Original article by Mark Ramirez, Western Courier
Our November 2018 Student Spotlight goes to Justin Brown, Iota Rho (Western Illinois). Brown is a junior majoring in political science with an emphasis on public administration and public policy.
Brown was elected to serve as the Western Illinois University student member to the Board of Trustees from July 1, 2018, until June 30, 2019.
Brown is an extremely busy student whether that’s because of school, meetings or philanthropy events, but he somehow always finds a way to make sure his duties are completed.
Freshman year, Brown joined the University Union Board as a way to interact with other students and find where he belonged at Western. For the past two years, he has served as the Vice President of Finance, helping make operations run as smoothly as possible. University Union Board is the main programming body on the Macomb campus.
Brown then got involved in the Student Government Association his sophomore year. He served on the executive cabinet as Chief-of-Staff. “I knew from my time being involved in SGA as Chief-of-Staff that I really had a passion for student government and I’ve always been involved in my local government back home,” Brown said. “Because I am the Student Member to the Board of Trustees, I am still a part of leadership in the Student Government Association. I attend the weekly Tuesday evening meetings and I hold regular office hours for students to express any concern if they have any.”
In July when he was elected, Brown became a full-fledged trustee, giving him voting rights on every University matter minus tenured faculty. Being a trustee comes with plenty of duties and responsibilities.
“I always knew it was one of my end goals to get elected to a leadership position within the University, whether that be as the Student to the Board of Trustees, student body president or something of that nature,” Brown said. “I can vote to hire and fire the president, approve budget proposals, sit in on various meetings, go to quarterly board meetings, and attend a yearly training with the Illinois Board of Higher Education.”
If you thought that was a lot, Brown also is one of two student representatives on the Council on Admission, Graduation and Academic Standards.
CAGAS is a faculty senate council that deals with admissions and graduation requirements as well as academic standards. Brown has the opportunity to vote on cases and policies regarding things such as course enrollment, hour requirements, grade changes and suspension/dismissal.
The Student Trustee also just finished serving as the Secretary on the Homecoming Committee. “I had a lot to do with our last Homecoming,” Brown said. “ I was in charge of planning the week of events, dealing with scoring, judges and things of that nature.”
Brown also finds time to spend with his fraternity brothers; however, he still holds a leadership role within the social fraternity. Brown serves as his chapter’s Chief Justice, presiding over the standards board. This means that he is in charge of ensuring proceedings are fair and just, ensuring people uphold their membership responsibilities and performing all other duties necessary for effective management. Within Pi Kappa Phi’s philanthropy, The Ability Experience, Brown plans to participate in a summer event called Journey of Hope. This is a 67-day long trip where members of the fraternity travel from the west coast, starting in San Francisco, Seattle or San Diego, to the Washington D.C. all while riding a bicycle. The men will ride on average 100 miles a day, all to spread awareness and support people living with disabilities. Brown has pledged to raise $6,000 with all profits going back to benefit organizations that serve people with disabilities.
“I always knew since the first rush event I went to, even before I received a bid to be a part of Pi Kappa Phi, that participating in an event like this would be an amazing experience,” Brown said.
With everything already on his plate, Brown still times find for work. He is a student worker in the Centennial Honors College who works on various projects for Dean Hardy. Brown uses all of these involvements to help build towards his future after college.
“I plan after graduation to attend graduate school for CSP: Student Affairs and I would love to one day work in student affairs,” Brown said.“Maybe in an office of student activities setting, whether that be programming or fraternity/ sorority life. Eventually, I would like to one day work up the ladder and be Vice President at a University.”
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