Anyone with access to the internet could learn this much about Harold Callaway, the student Governor by reading Tower Topics.
“Harold Callaway III, a sophomore management and economics major from Faucett, Mo., was sworn in as student governor at the Board of Governors meeting Feb. 23.”
But what exactly does that mean to the average Joe student? It means this is one of the guys who makes some of the final decisions on where your money goes.
Callaway describes his duties quite simply.
“You only have one primary responsibility and that is making the board meetings,” Callaway said.
Missouri Western State University defines the duties of the Student Governor in four parts:
Role of the Student Governor
-Talk with students and work to support them.
-Serve as a liaison between the Board of Governors and the student body of Western.
-Develop an understanding of the roles of other Board members.
-Develop an understanding of the communication between the Board and Administration In the past, Callaway has been viewed as having a more business like approach to student government. One could say that business is his business.
“My ideal job would be working with mergers and acquisitions, auditing for a major corporation,” Callaway said.
“That would be my ultimate job as long as I could still keep some kind of community emphasis,” Calloway said.
The position that Callaway holds has had a long standing past of strong candidates filling the role.
“I am the 25th student governor, the first full term student governor since we made the switch from a college to a university,” Callaway said.
“Bob Hughes, the person who preceded me, came up and started talking to me while we were standing there on the steps for orientation in the summer of ‘05, and he asked me if I would want to do the job and get more involved at school. It meant a lot to me to move into a position that had more substance and meaning to it,” Calloway said.
With student attendance down across the board for student events, Callaway seems perplexed by how to move the student body ahead.
“I would like to see more student involvement at any event across campus,” Callaway said.
“I understand that students are busy, but all these events we hold, the students spend close to $500,000 a year for this money to be utilized and that is something that we really need to look at,” Calloway said.
So how does the student governor feel that the SGA and Student Senate are progressing this year?
“We have run into a deadlock with our current advisor and the SGA, and the Student Senate believe that the adviser is not pursuing the issues of the senate and the SGA,” Callaway said. “I think we have always tried to find just one person to blame the problem on and that tends to be the adviser. It has grown ever more grotesque with the current advisor. The relationship we had with Dr. Shang is that he would argue over an issue with us but he wouldn’t carry those feelings over into a veto. That is different now with Dr. Heider, it is a completely different mind set.”
Callaway is quick to point out that the source of a problem may not always come from the first place that people would assume.
“I don’t understand how one person can cause so many problems with the entire senate,” Callaway said. “It just doesn’t make any sense. So I think the finger, instead of pointing at her needs to be pointed back at us. We need to get our stuff together before we can make any off the wall accusations.”
As he wraps his fiscally minded perceptions around the problems that face the SGA, Callaway moves closer and closer to the academic finish line. What is next for our peer politician?
“After I graduate from here it is either graduate school or a competitive internship,” Callaway said.
The upperclassman even offered advice for freshman facing the beginning of their academic challenge.
You should seek out a faculty member, a teacher and start a relationship,” Callaway said.
“Just start there and you find yourself getting more involved with the entire university.”
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