Getting to Know the Forty Acres’ New Student Leaders

By Danielle Lopez in 40 Acres, Sept | Oct 2019 on September 1, 2019 at 8:35 am | 2 Comments

Student Body President Camron Goodman and Vice President Amie Caroline Jean want everyone to know there are all kinds of leaders.

Goodman, a finance senior, had an unorthodox start to his time at UT. As a transfer student from Mountain View College in Dallas, he is also the first person in his family to attend a four-year college. Jean, a finance senior minoring in African and African Diaspora studies from Houston, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis her sophomore year, and has had to adjust to navigating campus in a wheelchair. Together, as the first black students to hold these leadership positions simultaneously, Goodman and Jean hope to give a voice to underrepresented communities on campus.

Since they officially began their new roles in April 2019, the pair has focused on implementing sexual assault prevention trainings for organization leaders across campus, increasing the number of mental health counselors for each school, and expanding the SureWalk program. The Alcalde caught up with them about their new roles.

What does it mean to you to be the first black duo to hold these positions?

Goodman: Every day we’re realizing its importance more and more. This is a way to show that anybody can be in these positions—whatever your economic background or where you’re from. We didn’t want to run an identity-facing campaign. We didn’t need to tell people we were going to be the first all-black team. It was in the back of our minds but it didn’t hit us until we got to these positions and we heard stories about how much this has inspired people and made them even more proud to be a Longhorn.

Why did you decide to run?

Goodman: That’s a big question.

Jean: Yeah, a big one. I think both of us have had really full experiences here. We’ve had different levels of hardship and struggles but we found people and a way to uplift ourselves. We thought, how do we share that with other students? You know, what starts here changes the world and whatnot—but the “what starts here” part needs to be more focused. How do we make sure that what starts here is going to change the world?

Goodman: We care a lot about voice on campus and representation is key. We are in the position to not just hold the mic ourselves, but to hand it over to students who need a voice and want to make a change on campus.

What are you most excited about for the coming year?

Goodman: Really changing the atmosphere of Student Government. We want to make this space collaborative. We want to partner with other student organizations to accomplish our goals. We want this to be a place where anyone can come in and feel welcome. We’re not so consumed with what SG can accomplish on its own, but what we can accomplish together with the rest of the student body.

This interview has been edited and condensed.