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Friday, March 29, 2024

Halfway through his term as Student Body president, Ryan Moseley has completed about 45 percent of his party's platform goals.

Moseley has accomplished 10 out of 22 of the Gator Party's platform issues from the spring and fall elections.

Moseley said one of his biggest successes has been the revival of Chomp the Vote, a Student Government program designed to increase student turnout at all elections.

He said 10,000 voter registration forms were distributed to sorority and fraternity houses, dorms and apartment complexes.

Last year "only a couple" students registered to vote, but this year more than 1,700 students have been registered, he said.

Moseley said most of his goals reflect the Gator Party's theme of "tangible benefits," benefits students can see.

Tangible benefits included bringing science educator and TV personality Bill Nye "The Science Guy" and the band Reel Big Fish in response to a survey sent out to UF students, Moseley said.

Students will also see Global Positioning Systems on Regional Transit System buses by February, which was a revised platform issue from the spring election.

The original goal was placing cameras in the parking lots to ease traffic. But students asked for GPS on the buses instead, Moseley said.

Moseley also extended the hours of Library West to 4 a.m. during final exams, Dec. 1-14.

The president also approved legislation from the Student Senate that created a graduate student bill of rights, which was designed to protect the students' working atmosphere. It must be reviewed by UF administrators before going into effect.

In an ongoing mission to improve the Institute of Black Culture and the Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures, known as La Casita, Moseley said he arranged the donation of computers and furniture to both groups. The furniture was donated by the Reitz Union because it wasn't being used.

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Moseley also said Kaleidoscope Month, which is UF's Asian and Asian-American Awareness Month, had "significantly lower" funding than other cultural awareness months. To fix this, the organization was given ,9,000 out of the SG administration budget and will receive ,9,000 for next year.

Ryan Day, deputy chief of staff, said SG has increased its partnership with student organizations to support events like Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month as well.

Day said ,15,000 was added to next year's budget for co-sponsorship programs. The budget is currently between ,35,000 and ,45,000.

Still, not everyone feels Moseley's accomplishments are substantial.

Sam Miorelli, former Progress Party chief counsel, said he is not impressed with Moseley's accomplishments.

"In some cases they pleasantly surprise me, but in so many of them I find myself with the rest of the people in the Reitz Union Food Court reading the Alligator and rolling my eyes," Miorelli said.

But Day said the Moseley administration is just getting started.

The Moseley administration plans to create a sustainability minor, building on the semester's environmental successes.

Using solar-powered energy for lighting on Rec Sports fields and adding more recycling bins on campus are two ways Moseley has assisted.

Moseley said some of his other platform accomplishments have been increasing programs led by Acting Against Rape: Every Student's Taskforce, known as AAREST, to protect students from sexual assault. He also added about three more emergency blue lights in family housing areas and on Sorority Row.

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