First on the list for newly elected Missouri Students Association president and vice president is getting naloxone on MU’s campus.
Jen Sutterer and Mary O’Brien campaigned on getting the overdose medication inside of residential halls and Greek houses. NARCAN, a brand of naloxone, is a drug that treats narcotic overdoses in emergency situations.
“I don’t think it’s an unreasonable goal to say by the beginning of next semester we have NARCAN in all the buildings we want to have them in,” Sutterer said. “We just want to make sure that we follow through and get that implemented especially because recently in the news there has been a lot about the opioid epidemic, which we’ve always said has been a problem but again one life lost is one life too many here on campus.”
Sutterer said the process so far has been a lot of meetings with outgoing MSA President Julia Wopata and Anthony Garcia, outgoing director of policy and advocacy, along with administrators. Sutterer and O’Brien plan on meeting with Residence Halls Association and Greek houses soon to take the next steps in the process.
The incoming administration also wants to focus on income sharing agreements and putting the MU Counseling Center online.
Sutterer was vocal about income-sharing agreements throughout the campaign during debates.
An income-sharing agreement is a contract agreement between a student and their school and was created by economist Milton Friedman in the 1950s. The student agrees to receive borrowed money from their school for tuition and other expenses and, in exchange, they pay the school a fixed percentage of their salary after graduation.
“I just think it’s a really cool idea, and I think that it would be really beneficial for the students and MU and I also think it would be good PR for the university,” Sutterer said.
O’Brien is most excited about implementing the counseling center being online because mental health has been an issue that she is passionate about throughout the campaign.
“Mental health is something that, personally to me, is so important,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said, as an organization representing students, it should be MSA’s job to be able to do that. She said that putting the counseling center online is a tangible way to make the process of getting counseling and getting help easier.
Both Sutterer and O’Brien met with their opposing slate, Solomon Davis and Briana Dinwiddie, following the election to discuss what they wanted to see from Sutterer and O’Brien.
Sutterer also mentioned incorporating one of their opponents’ ideas about making student IDs virtual. Part of Davis and Dinwiddie’s platform was making student IDs accessible on students’ phones.
“We really want to keep a working relationship with Solomon and Bri because we think they’re both amazing people with a lot of great ideas,” Sutterer said.
_Edited by Ethan Brown | ebrown@themaneater.com_