Sophomore candidates Zeb Howell and Taylor McMahan aim to “reimagine” MU’ with an emphasis on student involvement and strengthening the First Year Council.
The “Reimagine Mizzou” slate recently launched its campaign for the MSA presidency and vice presidency through an Instagram post on Feb. 13. Candidates Zeb Howell and Taylor McMahan have three primary objectives for their campaign.
“We’re going with the reimagined theme, obviously. So, reimagining governance is our first one within MSA and its role on campus. We’re looking at how we can expand on what we’re good at and maybe change some things up …” Howell said. “Secondly, is reimagining relationships. We’re all Mizzou Tigers, we’re all here, but how can we best work together and get along.”
By reimagining governance, the slate hopes to further collaborate with MU administrators to let students share their concerns more easily. One of the campaign suggestions is monthly coffee socials between MU administrators and students in high-traffic areas on campus.
“Time and time again, decisions about students have been made without student input, and we would work to make sure that changes,” Howell said.
Student engagement is a key priority for Reimagine Mizzou. The candidates aim to increase awareness of MSA’s role as the student body government and its affiliate campus programs through new social media initiatives. Howell and McMahan plan on taking advantage of platforms like TikTok or Twitter to create content that’s relatable to students and helps to spread awareness of MU’s opportunities for students.
“There’s so many (organizations) here on campus and (we want to be) connecting them all and bringing them all together for one common goal of just building the best community we can,” McMahan said.
Howell and McMahan were both motivated to start their campaign by their prior experience in MSA, and in other student governments, at both the high school and college level.
“Throughout high school. I was super involved in student government and stuff…” McMahan said. “I think that people need to be the change that they want to see and instill the leadership styles and their ideas throughout and it’s something I’ve been involved with throughout college.”
Howell is pursuing a dual degree in political science and public administration and policy, in addition to working towards a certificate in constitutional democracy. McMahan is triple majoring in economics, political science and finance. McMahan also has a dual emphasis in real estate, a minor in leadership and public service and is working towards two certificates in constitutional democracy and entrepreneurship.
Howell and McMahan both credit a lot of their engagement on campus to the First Year Council program, a branch of MSA that aims to help first-year students meet their peers, get involved on campus and learn about student government. The pair has since branched off to be involved in several other organizations on campus.
“I think one thing that really kind of makes me a standout candidate is my involvement in a bunch of different organizations here on campus. I’m involved in a plethora of different things.” McMahan said.
McMahan is involved in Alpha Delta Pi, Mizzou CHAARG and Phi Alpha Delta, a pre-law fraternity. Howell has previous experience as an Academic Senator for the College of Arts and Science, a position he held in the spring of 2022. He is currently serving as the Co-Director of the First Year Council.
Part of the campaign’s plan to increase awareness of MSA is to keep FYC as a central part of the MU landscape and increase the number of directors in the program. Howell and McMahan hope to “reach as many students and ‘corners’ of campus as possible” through promoting FYC.
“Me and Zeb met through First Year Council, which is a program for first year students through MSA… I think that when freshmen are involved, they’ll come back and then they’ll be those involved students of the next generation of Mizzou Tigers,” McMahan said.
Howell and McMahan encourage students to vote and get involved in the upcoming election process.
“No matter who you vote for, we are trying to increase student engagement,” Howell said. “We encourage all students to vote.”
Keep up with The Maneater during the MSA election season as we cover both campaigns. You can place your vote from March 7 through March 9 at https://vote.missouri.edu/.
Edited by Zoe Homan and Alex Cox | zhoman@themaneater.com and acox@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Mary Philip