“I was interested in [the Illinois Student Government] as an undergrad but never had the chance to run,” Nicholas says. While undergraduate student senators are typically elected to represent a group of majors within their colleges, graduate senators represent the Graduate College, the College of Law, or the College of Veterinary Medicine. The purpose of ISG is to advocate on behalf of student interests to the University of Illinois administration.
“A lot of grad students don’t realize that we have this opportunity,” says Nicholas, who was elected to the ISG Senate as a write-in candidate after speaking with graduate students who were planning to vote.
Nicholas began serving on the ISG Senate this past spring. Finding a new mascot and communicating student concerns over the planned increase in student healthcare insurance premiums are two issues that ISG has focused on this year. Much more recently, ISG has been occupied with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s announcement that international students with F-1 or M-1 visas will be required to take in-person classes in the fall in order to stay in the U.S., an order that was rescinded on July 14.
Apart from the ISG Senate, Nicholas is also serving on the U-C Senate’s committee on admissions. “As soon as I found out that I received enough votes to become a graduate senator, I applied to be on this committee,” Nicholas says. “The biggest issue with the incoming class is what to do with students who couldn’t take the ACT or SAT and how the university could look at these students more holistically and still try to set concrete metrics.” The committee has been keeping track of what peer universities are doing, and Nicholas says that the admissions office will likely focus on grades from the first five semesters of high school and not use standardized test scores.
Nicholas’s advice for incoming MAEUS students is to get involved in campus life as quickly as possible. “The sooner you do so, the better it’ll be for you in the long run,” he says. “Be open and talk to students from other graduate programs. That’s how you find out about other opportunities, such as graduate assistantships.”
For students who want to be involved but don’t know where to start, Nicholas advises that they look at campus event calendars from the previous year. “If they know that they’re interested in a certain position, looking at the calendar will let them know when applications open.” Nicholas notes that Quad Day is a particularly helpful event to attend to learn about student organizations, units, and opportunities on campus.
Looking ahead to the next year as a EU Center research assistant, Nicholas says that he most looks forward to spreading the message about the center and what it has to offer. Nicholas plans to apply to law school and hopes to work in international corporate law.
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