Meet the candidate: Malcolm Mann shares plans for creating student connection

Olivia Barone

Editor in Chief

Elections for RIC’s Student Community Government [SCG] 26-27 Executive Board open to campus for the first time this April, making it more important than ever for students to know who is in the running. Since the announcement, The Anchor has put out a call to all potential student candidates, providing them the platform to introduce themselves to the student body and share their goals for the next term.

Meet SCG presidential candidate Malcolm Mann: A RIC sophomore majoring in Political Science, Public Administration and Philosophy. Also a member of SCG’s parliament, Mann joined after meeting current SCG President DiGregorio in a shared class. Being active in parliament has since shown Mann the positive changes that SCG can make on campus. “The more I started to participate in SCG, it became really interesting. I feel like I can actually make a change on campus. [SCG has improved this year] and I want to keep it that way.”

Photo credits: Malcolm Mann

As a Political Science major, Mann has spent part of his undergraduate years learning about what it means to serve the public. “Political science is cooler than it sounds. We learn about public opinion and I think having that background will help me get a better understanding of the public opinion of students at RIC.”

I asked Mann what the public opinion of RIC students might be and his answer was simple: they want continuous action. “I want to hear peoples’ voices every single day. I want to get things done every single day,” Mann told me, expressing his determination not only for production, but for connection too.

Mann lived on campus his first year at RIC and now in his second, he commutes. As Mann put it, he has “both sides of the story” and has witnessed college life from two different student perspectives. Both experiences have fueled Mann’s desire to promote student engagement and particularly reach commuter students who haven’t yet found their community.

"My main thing is engagement from the student body. As a commuter school, everyone goes to class and goes home. I want to get even commuter students really engaged. It's a really arduous task but I'm set on it."

Photo credits: Malcolm Mann

Further, Mann explained the importance of forging connections between SCG and students. He elaborated that SCG, being made up of students, is sometimes a more accessible way for students to see change than reaching out to RIC’s administration. This is afterall, SCG’s purpose.

Mann also plans to prioritize accessibility and transportation if he is elected as SCG’s next president. Student complaints about RIC’s shuttle have inspired Mann’s ideas on how to streamline the shuttle’s app and provide an alternative mode of transportation: golf carts.

“I want to try to implement [the golf carts] into the shuttle process. That could be a student job too. They could be trained to [drive other students around campus].”

In his final remarks to The Anchor, Mann instilled his desire to act for RIC’s student body. "I want to drive home the point that I'm not in this for me but I'm in this for the students. I'm there for them."

To follow Mann’s campaign alongside Vice Presidential candidate Judy LaRose, see @mannlarose2627 on Instagram. For additional information on SCG’s upcoming elections, also visit @scgric.