Austin Powell announces his new position in the presidential cabinet during the meeting of the Associated Student Body. (DM Photo | Marlee Crawford)
The Associated Student Body unanimously voted to adopt an official mission statement into the ASB Constitution and Code at the meeting last night.
ASB Vice President John Brahan said senators have lost sight of their purpose in the past.
“The purpose of the mission statement is to remind us why we’re all here: to serve the students and not ourselves,” Brahan said.
The Executive Committee consists of the president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. These officers all collaborated to author the mission statement. The bill was sponsored by Senator Blake Hembree and the Committee on Governmental Operations.
President Rod Bridges spoke in favor of passing the bill. He said the officers put a lot of thought and time into creating the mission statement.
“A lot of us spent hours thinking of what was best for the students and what was best for ASB,” Bridges said.
The committee referenced how they researched other universities’ mission statements and found them to include too much jargon.
“The mission statement isn’t our goals. It isn’t something that needs to be intricate,” said Bridges. “We thought short, concise, and powerful. This gets our point across very efficiently.”
The mission statement was adopted through passing Constitutional Amendment 15-2.
The mission statement reads, “the mission of Associated Student Body is to serve selflessly and to represent justly the student body, in accordance with The University of Mississippi’s Creed, by prioritizing students’ interests and needs above personal ambition and prejudice.”
Bridges said the Executive Committee they wanted the statement to convey a positive message.
One of the objectives of his presidential platform was to change that indifference and establish ASB as a relevant student organization.
