It’s over. The speeches, handshakes, t-shirt giveaways, and student org visits. After an insane and crazy election, you, the students of OU, voted me, Nick Walter, as Student Body President with Madison Kubinski, my running mate, as Vice-President. During the campaign we promised a lot: reforming the grading scale, expanding the OC, adding more outlets, and increasing swag on campus. The Big 4, I called them. Now, the new Walter/Kubinski administration has promises to keep, as does the rest of the newly-elected Student Congress.

We ran into a problem even before taking office, though: a problem that I knew would arise. What on earth is Student Congress? Why are we here? What do we do? When and where do we meet? Many OU students don’t know the answers to these questions. Indeed, OUSC has sometimes even been called a “secret society”. Nothing could be further from the truth, and it is these perception that this column is designed to combat. Put simply, I want you to know what’s going on. You elected me, you elected Madison, you elected the legislature. You deserve to know what we’re doing.

So, then, I’m starting this column to give you an update on OUSC. It will appear once a month, and will list what we’ve been doing, whether an Executive Board member is working with a student organization on a new project, Madison is coordinating with the legislature on their projects and ideas, or I am meeting with OU’s administration to work on the Big 4, or, indeed, anything else that OUSC is doing.

I’ll begin this column with a quick recap of the past month. After being sworn in, Madison and I appointed (and the legislature approved) a new Executive Board. Roughly similar to the Presidential Cabinet, they deal with areas such as student services, legislative affairs, environmental health and wellness, and diversity. There are also eboard members who work on finances, marketing, graphics, and administrative affairs. We’ve already started projects and moved into the OUSC office in the basement of the OC. The legislature hasn’t been idle, either: they’ve begun projects of their own. All of OUSC has come together several times for meetings. (As an aside, the meetings are normally at 4 in the Oakland Room on Monday nights. During the summer, though, we don’t meet as often. Check out our Facebook page for updates on when the next summer meeting will be.)

As a final thought, take this column as a starting point. Don’t just read this, helpful as I hope it will be. Stop by the office. Email me. Email Madison. Email any member of the e-board or legislature. Ask probing questions. Get specifics. Don’t settle for a halfway job. We pledge, as the members of your student government, to deliver on our campaign promises and to represent you. If we’re not doing our job, then it is your responsibility as the student body to tell us so. That is our promise for this year.