Brad Groves, newly elected Richmond College Student Government Association president, said he would work to increase student representation at the higher levels of university decision-making in the coming year.
Originally from Princeton, N.J., Groves came to University of Richmond intending to join the Robins School of Business.
"I saw the university as a school that was on the rise," Groves said. "Getting stronger year after year, and that's the kind of organization I wanted to be a part of."
For similar reasons, Groves took on the position of RCSGA president in light of his desire to see Richmond thrive. He said students were at the helm of RCSGA's future plans and he would like to create a greater community on campus and help to facilitate new initiatives.
"We are trying to get a young alumnus on the board of trustees and that is our hallmark initiative in really driving more student representation on campus," Groves said. "That's something I think will really come into play continuing into the next year, and hopefully see to a successful end."
Groves said he also thought a relationship with the new provost would solidify a close link between the student body and the academic administrators on campus.
"I would like to see meetings with the deans of each of the five schools, if that is a possibility," Groves said.
Former RCSGA President Patrick Love said he thought Groves would do a great job of continuing the projects that he and the presidents before him have been working on.
"There is still a lot of work to be done to increase student participation on campus," Love said. "It is an initiative that can never be fully complete."
One of President Edward Ayers' initiatives has been to drive summer fellowships and the Spider Internship Funds for unpaid internships. Groves is also considering how to make these funds more accessible to students.
Love said RCSGA had been consistently trying to revamp their constitution to make their meetings completely open to students, especially concerning the discussion of funding requests.
Groves said he planned to work closely with the alumni association to create more structured unpaid internship programs. He said the Spider Internship Funds would assist students with living expenses and allow them to gain job experience over the summer. Groves said he would seek to create a group of alumni, and link them with students who may not have the ability to accept an unpaid internship otherwise.
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"I think if there is a more structured apparatus in place, and it's easy for students to know about opportunities, I think we will see a lot more students utilizing those internship funds," Groves said.
Contact reporter Sheetal Babu at sheetal.babu@richmond.edu
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