The Maneater: How would you describe the Missouri Students Association to first-year students?
Landon Brickey: MSA is the undergraduate student government at Mizzou. We advocate on behalf of the undergraduate students to the administration, faculty and staff, we control a portion of the budget and we work on different projects to make the Mizzou experience better. In February to the end of March, we have MSA’s presidential campaigns.
TM: Is it fair to say you’re about halfway through your presidency?
LB: I guess so. In the summer, it was a lot of setting things up and working with administrators. … The summer is [a time to] work with administrators [and] build those relationships so that we can get started running in the fall, which is what we’ve been doing.
TM: Can you tell me about your campaign platform?
LB: Emily [Smith], my vice president, and I, we ran on the Renew Mizzou campaign. We ran on four pillars, or campaign platforms, and then three kinds of secondary ideas. So our four campaign platforms were COVID-19 transparency and safety, sexual assault education and prevention, mental health education and support, and then support for faculty, staff and students of color. Our three secondary things, which were smaller things, but also still really important to us, were parking and transportation, bettering the Counseling Center and [creating] a zero-waste campus.
TM: Is there any collaboration between the MU administration and MSA?
LB: There are inconsistencies, and I don’t get it perfect every time and [MU administration] doesn’t get it perfect every time. And unfortunately, we don’t always get to talk on every single issue, because the university is a multibillion-dollar institution. We really encourage administrators, whether it be MSA or other student groups, or students in general, to consult students as much as they can because that’s the purpose of this institution, to educate students. But also, things fall through the cracks and not everyone’s perfect, and so we try our best to keep in contact and keep in constant meetings.
TM: What have you accomplished so far for each of your platform pillars?
LB: A lot of the things that we’ve concretely done have been little first steps. The progress is the behind-the-scenes kind of work, because that’s what most of the summer is. But with COVID vaccines, that’s something that we really focused on at the beginning of the year. So, [we’re] really trying to get out the word about vaccination clinics on campus, and getting out the word on the portal to upload vaccination status because it’s great for those incentives to try and get people to actually get vaccinated. But it also helps the campus community and administration and student governments know what percentage of the campus is actually vaccinated, which helps us rely on what policies we should be making. I think COVID-wise, we’ve been doing a pretty good job on trying to push that, and we’re going to continue to do that.
TM: What are you currently working on?
LB: A big thing that we’re working on right now in MSA is our first annual Mental Health Week. It will be the first week in December. We chose that timeline because it’s right between the holidays, and it’s also right before finals. So, a time of heightened anxiety, depression, kind of your ‘tier one’ per se, the tough issues. We also want to focus on the other tiers of mental health, but it’s going to be a week of advocacy, education and destigmatization. So, that’s one prong of it, but then the other prong is just supporting students and making sure that they’re having a good time. We’re going to partner with the [Mizzou]Rec and try and do yoga classes, or puppies in the park or just different things that can just relieve stress during that very heightened stress period. That’s something we’re really excited to be working on.
TM: Which issues do you realistically think you’ll be able to impact this year? Which issues might have to wait?
LB: Sustainability is definitely an ongoing process. Obviously, COVID has pushed sustainability to the backburner, just because we had to use so many disposable masks, disposable utensils or one-use plastics. A lot of things that we’re hoping to do is put a lot of ideas in administrators’ minds and on Mizzou’s campus that can progress after us. Luckily, we have a pretty big team. There’s 11 of us on the executive cabinet, so we’re all able to work on different things at the same time and also support each other. We’re trying to get as much done as we can, but something MSA in the past hasn’t done exceptionally well is transitions.
TM: Is there anything you’re especially looking forward to in the coming months?
LB: Probably the Mental Health Week. That’s what I’m super excited about, just because it’s something big and something students can hopefully benefit from … And then support for faculty, staff and students of color. I’m actually having a meeting with my director of diversity and inclusion at the end of the week to talk about some tenure processes and how we can ensure that faculty of color are kept on Mizzou’s campus, and also [that] they get the proper raises and proper promotions that their white counterparts typically get. We’ve also been working a lot with the Legion of Black Collegians and Four Front [Council] on different initiatives. We’re looking at a Student Activist Scholarship for students that have continuously been activists in their communities, in our communities, whether in Mizzou or in Columbia, because a lot of times activists’ roles are non-paid roles. They don’t get anything substantial out of it, except if any change happens, and so we want to be able to make sure that we support them and support causes like that …That’s something that throughout our entire campaign and throughout our entire administration that we’ve been trying to do — weaving [diversity] into every facet of what we do …We’re talking to the different groups to make sure that everyone’s voice is heard and putting the right resources where they should be going.
Edited by Namratha Prasad, nprasad@themaneater.com