For Tim Liss, the election for Residence Halls Association president ended where it began - Akers Hall.
The journalism junior, who began his residency at MSU in Akers Hall, walked away from Wednesday’s RHA presidential elections with a victory over Holmes Hall Rep. Bryson Jacques and association secretary Danielle DeCormier.
“I’m shocked because people believed in me and what I stand for,” Liss said. “It feels incredible. It’s indescribable knowing that people feel that I am the person for the job.”
In one week, he said he made an effort to understand how the association works with students. He expects to know it all by September.
When Liss returns as president in the fall, he said there needs to be an increased MSU police presence on campus.
“I like to look at safety in general on campus,” he said. “Aside from putting up more lighting and more phone systems, I feel that there should be more police on patrol.
“I would really like to get our name out there, but at the same time I want to go after diversity. But above all, if the campus isn’t safe, none of my programs are going to work.”
Promotion of RHA and diversity, he said also are his top priorities.
“As an organization, we need to make room for relationships with all aspects of diversity,” Liss said. “Some students face prejudice, ridicule and profane comments daily for doing the same thing I do every day.
“(Students) don’t understand exactly what RHA is, what our purpose is and that we are there for students as an organization. I don’t want students coming to campus saying, ‘There’s nothing to do, I don’t fit in here, MSU is not for me.’”
His plans to promote the association will start when students see the pail of free samples in their residence hall rooms during move-in, he said.
“I figure, why don’t we get a part of that?” he said. “If RHA were to take that route, someone is going to open it up and is not going to find deodorant and a stick of gum. They are going to find RHA.
“RHA can become a household name through promotion, word of mouth, improved relationships with students outside of the organization and present RHA to the students in new ways.
“I want them to be happy with our role that we have played in their lives.”
Case Hall Rep. Adam Raezler said he would like Liss to set aside personal views about diversity and focus on representing the majority.
“I am pretty sure (diversity) was the key issue that the general assembly focused on,” said Raezler, who did not vote for Liss. “RHA is not just diversity like (Liss) believes. RHA represents the majority. He believes we should be representing the minority.”
He said Liss will be faced with improving the association’s communication within itself and with students - making sure residents know their $42 per year are being spent on a worthy cause.
“I think he will have a difficult time putting his personal opinion aside,” Raezler said. “That is going to be his biggest challenge and I want to see him do that. I don’t want him to be in the meetings with administrators putting his personal opinion into it. He needs to be advocating what we’ve told him.”
DeCormier was happy with the election, despite the loss.
“I think it went really well because there really wasn’t a bad candidate,” she said. “It was more about how they performed as a general assembly member and how people act in the meetings and probably the speeches and what they say in them.”
DeCormier plans to return to the association either as external vice president or a representative for the Alliance of Lesbian-Bi-Gay-Transgendered Straight Ally Students.
Nick Kovacic, the association’s current president, said the job has taught him about representing what other people want, despite his personal opinion.
“I have really learned how to represent opinions that maybe I don’t fully support, but because the organization does,” he said. “If I go into a meeting with an administrator, they want to hear how RHA feels from my mouth without having to ask 14,000 students. It’s not Nick’s opinion, but its RHA’s opinion that counts.”
Although he wasn’t able to tackle all of his ideas, he said what he accomplished throughout the year pleased him.
“We did more creative things this year,” Kovacic said. “I hope they get to build off of those things. A lot of the things I really wanted to do, I put aside, and started doing what the organization wanted.”
But Kovacic does not plan on returning to the organization.
“I think personally I’m ready to move on to another part of my life,” he said. “I have been involved with RHA for three years, I think its time for me to be a regular student. I have to focus on graduating.”
