Ben Taylor could just wait in the wings for his term to begin.
After the announcement of his landslide victory in last month’s student government elections, Taylor could just kick up his heels on the Student Senate desk in the campus center office. He could coast until next semester, patting himself on the back for earning 44 percent of the vote and enjoy a nice, stress-free month.
He could. But that’s just not Ben Taylor.
“I would just be bored if I wasn’t involved” said Taylor, who has spent the last week following current the student body president, AJ Chalifour, getting to know more about his new role.
In the conference room of the student government office, Taylor seems comfortable. Dressed in a sweater, with the collared shirt of you’d expect in an elected official, his garb reflects his casual, personable approach to politics – all the required formality without any of the intimidation.
Instilled with the “values of democracy” at an early age by his mother, a civics teacher, Taylor has long been involved in student government.
In his tenure at Windham High School, Taylor served as a class officer, and was eager to continue his record of involvement after he shed the cap and gown.
Like many USM students, Taylor’s path to Husky-hood was not a traditional one.
After graduating high school, Taylor went into the workforce for two years, holding down a full time job at Radio Shack to earn money for college.
Living on Brighton Ave at the time, Taylor always kept one eye down the road towards the Portland campus, and one foot in the world of academia, getting involved with students creating the Opportunity Maine program even before he was enrolled at the university.
By the time he did enroll, he was already involved with the students who helped bring PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) back to Maine, and noticed that PIRG and student government seemed to attract many of the same people.
Though there is a lot of crossover between the groups, Taylor was at first unsure of how to really get involved, but seem to have figured things out quickly – the sophomore is serving this year as vice chair of the student senate.
As senior student body president AJ Chalifour approached the end of his time at USM, Taylor saw his chance to affect change at USM, and head up the organization with which he had become so familiar.
Now that he’s won, Taylor has to decide what tone his impending presidency will take. Former last year’s president, Andrew Bossie, focused his term on working with administration and staff to reach his goals and was a key force in creating Opportunity Maine, which finally came to fruition in January.
Chalifour has defined his time in office this year through working more closely with students and student groups.
Given these precedents, Taylor says that a good balance is important.
“I think it’s important to be accessible to students, and work with them to find creative solutions to USM’s problems,” he says.
These problems, in Taylor’s opinions, are not as strongly tied to the budget as some people think.
The often-cited “community” that USM lacks is not a problem that can only be solved with cash, he says. “There are lots of things we can do that the budget has little implication on.”
Getting people to sporting events, Taylor suggest, is a cost-free way to build community and pride in USM.
“We are an under-funded public university,” Taylor says, “but the distinction between public and private universities is all about the support that private universities get.”
This support, Taylor suggests, is intrinsically tied into alumni pride for their alma mater, a trait that can be a little harder to find at USM.
Increasing community and pride, while in itself an appealing trait of a school, can also have positive long-term financial effects.
Reluctant to base his term on unrealistic aspirations, Taylor recognizes the limits of his office.
“There are not a lot of tangible, measurable goals that can be set for a position like this,” he admits.
Still, Taylor doesn’t let himself get bogged down in the harsh reality of being the next student body president at a currently-resource-starved school.
Setting some “stretch goals,” Taylor aspires to generate involvement by getting students to lend their unique talents to the SGA, helping both the organization and school grow as a result.
“There a lots of students with skills in specific things,” he says. Giving one example, Taylor suggests that “a marketing student could be an valuable resource if they get involved.”
Taylor hardly comes across as the fiercely political type.
His seems more like a panda bear with a propensity toward chuckling.
The mustachioed president-elect is quickly learning that the presidential job requires a chameleonic ability to adapt to a crowd.
“You need to be able to switch roles,” he says. “You can be casual with students, but you need to put on the formal face sometimes to deal with official matters.”
Hoping one day to pursue a career in international diplomacy, Taylor is currently studying Russian and hopes to go abroad his senior year.
Such a choice would mean a more limited role for Taylor in student government, but he isn’t preoccupied with titles and recognition.
“That’s not what’s most important to me,” he says, “I just want to help address all these things that could be better at USM.”