Student Gov't leader shares outlook

By Vincent D. Scebbi
Features Editor                                

"Experience, Leadership, Excitement" was heard throughout the Spring 2010 semester as Matt Rubin and Jordan Maddocks campaigned for this coming year's Student Government President and Vice President positions, respectively.
Rubin and Maddocks swept the election by claiming 1,553 votes – which was more than half of the votes in the election. Since their victory in the spring, Rubin said he has received tremendous support from the administration, and he feels confident in his leadership capabilities and the progress SG hopes to make this year.
"I feel awesome. I feel really excited," he said. "We've had an unbelievable experience this summer not only working within our organization but from the administration. It's really exciting to see they're all looking forward to a good year."
After the unveiling of results on April 8, Rubin vowed to uphold his slogan and to become a positive influence at the university.
"We vow to do our best and bring our campaign model, ‘Experience, leadership, excitement,' to life," Rubin said after winning the election. "I wanted to positively impact UT, create a culture of positivity and success for every student, faculty member and administrator."
In a recent interview with the Independent Collegian, Rubin addressed three of the bigger issues from the 2010 campaign.

Platform One: Student Involvement and SG Presence

Throughout the campaign, one point Rubin and Maddocks pushed for was better communication between the general student body and the government which represents them.
One suggestion from Rubin and Maddocks was to increase the diversity of input from student organizations. "The more input and the more diverse our body is, the more our say matters," Rubin said in an interview on March 21. "For instance, I want a program where we reach out to student organizations and they can send a representative as a senator and say they come once or twice a week."
Rubin said "Ask and you shall receive" in the first SG Presidential debate. In the interview yesterday, Rubin said SG's presence on campus is a high priority, and with a large presence, he hopes students will find him approachable with any issues they have encountered.
"To me, that is the most important thing, that we can get our name out there and students can feel they have a connection. If they need anything. I'm not some dude in a suit. I'm somebody willing to be out there," Rubin said.
One long-term goal Rubin has is to increase student involvement in SG. One way he plans on doing this is to offer cash incentives to organizations.
Through Vice President of Student Affairs Kaye Patten-Wallace, Rubin said he was offered $500 to jumpstart this project.
However, Rubin said he is still trying to work out the details in regard to how the money will be distributed to organizations attending SG meetings. So far, two ideas are being suggested: one is based on a random drawing and the other idea offers more money to organizations with a higher attendance record.

Platform Two: Parking

Issues revolving around parking tend to be more of an "issue of convenience" to students, according to Rubin. His current plan is to inform students that he has no solution to parking and there are places to park. However, students will have to walk farther.
"Students need to know if they're parking on campus and go right to Lot 10, they're not going to find a spot for 20 minutes," he said. "But say they're going to the East garage or behind [Savage Hall], there's always going to be places and yeah, it sucks because you have to walk farther, and a lot of students don't understand that and don't know where the ‘sweet spots' are."
One solution that became popular in April was from IC columnist Anthony Russo. In his April 5 column entitled "Parking Dilemma," Russo suggested that parking places be allocated based on their location and popularity on campus through a special pricing scheme. Russo's idea was to price of passes for the East Garage lower than the price of the passes in Lot 10 and other more convenient lots.
"We have empty spaces that can be utilized. Students should pay more to use the lots that are in the highest demand," Russo said. "In this way, UT can effectively price discriminate and use revenue to encourage bicycling, walking and carpooling, further alleviating congestion."
In response to Russo's column, Rubin said it was a good suggestion but it would be difficult to change the policies in a short period of time.
"I think it's a nice idea, but policies are difficult to change because it's already complicated as it is with four passes," Rubin said. "It takes a lot to keep up with everything. I think a complete overhaul, although at some point may be necessary, will be difficult to do in the span of a year."

Platform Three: Bike-friendly campus

One of Rubin and Maddocks' larger platforms was the idea of a more bike-friendly campus which would include air pumps being installed on campus and more bike corrals set up throughout the university. This plan would encourage students who live on or near campus to use their bicycles and other modes of transportation.
Rubin said with more students riding their bicycles, it would ultimately diminish parking issues on campus and give students quicker access to class.
Since his election, Rubin said he has formed a Bike Initiatives Program and has a meeting set up for early September with UT officials to put together more bike corrals and to determine the locations.
One particular location Rubin said was in between the Student Union Building and Carlson Library. According to Rubin, there is compressed air running throughout the Student Union and assembling an air pump would be simple.
Also, Rubin said he and Maddocks attended a meeting with two city councilmen who are submitting a $5 million grant to improve Dorr Street.. Rubin said he and his vice president went to make sure some "some sort of bike-friendly suggestions" are in the plan.