Liberty, Batesburg-Leesville students elected Clemson undergrad president, vice president

Published: March 15, 2011

By Alex Urban

CLEMSON — Carlisle Kennedy was elected Clemson University Undergraduate Student Government president and Ryan Gillespie was voted vice president Feb. 28 in an online election.

Kennedy is a finance major from Batesburg-Leesville. He has been a student senator and member of the College of Business and Behavioral Science and Campus Life student advisory boards. He is a mentor in the Tiger Life Mentor Program and a member of Blue Key Honor Society and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He also is active with Clemson University Ducks Unlimited.

Kennedy believes being president is the best way to serve his fellow students and shape Clemson for the future.

"Clemson has given me so much over these recent years and I am excited for this opportunity to give back to our wonderful university," Kennedy said. "We want to improve Clemson where it can be improved without losing focus on what has made us great."

Kennedy's vice president, Gillespie, is a political science major from Liberty. He was a student government senator and was chairman of the Campus Life Committee. He is involved as a campus tour guide and with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the South Carolina Student Legislature.

"Student government, at its core, is all about serving the students, and Carlisle and I want to make sure that we keep that at heart during our term," Gillespie said. "I could not be more excited to have the opportunity to serve as this great university's student body vice president."

Both Kennedy and Gillespie have a long list of goals to accomplish during their tenures, starting with making sure student government effectively represents the entire student body.

"We are going to make student government more proactive by reaching out to students and organizations so that we can better advocate for what the students want," Kennedy said.

Kennedy and Gillespie want to improve student lounges around campus and renovate study lounges. They also are looking to create a student tailgate and introduce an all-in-one calendar that each student can customize to preference and sync with Gmail accounts.

All of these goals revolve around being responsive to the student body, and Kennedy and Gillespie know they will need to take an active role on campus.

"We want students to feel comfortable e-mailing us or coming up to us on campus to share their concerns, because that is why we are here," Gillespie said. "Our term will be defined by the students and their desires, not by what we decide is best."

Undergraduate Student Government changed the election policy for president and vice president this year in the hopes of creating an atmosphere of better cooperation and communication between the two offices. Instead of holding separate elections for each position, the candidates ran on combined tickets so they would already know each other when elected and could campaign on similar themes.

END