The Daily Gamecock

Student Government platform: Michael Parks

In an interview with SGTV and The Daily Gamecock, Michael Parks said he wants to use the position of student body president to “engage, empower and enrich the USC student body." He hopes to do this by starting programs to help students with their off-campus housing search, combating sexual assault on campus, providing improved entertainment, reforming the game day experience and reinstating the House of Delegates.

He wants to start a program called “My Off Campus” that will allow students to write and read reviews about off-campus housing options.

“Everyone is obviously familiar with Rate My Professors ... Why don’t we have something like that through my.sc.edu, as well as an app for our students to read and write reviews on landlords, housing options and developments,” Parks said. A group of student developers at USC have already started the coding process for the app, and Parks wants to start this program whether he wins the election or not.

Parks also wants to start a campaign titled “It’s On Us," a student-led movement against sexual assault. 

“We have some amenities available through the university for victims, but we don’t have a student-led movement. In my opinion, in order for anything to be truly effective on a college campus, it can’t be led by an administrator or by a professor. It has to be led by students, and currently we don’t have anything like that,” Parks said.

One of the things Parks is most passionate about is his idea for "Carolina Kickoff." He believes the university doesn’t have enough entertainment for the student body and wants to have an annual outdoor music festival modeled after Mississippi State’s "Bulldog Bash." It would be the Friday night before the first home football game at either the Strom or Greene Street fields lasting five to six hours and ending with a pep rally.

“It’s gonna be an opportunity for all of our organizations — Greek, non-Greek, philanthropic, multicultural, you name it — to come out, for The Daily Gamecock to come out, and to represent what you guys are about, to promote what you guys have and reach all the freshmen who will be on campus and help them find something to get involved with,” Parks said.

This relates to his idea to change the way South Carolina football games are run by increasing the amount of student and student athlete input.

“I don’t know who plays some of the music that's played in the games. The student athletes have no say into what the game is actually like. I want to partner with SAAC, which is the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, in making sure that our student athletes have some say in what our games are like and enhancing the entire experience for the athletes and the non-athletes,” Parks said.

He also plans to enhance the experience by advocating for concession price cuts for students.

Lastly, he plans to bring back the House of Delegates.

“We’ve had a House of Delegates before — it was ineffective because it was not managed correctly. If managed correctly by myself and my cabinet, the House of Delegates can be very effective and it expands the scope of Student Government,” Parks said.

Check out Park's full interview at SGTV News 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRoBar6wMHM.


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