The Daily Gamecock

David Leggett: "We need to be the voice of 30,000"

David Leggett likes being in the background. So, when a friend of his approached him about running for student body vice president over winter break, Leggett “completely blew him off.”

“I was like, psh no, I like doing the behind the scenes work, I don’t want that,” the second-year economics and political science student said.

But Leggett’s friend was persistent. He came back a few days later, encouraging Leggett to take a hard look at the position. That’s when Leggett realized that vice president was a position he wanted after all.

“It’s a lot in line with what I enjoy,” Leggett said. “It’s a position where you are pushing your own initiatives for sure, but still making sure that senate happens. I like to make sure that all is functioning and happening as it should.”

Leggett does that in a different capacity now as Student Government’s historian. He records major events within the organization and assists Student Body President Chase Mizzell and the executive cabinet, getting a taste of every different sector of SG.

“I tell everyone, ‘My job is to be all up in your business,’” Leggett said with a laugh. “As historian and being on staff, there are a lot of little things that get jogged my way, so I see what’s going on all over Student Government.”

Working with Mizzell and Chief of Staff Steven Vanderlip has allowed Leggett to broaden his perspective on SG as well. As a member of Freshman Council last year, Leggett felt he was in a “bubble” within SG, being a part of the organization but largely separate from much of the policy.

Now, he said he’s been exposed to the breadth of what SG does.

“It’s given me a huge idea of the mechanics that are required to make things go,” Leggett said.
“People sometimes assume that things like senate or cabinet or monthly meetings just happen, but that’s not how it is. A week of prep work goes into all of those. It’s given me a view of how to make things coalesce, and when it doesn’t, you have to keep going.”

Leggett said he sees SG as an opportunity to leave a legacy at USC through service. Service, he said, is what motivates him to seek executive leadership.

“Above all else, especially at a university like this with so many brilliant people, when you’re given an opportunity, it’s selfish to keep it to yourself,” Leggett said. “You have to help the people around you.”

In order to help his 30,000 fellow students, Leggett said the student senate must focus more on issues that will impact the entire student body, like tuition rates and gender-neutral housing. While he said the internal reform of the past year was no less important than external efforts, the latter is critical in order to engage more students in senate’s and SG’s operations.

“We have 30,000 people on this campus and everyone wants to do something. Nobody’s just here to pay tuition and stay along for the ride,” Leggett said. “Student Government is the mechanism to coalesce that into one centralized idea and viewpoint and take that to the administration. We need to be the voice of 30,000 and not 30,000 voices of one.”


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