Candidate for President
Tripp Keeffe is a rising junior from Elgin, South Carolina. He is majoring in Political Science with a concentration in politics, philosophy, and law. Outside of Student Government, Tripp enjoys traveling, running, and going to the beach with his friends and family! Tripp currently serves as the Student Government Vice President. In this role, he has established a CARTA route to Harris Teeter free for students, negotiated an agreement to provide free rides from Charleston Green Taxi for students, and co-led a committee that brought guest meal swipes for all meal plans to campus. Additionally, he has represented students to various administrators regarding initiatives to enhance The College’s diversity. Every Tuesday, Tripp has led the student Senate overseeing the passage of all legislation. In prior years, he served as Committee Director for Student Government in which he acquired more furniture for Stern Center Gardens, expanded rental of technology in the library, and helped keep our campus cleaner by adding more trash cans. Tripp’s experience and commitment to serving the College of Charleston makes him the most qualified candidate to be your student body President.
Candidate for Vice-President
Sara Graham currently serves as the Student Government Treasurer. She helps student organizations with the funding process. In prior years, she worked on textbook affordability and laid the groundwork to bring a textbook exchange platform to campus that is still being worked on. Outside of SGA, Sara volunteers with Service for Sight, an organization that helps to bring awareness and assistance to the visually impaired. She is also a member of the Women in Business Club on campus. She is majoring in accounting. When not in class or extracurricular programs, Sara enjoys reading, listening to music, and hanging out with friends. Due to her involvement at the College and passion for positive change, Sara Graham is the best choice for Student Government Vice President.
We have a bold new vision for this campus, we want to create a community here where we all are represented, where we all work for the betterment of each of the diverse communities we are a part of, and where our communication has never been better, and that starts with student government. To this end, we have crafted a platform that will bring these positive changes for you, the student body.
We want to make it easier for students to navigate this campus so that they can branch out, travel throughout the community, and get the most out of their college experience. Below are some of our plans to accomplish this:
This upcoming year, SGA will begin a service that provides free rides for students through Charleston Green Taxi.
We plan to begin an electric vehicle rental program at the College of Charleston, allowing students to get around sustainably.
We want to make sure that no students are held back from achieving their full academic potential here at the College of Charleston. To this end, these are our plans to increase academic excellence for everyone here at the College:
We plan to partner with our faculty and bookstore to reduce the costs of textbooks and access codes for students. One such way would be to partner with Openstax textbooks.
We plan to make it easier for students to download their unofficial transcripts from MyCharleston.
We have great organizations and communities here on campus, and we believe it is important for student government to be responsive to these groups and organizations in order to foster greater student involvement in this community. Here are some of our ideas on how to do that:
We will create a new position dedicated solely to communicating ideas, progress, and concerns between the student body and student government.
We will streamline the club creation system and dedicate the newly spared time to advocating for student and community issues, the first of which will be housing insecurity.
We will create a diversity counsel that better reflects the diverse array of interests and communities that make this campus incredible.
All students are entitled to feel safe on this campus, and it is a priority of this campaign to ensure that safety is promoted and fostered on this campus. Here is how we plan to do that:
We will work with Public Safety to implement a program that makes students more comfortable utilizing all the resources and services Public Safety has to offer to protect our campus.
We plan to establish more crosswalks at busy areas to better promote student safety.
We believe the campus should be a fun and relaxing place to spend your time.
We will establish a discount program with downtown businesses and restaurants for students!
A student government that responds to, and advocates for, its constituents is something we believe in and want to embody, so we want to hear from you! Feel free to send us any concerns you have about campus that you’d like us to address in our platform and with our candidacy.
Voting will take place on OrgSync (accessed through your MyCharleston Portal) from Wednesday, April 4th, at 8:00am, to Thursday, April 5th, at 5:00pm. Please take the time to vote during this time period since these individuals will be elected to represent your voice in the Student Government Association. Look for additional information regarding votingprocedures via email.
