Griffin Thomas focuses on underrepresented groups, says he won't 'shy away from fights'

By Abigail Panitz and Claire Weddle     2/10/16 11:45pm

Current Lovett College President Griffin Thomas, a junior, is trying to shift his focus from running a college to campus-wide government, a return to the Student Association after a stint as a New Student Representative freshman year.

“My freshman year I served as an NSR and was kind of upset with the SA and how inefficiently it was run, so I wasn’t terribly interested in continuing my involvement in the organization,” Thomas said.

Thomas’ opinion has since changed. He has admired the way the past two SA presidents committed to actively address controversial issues, and he enjoyed his past year serving on the SA as a standing member of the Blanket Tax Committee. He also created the Student Access and Success Working Group to seek out low-income and first-generation students among other less prevalent voices on campus.

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Last semester, Thomas drafted and sent an application to recruit underrepresented students to serve on the working group.

“Traditionally I think low-income and first-generation students, athletes, international students tend to get left out of conversations,” he said. “If nothing else [I want them to] have a seat at the table.”

Another goal of Thomas’s platform is to encourage the student body to address campus and nationwide issues more proactively. According to Thomas, the Rice community should foster dialogues on race on campus in light of recent protests across college campuses such as the University of Missouri, Columbia and Yale University. Thomas also mentioned the presidential debates, noting how the presidential candidates perceive college, particularly student loans, differently.

Transparency is an overarching concern for Thomas. He wants to continue making organizations like Student Judicial Programs and the Title IX office more approachable for students. He cited the recent reform of requiring two supervisors instead of one at SJP meetings as a productive development. Thomas has had concerns with SJP in the past: He wrote an opinion piece for the Thresher last February on the changes and controversy the institution faced in regards to harassment complaints filed by former Rice student Olivia Hansen in 2012.

Thomas said transparency is also important as it affects the relationship of the student body to the SA.

“I’m a process guy and I know that there’s been a lot of concern in the past year about the way that the SA has been run specifically with [Critical Thinking in Sexuality],” Thomas said. “I think that [we should focus on] making the SA a good and effective organization in which students can also trust that our process of deliberations is fair.”

Thomas also wants to make the SA more transparent by communicating with college government. He said his experience and knowledge of college government suits him for the task.

Thomas elaborated on his leadership style, which he called said was vital to his work as Lovett president.

“There is no way to make everyone happy all of the time — the student body is just too big and diverse,” Thomas said. “However, it is critical to ensure that everyone walk away from the discussion feeling that the process was fair and their voice was heard.”

Thomas has made his voice heard over controversial issues in the past. He supported Senate Bill #4 but was critical of the way it was introduced. He co-wrote an opinion piece for the Thresher in November calling to reframe the debate and encourage more people to voice their opinions. Thomas voted for the bill, but voted against a popular amendment that would change the wording of “additional members to be appointed by the Student Association president” to “additional members to be appointed by the Student Association president and confirmed by the Student Association Senate or by majority vote of the Student Association Senate.”

Thomas’ history of dealing with controversial issues stretches outside of the SA. As Lovett president, he communicated with the director of SJP in September when complaints were filed against Lovett’s backpage, prompting SJP to change the Code of Student Conduct to address the use of private information in both formal and quasi-formal publications.

Thomas emphasized his campaign slogan, “Vote for me and I’ll fight for you.”

“I don’t play politics really,” Thomas said. “I’m willing to do what is politically unpopular to do what is best for students. I don’t shy away from fights; I’m willing to represent student interests in an aggressive manner.”

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