After seeing posters encouraging students to run for Student Senate last year, Michael Bentley immediately went and added his name to the list.
“I walked down to the Senate office and asked them for information just to see what it’s like to run, and they had me sit down and sign the paperwork, and I declared to run right there,” Bentley said, now in his second year as a senator and first semester as Campus Affairs Committee Chair.
Bentley, from Coventry, Rhode Island, is a senior political science and history major. He knew that Senate would be a good fit for him, as he had wanted to be more involved on campus and as someone interested in politics.
Public service has always been something that interested Bentley. Preceding his current position in Senate, he had interned at both the Rhode Island Statehouse and the Department of Education.
“Most of my jobs have been to help people,” Bentley said, adding that these are jobs where, much like his current work as a student senator, he can help the community.
At the end of last semester he decided to run for the Campus Affairs Chair and won. He said this has given him much more responsibility, as he’s currently in charge of a lot more people.
“We’ve been trying to stay in contact with the students who are quarantining in the hotels trying to work to get them to know that the Senate cares about them,” Bentley said.
He is also responsible for contacting Vice President for Student Affairs Kathy Collins about COVID protocols and housing. Bentley is also working with the COVID-19 task force at URI to ensure the community’s safety.
He says this position has given him much more opportunities in leadership positions such as the blue light walk, done every year by the senate to see how the blue safety lights around campus are working.
“As a normal student, I never would have had to do anything like that but the Student Senate has given me experience to be able to work with teams of URI leadership and student leadership to make events like this happen,” Bentley said of the blue light walk.
Bentley has been praised by his peers in Senate. According to President Austyn Ramsay, he has handled his leadership position wonderfully.
“Michael Bentley is a great senator and even better chair,” Ramsay said. “He has done an amazing job staying engaged with the URI community and the Student Senate. He is really hard working and is always available.”
After college, Bentley plans to either join the Air Force or apply to other colleges for his Master’s degree.
Overall, Bentley has said that being in Senate has been a great experience.
“I’ve had a lot of fun and met a lot of good people,” he said.