Malachi Massey

My name is Malachi Massey, and I am proud to be spending the 2023-24 school year serving campus as the Chair of the Senate Campus Life Committee and as the President of the Chess Club Registered Student Organization. These positions have provided me with a unique perspective on issues relating to infrastructure, student community, and what it means to feel like a citizen of the University of Arkansas. I have strived in my roles to improve the experiences of everyone that I represent by creating initiatives, researching issues, and connecting with administrators. I have also seen how much more there is to do on campus to give every student the optimal environment to have the best college experience possible.

My first initiative as President will be to have conversations with administrators that manage Housing, Parking, and Transit to discuss ways in which these services can be made more accessible and affordable. I will work with Parking on researching the construction of the university’s next parking garage and on the possibility of creating special zonal parking to make inner campus more accessible to commuter students. It is also undeniable that the University of Arkansas and its surrounding community is facing a housing crisis. I will address this by engaging with administrators on plans to build more dorms and to expand university-owned housing facilities. I will also set up resources that will aid students seeking off-campus housing in their search for an apartment that meets their financial and transportation needs. I will also explore ways in which to boost bus service to outer parking lots and to apartment complexes, including entering discussion with apartment-owned shuttles to increase service to supplement university service to provide maximum flexibility and speed for getting to campus.

As the President of the Chess Club Registered Student Organization and conducting event planning in association with funding from ASG, I have developed firsthand experience with the difficulties that arise for student organizations trying to get money for their events. The Office of Financial Affairs recently made some changes to their Code that will make it easier to acquire funding for items they may not have previously been able to, however these rules are still restrictive and in their infancy. I will use the data taken from this year’s funding to explore ways in which we can expand these new rules to allow funding for even more supplies, and to inform RSO’s on how they can best benefit from changes. I will create a simplified and accessible guide for RSO’s that will explain the rules that apply specifically to them when they are seeking to get funding for an event, as well as create dynamic timelines that will keep RSO’s directly informed regarding the deadlines the Office of Financial Affairs sets for applications so that the funding process will never delay your event.

I believe that the fundamental pillar of progress is when ideas from individuals that have differing perspectives are combined to inspire change. As President, I want to assure that every student feels that they have as much opportunity as any other student. I will create conversations better a broad range of students to find how the Student Government can best provide for every student so that they can feel like they are a valued member as this community, regardless of their background or organizational affiliation. It is imperative that as a community at the University of Arkansas we foster a community of unconditional mutual collaboration and growth, and this is a spirit will always encourage and seek to improve.