Austyn Ramsay, a transfer student from a community college in her hometown of New London, Connecticut, does not shy away from her love of this University and all it has given her.
Now in her second year in Student Senate as a senior, Austyn Ramsay has served as Student Senate Student Organizations Committee Chair, founding member Women in Law and a proud P.I.N.K. woman. Austyn Ramsay hopes to add Student Senate President to her list of many leadership positions on campus.
Her platform focuses on six key concepts: nontraditional students, student rights and accessibility, mental health awareness, sustainability efforts, multicultural inclusion and food insecurity.
The inspiration behind the issues she has chosen to focus on comes from a collaborative effort from herself and her vice president, her sister, Madison Ramsay. The two wished to create a unique and diverse campaign that highlights the needs of all students at the University of Rhode Island.
Austyn Ramsay credits much of her drive to make a difference in the URI community to her journey in getting here. She graduated high school at 16, worked two jobs at once, lived in her own apartment and attended school all with URI in the back of her mind. Often times feeling like the odds were against her as a member of an underserved community, and as a woman of color identifying as Hispanic and African American, Austyn Ramsay used these factors as motivation to become the person she is today.
Why did you decide to run for Student Senate President?
“For me, it’s like the statistics are just against me,” Austyn Ramsay said. “I’m in an underserved community, working two jobs. There’s not a lot of support from our community leaders. [I felt] we need to do something; I need to do something. I want to make change in my community and in the real world. For me, making change on campus is also really important. I think one of the reasons that I decided to run for president, it’s because I feel like not only am I involved across multiple like organizations on campus and I feel like I really know a lot of different subcultures and communities on our URI campus. “
Describe the main parts of your campaign platform.
“The key points are nontraditional students, student rights and accessibility, a mental health platform, sustainability, multicultural inclusion and a really big focus on food insecurities and stability.”
Austyn Ramsay will focus on transfer students specifically among nontraditional students. Improved transfer student orientation for retention and stability within that student population is an important part of their integration into URI’s community for Austyn Ramsay.
Building access, respect within classrooms and accomodations from professors were ideas stressed within Austyn Ramsay’s accessibility and students rights platform.
Increased crisis outreach training for resident assistants as well as for on campus communities.
Better resources for the Counseling Center who are understaffed was another point Austyn Ramsay touched upon, as she hopes to find a way for Student Senate to support them more.
Implementing composting stations at eating areas was one platform included in Austyn Ramsay’s plan for sustainability. She also wanted to promote the composting club at URI to inform students of their mission to further this plan.
Supporting multicultural groups to spread awareness of their organizations was also an important notion to Austyn Ramsay.
“They’re doing amazing work,” said Austyn Ramsay. “Regardless of how anyone feels, we should all be supported on our own views.”
According to Austyn Ramsay, one of her main platforms is to promote food insecurity on campus. Austyn Ramsay hopes to allow students to donate more than one swipe to the ‘share a swipe for hope’ program. Promotion of the Rhody Outpost on campus through fundraising and getting Senate involved in philanthropy to support this.
Why do you love URI?
“I feel like the students here are probably the number one reason that I love URI,” said Austyn Ramsay. “I’ve met some of the best people that I know. I’ve met my best friends here. My sisters in P.I.N.K., the friendships that I’ve made through Student Senate. I mean, just our community at URI is probably one of the best that I’ve ever experienced. And I can never imagine going to a different college. I feel [at] home here and I love it for that.”