Meet the New SGA President-Elect: An Interview with Cade Chezem

Heidi Copple | hcopple@butler.edu

This past week, Cade Chezem and Meet Patel were elected SGA President and Vice President for the upcoming school year. They both put a lot of hard work and preparation into their campaign, and they were happy to see their efforts pay off. Cade shared that right after hearing the election results, there was a moment of realizing the magnitude of the responsibility handed to them, but primarily there was excitement as they are eager to get started.

They believe they had a successful campaign because they implemented ideas from their own opinions and perspectives, but also from the voices of the student body. Chezem said that while he and Meet are passionate about their platform and talking to others, social media and the creative aspect are not their strong skills, so incorporating others into making their campaign possible was important. They want to thank their campaign manager and all who helped them during this process. 

Once the new administration takes over, they plan to implement various parts of their campaign at once.

“For example, the Diversity, Equity, and Student Belonging Board will get started on their work towards training, allyship, and resources. We will have the Mental Health and Well-Being Board continue to work with CCS and other departments to provide access. Of course, our entire administration will be working towards bringing transparency to the campus as soon as we begin in our new roles,” Chezem stated.

Chezem and Patel are already heavily involved with SGA and plan to keep working closely with the current executive cabinet to make sure their transition goes smoothly. A large part of their position is deciding who will make up the next executive cabinet. This will consist of interviewing candidates to see who would be the best fit for this position. 

Specifically as president, Chezem will be working on how to support all of the other board members within the administration. He wants to work closely with the administration, continuing relationships already obtained with some of the Butler staff members, like Dr. Ross. Chezem wants to continue to be a voice for students, and work with the other branch leaders to bring strong, consistent leadership to the student body.

As vice president, Patel will focus on the financial side of things such as creating the administrational budget, as well as continuing to support DESB because of his passion and expertise in supporting diversity on campus. 

Something Chezem wants to give credit to the previous administration for is focusing on the Mental Health and Well-Being Board. 

“The current administration laid a great foundation to keep mental health an important focus of leadership on campus and we want to continue to expand upon this and make it even stronger,” Chezem emphasized.

Be sure to follow along on all of SGA’s platforms and The Carillon to stay up to date on the Chezem/Patel transition to be the 2022-2023 President and Vice President as well as all other SGA happenings.