Article Originally Published 2/28/20 at The Daily Texan
Student Government executive alliance candidates Sean Tucker and Suseth Muñoz encourage students to “Do You For Others” and aim to promote representation for students of all backgrounds.
The candidates’ platform includes developing a peer support program with the Counseling and Mental Health Center where students can connect with others who relate to their personal challenges. Muñoz said they also want to implement a centralized center on campus that provides first-generation students with financial, social and academic support.
Muñoz said they will help students with disabilities earn a vocational degree by expanding E4Texas, a UT program that certifies participants to become caretakers for people with disabilities.
“I want to dedicate my life to advocating and creating a more equitable world,” Tucker said. “I want to make this campus more accessible for students whose life situations make this campus harder to maneuver.”
Tucker, a communication and leadership junior, and Muñoz, a government, English and youth and community studies sophomore, currently work together as resident assistants for Jester residence halls.
After seeing students struggle with injury and illness as RAs, the candidates said they want to extend University Health Services Urgent Care Clinic hours and provide students with transportation to the clinic.
“I want to be vice president because representation matters,” Muñoz said. “Even putting yourself on the ballot is important because it’s going to drive forward people to apply to leadership positions.”
The candidates said they also want to implement a program where students can volunteer to be sober in social spaces, such as fraternity parties, to help those who feel uncomfortable. They said the program would focus on support rather than surveillance.
Tucker and Muñoz met last semester in a literature class and bonded after finding out they were both from the Rio Grande Valley. In that class, they volunteered together to help elementary school students from low-income areas in Austin learn how to read.
“I knew I was going to be really great friends with Suseth because she had that same fire for justice and progressive change I have,” Tucker said. “She is really ambitious, so I hope at some point, whether it be at UT or in the future, we’d be able to work together to help others. We are two kids from the Valley trying to change the world.”
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Cover Photo Credit: Jacob Fraga, Daily Texan Staff
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