After hearing all three candidate pairs argue why they should be the next president and vice president of the Miami University student body, The Miami Student editorial board is proud to announce its endorsement of Cole Tyman and Natalie Bata in the upcoming election. While "Voice of Miami" may sound a bit cliché, their experience and objectives really impressed our editorial board and we hope you see as much potential in this dynamic duo as we do.
She is a cancer-researching sorority girl and he is a highly personable businessman; they complement each other and already have the experience and connections to the student body and university administration that will allow them to hit the ground running.
Tyman and Bata have focused on making their campaign realistic, relevant, new and specific. Though this isn't their slogan, they have made sure the initiatives they plan to tackle check all four of these boxes.
What makes the "Voice of Miami" campaign different from the rest is its recognition of long-term and short-term goals. The two candidates made it clear they want to focus on bettering the lives of current Miami students, but they also understand that great things take time and they aren't afraid to admit that. They will also continue to work on existing initiatives of their predecessors.
Their Platform
Tyman and Bata must have been reading our "Rule of Thumb" section lately because their list of goals couldn't be more well-received by our editorial board. From bike-share to upperclassmen peer-advising, Tyman and Bata's platform seems to cover it all.
Their first goal is to tackle the common concern of academic advising. Oftentimes, we reach out to friends or classmates to determine which classes to register for. Though this may be relatively effective, Tyman and Bata want to introduce a formalized adaptation of this concept to students by starting a peer advising program. Academic advisors are undoubtedly a valuable resource to students, but who better to turn to for advice on a class or major requirements than someone who has just recently gone through it themselves?
Our editor in chief really liked their next proposal. Tyman has already put his work with parking services over the last three years to good use by changing on-campus parking lots to open up to non-pass holders at 6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. starting next fall. But he and Bata don't want to stop there. They also tell us they hope to implement a more generous accelerated ticketing system that would allow parking violators to not only start with a warning but to receive a less expensive ticket the second time, as opposed to getting a warning the first time and then going straight to a $75 fine on your next violation. Cole and Natalie simply want to relay to parking services that a $75 parking fine is ridiculous and way above the average $35 ticket on other Ohio college campuses.
Next, Tyman and Bata introduced the idea of "mini-gyms" in the basements of residence halls to put those awkwardly large "study rooms" to better use. Tyman and Bata propose putting older gym equipment in the basements of residence halls instead of selling them off to third parties. This would eliminate long walks back from the REC Center at night and would help free up some equipment at the REC Center for off-campus students. Tyman said he has already started the conversation with Doug Curry, executive director of recreational sports and housing administration, to get the ball rolling on this objective.
The man who pushed for ASC's Pulley Diner and Emporium Market to be open 24 hours is hoping to do the same for King Café. Tyman, along with many students who frequent King Library, would love to see the doors downstairs lock much later than 11 p.m. like they do now. He already has connections with dining services, so we are anxious to see how this pans out.
The final thing on Tyman and Bata's agenda was the issue of communication between ASG and the rest of the student body. Though this issue is brought up year after year, we really liked Tyman and Bata's approach. Tyman said he wants every cabinet member to visit one student organization per week. With about 12 cabinet members and 12 weeks in a semester, that equates to about 144 student organizations per semester. Other candidates seemed to want to lump several student organizations together to make it easier to connect, but Cole did the math to make sure everyone has a voice.
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The "Voice of Miami" campaign not only brings new, exciting and relevant ideas to the table, but it makes it easy for students to reach out and voice their concerns.
"It shouldn't be required for the students to come to us with their concerns; we need to seek out what changes they have," Tyman said.
We believe Cole and Natalie not only bring relevant and new ideas to the table, but they approach long-lasting, challenging issues from a different angle. That is why the editorial board so eagerly endorses the "Voice of Miami" campaign.
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