The ‘Quinnterview’: Class of ’27 representative

James Kelly

He/Him

Staff Writer

9/26/23

If you went outside in September, you were probably bombarded by Student Government Association campaigns. Candidates used a variety of creative approaches – some handed out flyers, others started Instagram accounts – but one stood out in particular: At-Large Freshman Representative Quinn Hagerty’s hand-drawn campaign posters. 

Hagerty, 19, says his creativity will be a valuable tool in student government. “I love to draw, love to write, love to just be creative in any sort of way,” Hagerty said. “So much of problem-solving is having that creative element to take an issue and tilt it to the side and think, how can we work around that?”

When people first suggested Hagerty run for office, he resisted. “At first I wasn’t even sure I’d run for anything… until I had a lot of people suggest, as sort of like a joke, like, ‘Quinn, you should run for president,’ and I said, ‘That’s funny.’ And then I looked into it… and I saw representative,” he said. “I really resonate with a lot of this. This is like, connecting and talking to people. That’s what I want to do.”

Hagerty has some student government experience: he was a representative for his 7th grade class.  “When I got in there it was like, oh we don’t actually do anything,” he said. He hopes that his experience with Plymouth State student government will be more productive. “What I really appreciate about the council so far is that they’ve stressed action… they are a council who does things.”

Growing up in Falmouth, Maine, Hagerty has “Always loved being outside in nature and by the water.” As such, many of his priorities as representative are environmental. “I definitely would make an effort towards removing all the litter on campus,” Hagerty said. “Set aside some volunteer groups and… clear through, pick up all the bottles, work our way downtown and help out there too.” Still, he worries cleanup will be a temporary fix to a larger problem. “It’s just sort of like beer cans everywhere… how do you advise drunk people to throw their cans into [the trash]?” Hagerty said. “We could put litter baskets everywhere… but how effective are they going to be when I’ve seen, like, a ring of things around a trash can?”

Hagerty is also an advocate of more compost on campus. When a constituent asked him to look into expanding composting opportunities, Hagerty took it to SGA. “She’s really passionate about compost,” he said. “We had a small little conversation about previous compost efforts around campus and professors who may be interested in that.”

Hagerty’s most important issue, however, is dorm life. “I’ve heard so many horror stories,” he said. “You have drunk people making such ruckuses, and destroying… the buildings. Like the water fountain in Belknap is ripped off the wall… Things are just like constantly in disrepair… You shouldn’t have to deal with that.” Hagerty believes fixing the infrastructure goes hand in hand with social atmospheres that cause these problems in the first place. “Once you pull in that social aspect of, kids running out and down the halls, screaming and banging on doors, then it starts to get into, ‘Oh, this is actual physical damage.’”

“What I would want people to know is [that] we are there,” Hagerty said of SGA. “We are really excited to make changes and help bridge the gap between students and faculty… Come to us.” In addition to SGA, Hagerty is a member of The Clock, ultimate frisbee, and WPCR.