GPI - Shubham Valand, President of SGA
By Dylan Pichnarcik
Editor-in-Chief
What brought you to Framingham State?
I was a student at UMass Boston. I did my freshman year at UMass Boston as a biology major. My first three classes were in the biggest lecture hall I've ever seen. There were like 400 students in them, and I was like, “I can’t do it here.” So I completed my freshman year, and then I decided to move to a state university. It was expensive. … I was looking for good universities, and I found Framingham State. I found how good the community is here, how supportive it is, and the good coursework that they offer. I found that through the website. I did a tour here as well. After I took the tour, I took tours for other schools nearby as well, but I was feeling more comfortable here compared to those others.
What motivates you to serve the University?
I would say the support from so many students as well, like my colleagues, my friends, my family, and FSU staff members. … Of course, there are going to be people who don't like stuff. But I'm still focusing on those people whose lives I made a change in, or if I made a project and that made a change in their life, or might improve their life at this University. It's so many people, and their words are good. “You are doing great for the University and for the students. That keeps me going.”
SGA has grown rapidly over the last few years. What do you credit for that?
When César [Matos] became the president. I would credit César for sure, because he was the one who gathered the SGA again, and he was the one who rebuilt SGA. So I always say this: César rebuilt SGA, and I'm taking the next step to let it grow more. So that's what I would say. I would give the credit to César because he was doing so much on his own. He was handling and overseeing so many other eBoard positions as the president when he did not have the members. When I ran for the election, I was the [first] vice president after two years. I guess for the last maybe two or maybe three semesters there was no vice president in SGA.
What is your vision for the future of SGA?
My vision is basically, of course, to advocate for students. That's the main reason. But also to make changes on campus as well. But when I say changes, it's not like changes in the University policies that already exist. But like changes in the sense of improving campus life, improving the student experience we have here. That's why I let SGA do work on the projects, and what, as you know, SGA has done in the past, like lowering the parking prices, adding more and more water fountain stations, the water filler stations, and the accessibility door in McCarthy, changing the name of North Hall to Miles Bibb Hall, or like the donating a meal program. So I wanted to keep it going, and I plan to have a serenity space, basically like having napping pods for commuter students on campus. … basically like having napping pods for commuter students on campus, because I have been noticing from last one-and-a-half, two years that students as commuters are just sleeping on the couches, which looks very inappropriate for the University. Second thing, they don't have their own space to just take a nap, and as we know, the studies show how important the nap is. So when I took a survey of students, commuter students … I found out that if a commuter student need to take a nap, they have to find a corner spot on the campus where no one will come, like the library.
