My name is Scotty Stutts, and I am running for the office of Student Body President. Since 2011, I have been working on the Student Body Senate as a Senator at Large to improve UK and revise policies such as the alcohol policy, the fall break, parking, the ticket lottery system, veterans’ affairs, advising, student safety and students’ rights. I feel as though it is my time to seek the office of the President of the Student Body. Not because I am overly ambitious, or because I crave the power. I ask humbly for your vote because I feel I have the leadership capability, work-ethic, experience and tenacity to change the policies that have hindered students since my enrollment at this university. I ask humbly for your vote because my running mate and I will work harder than any other candidate to change these policies, day and night, until the job is done. I ask humbly for your vote because I believe in myself and my running mate as strong leaders of this campus, who will not talk softly about issues such as the wet campus, parking reform, ticket lottery, veterans’ affairs, student safety, and students’ rights like our opponents have done.

Our opponents seek to create an “Advisory Board” to address these issues. I say, these issues have been addressed, and the consensus is clear, it’s time to change them. Without a strong leader who has the guts to voice his opinion loud and clear on these issues, who has the work-ethic to get them done and who has the ideas that can reform these policies, not just a soft approach and an advisory board, we cannot change them. We want to build a new parking structure for students, cut out waiting at Memorial Coliseum for basketball tickets, extend programs that enhance student safety, increase veterans’ affairs here on campus and work hard as representatives of the student body to defend students’ rights.

We seek to increase campus involvement here at UK. We believe that this can only be done once the policies that are hampering campus life are changed. The social atmosphere of this campus is near nonexistent. Yes, large events draw crowds and do attract some life on this campus, but on a week to week and day to day basis, UK expresses very little social life on campus. Primarily, the alcohol policy must be changed, so that organizations on campus can host social events, in a positive and communal atmosphere, as opposed to the current unsafe atmosphere they are forced into because of the alcohol policy. You have to get students involved in this campus before they’ll seek campus involvement.

We also seek to reform student safety. Our student government and administration have done an excellent job thus far promoting student safety, but we believe that we can take this issue further. Reforms to the alcohol policy will prevent students from having long, vulnerable walks back to campus from off-campus party houses in unsafe neighborhoods. We also want to expand the Safe Cats program. We will work with the changes being made to the Cats Cruiser program already in place to cut down on drinking and driving on this campus. With an extension of Safe Cats, a new taxi service to replace the Cats Cruiser and a wet campus that promotes safe social events on campus, imagine how much the university could lower sexual assaults, robberies and drunk driving in the campus area.

Additionally, we will build up on current ground-level parking lots to create a new parking garage for students close to North Campus. This task would not be as difficult as you would think. If the current Board of Trustees has proven anything, it’s that they have a commitment to building here on campus. As president, I would raise parking concerns to the Board of Trustees and lobby them to secure construction funds to build the new parking garage.

I would also like to make reforms to advising. I would push to fix APEX so that it would tell students which classes to take which semester, not just push a large list of classes at them. I would also like to push UK to create a new class for seniors called UK 401. UK 401 would solve as an extension of UK 101, but for seniors. It would be a multipurpose class for seniors to prep for graduate exams like the MCAT, LSAT, and GRE. It could serve as a writing lab for senior writing projects, and would also serve as a weekly job fair to help students find a job upon graduation.

I have experience in the Senate and have a track record of getting things done. As president, I can get even more done to help the student body. As president, I will work hard to represent all students. My door will always be open, and from day one, I will start working to change this university into what the students deserve. Unlike my opponent, I will not be soft on issues that are near and dear to the student body, and I will not relent from pushing for reform to make UK a wet campus, build a new parking structure, fix advising, reform the ticket lottery, and make UK a safer campus for all students. It is up to you, the voters, to make this campus better by electing strong leadership. I ask humbly for your vote this Wednesday and Thursday.

Thank you.