Maria Modayil never liked being the center of attention, but she decided to run for president of Ohio University Graduate Student Senate for the 2017-2018 academic year anyway.
After several people approached her to run for different positions, she said it “just made sense” to run for president. She had never thought about being president until Angie Chapman, current vice president for legislative affairs, suggested it to her.
“I was like, ‘No. Don’t even say that. That’s out of the question,’ ” Modayil said.
As a woman and an international student from Kuwait working toward a doctoral degree in the individual interdisciplinary program, she said she was intimidated by the position at first.
“That was one of the most empowering things too for me,” Modayil said. “To take on this responsibility because with the political rhetoric and everything going on in the world, I’m just like what a great way to show that we can still do it.”
After she decided to run, Modayil quickly formed a ticket called GLocals. She wanted to unite everyone who was thinking of running for a position to work together on a common goal.
The GLocals ticket believes students are holistic and not “empty vessels that are coming to be filled,” Modayil said. It plans to aim the focus beyond what’s happening at
“I don’t want to say we’re the saviors of the world, but there are people from different cultures, and there are people from different backgrounds,” she said. “How we can impact in a larger or bigger sense?”’
The executive team candidates include Christopher Glick for vice president for legislative affairs, Alec Koondel for vice president for finance, and Becky Salami for vice president for communications. Each member is in GSS currently, and Modayil said each knows skills that will be helpful in their positions.
Glick, a graduate student studying political science, said he is looking forward to working with incoming OU president Duane Nellis.
“The main thing is that we have Dr. Nellis coming in and this is a new chapter for everyone, and I just want to be a part of that in anyway that I can be,” Glick said in an email.
Koondel, a graduate student studying
“I really enjoy … helping student organizations have their events,” Koondel said. “When it came down to GSS finance, I think there’s plenty we can still do as far as our funding goes.”
Salami, a graduate student studying communications and development studies, said she hopes to conduct research and create a GSS newsletter.
“President Ian Armstrong has previously expressed his desire to conduct research in the communication preferences of graduate students and I hope to conduct this research in the coming year,” Salami said in an email.
Modayil said she thinks the GLocals ticket is the best ticket it could be. She is also confident the ticket will win in the three races that are contested.
“I don’t see the point of just sitting in the backlines and complaining,” she said. “You have to be involved. We see that not just in our university elections, but also in the political and larger schemes.”
