The Student Government of Seattle University (SGSU) declared the new SGSU leaders May 2. Diego Gonzalez, a second-year criminal justice major, is the organization’s new president. With a new position and a new role to play, Gonzalez has a big new task ahead of him.
Gonzalez is not new to SGSU; before stepping into his role as president, he was vice president of academic affairs. Gonzalez has been part of SGSU for almost two years, starting his freshman year as an arts and science senator. He has learned the inner workings of SGSU.
Gonzalez decided to run for president as he believes that he knows the system the best and can improve it in many ways.
“I’ve been there [at SGSU] for a year, and I’ve seen what’s possible through the presidential position. And I knew that I wanted to create change through there. I’m involved on campus a lot, and I try to go to as many events as possible and talk to as many students as possible. and just talking to students and seeing what needs to be improved. I think I can do that best through the presidential position,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez considers the rule of leadership essential. He believes that he should lead not only with power but also with example. He has worked with the Vietnamese Student Association to help provide and cater food for their events. He believes reaching out and participating in student events helps build deeper connections with students.
This devotion and dedication to the role stem from Gonzalez’s loyalty to SGSU. He has pride and what he does and hopes to do it the best way he can.
“I think what motivates me is the fact that I think it’s the best way to do the job. If I’m gonna be here and advocate for students, if students elected me, I have to give them the best possible. Obviously, that’s not me sitting in my office waiting for students to come to me. It’s me going out and living with the students and interacting with them,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez hopes to bring a lot to the table, including putting effort into improving the clarity of what SGSU provides. This entails improving how Seattle U clubs can be supported more efficiently financially or with advice.
Gonzalez will not be doing this mission of campus improvement and leadership role alone.
Fatima Abdullahi, a third-year computer science major and the vice president-elect of diversity and inclusion, and Delisha Doppa, a first-year mechanical engineering major and the College of Science and Engineering senator-elect, are helping him achieve that goal.
Abdullahi and Doppa were both elected for their positions May 2, at the same time as Gonzalez. They both hope to bring as much effort as Gonzalez to aid the student body.
As a Muslim, Abdullahi shared how college can be isolating when there is not as much representation of your own culture on campus. She shared how isolating it could feel when not many people pray like you, speak like you and have the same beliefs as you. However, she hopes to change that.
“I want to build a real community at SU, one where every student feels seen, heard, and feels they belong, even though I know we have a lot of these events and things at school. Either people aren’t hearing about it and have no idea about it, or feel a bit too shy or unable to go, so I want to find ways where we can build more community, even though we’re so different and diverse here at SU. I still think we can find ways to relate to one another and just have a big community,” Abdullahi said.
Similar to Abdullahi, Doppa wants to bridge the gap between students. However, Doppa also wants to bridge the gap between upper-classmen and incoming students. She feels this gap could be filled with experience and more communication from upperclassmen, which could be filled with tutoring.
Doppa shared how when she had a class with upperclassmen, she got to see how much knowledge and experience they had to offer to lowerclassmen.
“I think they’re very knowledgeable in terms of classes and experience. So I feel like, if we first year, second years, and just general, like other students, were able to talk to these third years, or even seniors more like. I think that would be pretty useful, for, like all of us, just to be able to connect with each other and learn more,” Doppa said.
With a new and promising roster of leaders, SGSU hopes to leave a better chapter than the one they came into, hoping to foster a better community that bridges the gap between inclusivity and focusing on student empowerment.
