Chris Brady, the current chair of academic oversight within the Student Government Association, is running for the student trustee position with one clear goal in mind: advocating for the reduced cost of attendance.
Brady, a junior economics and political science double major, was still a senator in the SGA when he attended a University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees meeting. They are a governing body which represents and votes on issues regarding the entire UMass system.
“I had the opportunity to hop on a zoom for the Board of Trustees when they were voting on last year’s tuition increase,” Brady said. “I was the only student who attended and I voiced my opposition to tuition increases.”
“Obviously it didn’t have much of an effect, but it left kind of an impression on me,” he said. “I felt that there was no creativity in terms of thinking of alternative funding sources.”
Brady noted that the Board of Trustees benefits from a lack of transparency between them and the students of UMass. He would work to remove this disconnect. “[The trustees] benefit from people not really paying attention to what they do because that means they avoid criticism,” Brady said.
Last year, when Brady took his seat as a chair of academic oversight, he inherited a program which provides free iClickers to low-income students. The devices cost $52, on average.
“To me, asking a college student to pay an extra $52 is unacceptable,” Brady said.
The Board of Trustees plans to increase tuition again this year. Brady emphasized that the majority of his efforts will go towards preventing this increase.
“In the past I’ve contributed to real positive tangible change on campus, at least in the realm of academics,” Brady said. He hopes, if elected to the position of student trustee, to continue this work on a larger scale.
Brady said he will hold the University accountable for combating the worsening housing crisis, one which Brady believes the University is responsible for creating. “UMass over enrolled,” he said. “They didn’t compensate by adding extra dorms.”
“I have this kind of innate predisposition to contribute to my community,” Brady said. “I have a body of work I can point to, to show that I am not pursuing trustee for a line item on a resume. This is important to me.”
“There’s a previous trustee who did weekly coffee hours,” Brady said. “Students could come and just talk to them about their problems. I would love to bring that back.”
“The trustee has to be proactive in establishing those lines of communication,” he added.
Voting opens on Tuesday, March 7, on Campus Pulse.
Grace Lee can be reached at [email protected].
