New Speaker Smith “On The Fence” About PSSS Autonomy Push

James Kelly

He/Him

News Editor

12/12/24

Taylor Smith, a Junior English major, was elected Speaker of the Plymouth State Student Senate at the final PSSS meeting of the fall semester, but he still has an obstacle in his path: Smith is not yet eligible to serve.

PSSS Bylaws establish two eligibility requirements for Speakers: two years of experience in the Student Senate, and a letter of intent stating the candidate’s goals and qualifications. Smith has not yet met either requirement, though he says a letter may be on the way. “I talked to [PSSS Advisors Jess Dutille and Melina Baker-Murphy] about it, and they believed that was something that could be handled after,” Smith said. 

Until those requirements are met, or PSSS suspends them by amending its bylaws with a ¾ vote, Parliamentarian Millie Cejka will serve as acting speaker. The only other candidate for Speaker, Class of 2025 President Olivia Griffin, also failed to meet the eligibility requirements. 

Smith will replace Senior Will Loughlin as PSSS Speaker, whose tenure brought political questions about PSSS’s relationship with the press, the student fee budget, and the Office of Student Life. Now those questions fall to Smith. 

Most prominently, Smith will likely face the push, led by University System Student Board Trustee Ethan Dupuis, for greater Senate autonomy that has driven much of the fall PSSS dialogue. The spring semester may continue to bring the kinds of questions about the role of the Student Senate that manifested in a resolution to the President’s Cabinet demanding more student power.

To Smith, those questions are a way to demean PSSS. “There’s always been this discussion of, like, we’re an advising body, not necessarily a governing body,” Smith said. “I was always a little bit disappointed in hearing how pessimistic it sounded.” Criticising PSSS’s relative lack of power creates a mentality “which should be frowned upon,” he added.

An advantage to Plymouth’s student government system compared to its peers, Smith said, is that it offers student representatives a layer of protection. If Plymouth moves towards a student government structure like that of Keene or UNH, “we get into the zone of legal responsibility,” he said. Still, Smith believes there may be advantages to assuming some of that responsibility. “I would be interested to see what lifting those barriers could do… maybe my mindset would change,” he said. “But with our advisors now, they’re coming from that protective mindset.”

Smith also says he would like to see more transparency in the Student Life decision making process, including the matrix grading system Student Life uses to determine club allocations. “I don’t really know why we have a grading rubric and we aren’t sharing it,” he said. Smith questioned critics of the matrix, though, and said he believes it’s an important tool “to hold clubs accountable.”

 In terms of the allocation process itself, Smith said he’s on the fence about advocating a greater role for the Senate, which currently has no say. His goal for next semester is “getting [PSSS] to be good promoters of the matrix,” but still thinks it’s odd for PSSS to have no say at all, he said.

Outside of the Student Senate, you can find Smith acting at the Silver Center, writing poetry, and coordinating Student Action Trips. His tenure in the Student Senate began just a few months ago, when he was elected Student Body Vice President in September. Smith’s relatively short time in office could be an asset, he said. “There’s a certain order of things. We’ll have to see what we can keep and what we can change.”