Waco Mayor, Baylor President Speak To New Student Body Leaders

Contact: Ashley Lintelman, Office of Press Secretary for Student Government, (214) 458-5310
The newly elected leaders of Baylor University's student body were officially sworn into office on April 26, receiving a welcome and congratulations for the upcoming school year from Waco Mayor Virginia DuPuy and Baylor President John M. Lilley.

DuPuy also recognized and presented a proclamation to the external vice president and his cabinet for their hard work this past year.

"This office is a valuable asset to both Baylor and the Waco community," DuPuy said.

DuPuy declared the day EVP Day and presented cabinet members Amanda Beattie, LaToya Butler, Bryan Fonville, Caleb Gallifant, Lloyd Franklin, Ian McCracken, Amanda Mitchell and Whitney Staton, as well as 2006-07 External Vice President Allan Marshall, with a proclamation commemorating the outstanding service and development of meaningful relationships between the Baylor and Waco communities. It is crested with the Waco seal and signed by DuPuy.

"I am so humbled to be honored by the City of Waco. I am so proud with what my cabinet members and I have been able to accomplish. We are forever grateful of our role in strengthening the Baylor-Waco relationship," Marshall said.

"I am thankful for this cabinet and I believe they have done more than any other cabinet under the EVP office. This proclamation is not about me, but about the importance of this office and the role it plays at Baylor," Marshall added.

Marshall will now serve at the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce as director of community development and says that he is grateful for his Baylor experience because it has prepared him for the future.

The office of the Student Body External Vice President strengthened the relationship between the Baylor and Waco community through various ways including:
? The creation of the Community Involvement Council (CIC)
? The creation and development of the Alumni Mentor Program (AMP)
? The continuation of the Learning English Among Friends Program (LEAF)
? Hosting the Beyond Leadership Community Summit
? Hosting Waco Mayor Virginia DuPuy during Student Senate sessions
? The creation of COALition to increase student awareness of coal plant sites near Waco
? Hosting the Conference of Private Universities (CPU) to link Baylor student leaders with other private university student leaders
? Connecting students with city issues through several Waco boards and commissions

"I am blessed for this life changing experience of serving as Baylor's student body external vice president, but I am also excited about the future of this office as well as my new role in the Waco community."

Following DuPuy's proclamation to the EVP office, Lilley addressed the student senate, discussing in a question-and-answer format various issues ranging from the environment to security. He also said the university was looking at ways to make the campus more eco-friendly by "greening-up" the campus and making it more walking-friendly.

While the administrators attempt to make the campus more pedestrian-oriented, student senate raised concern about the amount of walking time between passing periods. Lilley said that a team had been assembled to find a way to make passing periods more accessible and that extending the days with earlier or later class times was an option in order to allow students 15 minutes to walk to their classes.

In accordance with the Virginia Tech incident, Lilley said that even more plans were going into effect to make the campus a safer place to be. According to Lilley, Baylor hired a consultant last summer to look at ways to improve campus safety. Cascading e-mail and phone calls have already been put into place. Campus-wide texting is to begin very soon for Baylor, and speakers will be installed in all academic buildings not currently covered by the end of the summer.

"We want to also look at ways to make the area around Baylor's campus safer and have begun to work with the city of Waco to accomplish this task," Lilley said.

Lilley congratulated the new senators and officers and encouraged them to remember and take pride in the fact that, at such an excellent institution as Baylor, they were already practicing their ability to lead others.