mclemore said.

Although the party is hesitant to say they have a single specific platform, they did explain their broad goal.

“If we had a single primary issue, it would be exactly as our name says: combining the realities that we have now with an ideal vision and plan for the future,” said SURV vice presidential candidate Casey Donnell.

One of the party’s major goals is to improve the issue of deferred maintenance by providing more access to funding for the organizations involved. Another is to make SGA a better bridge between students, faculty and RSO’s (Recognized Student Organizations).

“The goals that we do set we want to be attainable,” Donnell said.

SURV wants to attract more members and be transparent for the students on campus.

Mclemore said another of his major issues is to change the traditional “open-door policy” the SGA has declared in order to create a more inclusive and open SGA.

“We shouldn’t be waiting for students to come talk to us,” Mclemore said. “It is one of our strongest goals to make sure that we are actively engaging the students.”

One of Mclemore’s concrete ideas about this issue is to have “engagement hours” in addition to office hours for SGA members to “check in” with RSO’s on campus.

On student fees spending, the SURV party wants to be more consistent by allowing for small, incremental increases instead of large increases when it becomes urgent.

“We understand that there are going to be some increases because of insurance costs and inflation, but we would not like to see any major spending increases at this time,” Donnell said.

SURV also hopes to decrease the secrecy of SGA and allow students to be more involved and informed.

“I want anyone and everybody to be as completely involved with the Student Government as possible,” Mclemore said. “I fully believe that it’s such an important part of the student body that many students either don’t know about or have a disinterest in.”

One way SURV hopes to do this is by providing a live feed at all SGA meetings to increase the student body’s trust and interest in the Association.