The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 9/3/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Ryan Giacomino SGA President Michael Harriss has a skip in his step while roaming the halls of the Busch Student Center.

You can find him at the podium during Student Government Association meetings, walking down campus with a suit on or taking late night trips to Uncle Bill's or Courtesy Diner.

As SGA President, the name Michael Harriss is one that SLU students will hear a lot.

Between the weekly e-mails and SGA meetings, he is one of the most influential and visible people on campus.

Harriss said that, of all of his tasks, one of the most important things he does is "mainly acting like I'm more important than I am."

However, Harriss said that being the president of SGA is not all fun and games.

Harriss said that much of his time consists of attending meetings, at which he is usually the only student voice that is represented.

He said that often times he has to redirect the meetings in order to make sure that students are the focus of the conversation and are not forgotten.

As for the man behind the office, however, Harriss said that he is a regular guy. He grew up in quintessential small town America.

"Actually a village, called New Athens, Ill.," he said.

Harriss said that he was always interested in politics but the future president became even more so during his junior year of high school when he participated in a couple of college political science classes which he described as "entertaining."

Originally he had wanted to go to school on the east coast, but when that did not work out, he decided to come to SLU.

"It was the best decision ever," he said.

Harriss got his start on SGA during his freshman year, in which he applied for and subsequently succeeded in obtaining the position of first year senator.

He said that he always intended to be involved with SGA at SLU, but not to the extent which he is involved in now.

"I didn't think I'd be president," he said.

Last year, Harriss became the administrative vice president which, as a sophomore, gave him an advantage when presidential elections rolled around the following year.

Harriss said that one of the perks of being SGA president is that he gets to use a gavel when making decisions.

"I haven't really used it that much," Harriss said. "I enjoy the podium better than the gavel."

Another presidential duty that Harriss has to abide by is occasionally dressing to impress by wearing suits.

Despite the lack of fancy attire on campus, Harriss believes that fancy attire has its time and place.

"Don't make fun of kids wearing suits," he said, "He's doing something [important] in it."

As for hobbies, Harriss is a fan of video games, especially soccer games.

"I'm pretty fantastic at Fifa on [Playstation 3]," Harriss said.

Harriss said that he is always accepting challenges from students.

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