Student senate president Brady Harris, having decided not to run for senate this year, will not be a member of the Weber State University Student Association for the first time in four years after this semester.
“Brady has accomplished so much in WSUSA,” said David Wilson, student body president. “I think it is time for him to be on a different stage and begin doing something bigger and better.”
Joe Favero, WSU honors/BIS senator and the next student body president, said Harris leaving student government is similar to a professional athlete such as Michael Jordan retiring. “People are always wondering what are they going to do next.”
Harris has decided to apply for the position of student regent with the Utah State Board of Regents. The Board of Regents is made up of 16 people, all appointed by the governor. There is only one student regent out of the 16 positions.
“If I am selected, I would be really excited,” Harris said, “not just to advocate for students at Weber State, but students all over the state of Utah.”
Harris’s interview for the position is tomorrow. Sixteen student body presidents from throughout Utah will be present at the interview, as well as representatives from Brigham Young University and Westminster College. The candidates will be narrowed down to three, and from there, the governor will decide who will become the student regent.
“I cannot think of anyone better for the job of student regent (than Harris),” said Tyler Hall, Davis campus senator. “I cannot think of anyone who is more unbiased, more equal, more fair and more driven to do whatever it would take to get a student to succeed.”
The official role of a student regent is to operate as students’ voice within the Board of Regents. This one student represents all 179,000 higher education students in Utah, and works in correlation with eight student body presidents from colleges and universities across Utah.
Erik Mikkelsen is the current student regent. He attends Utah State University, majoring in finance and compunctions. The last student regent from WSU was in 1999.
“For whatever reason, Brady was denied the crown jewel (the student body president position) of an otherwise completely phenomenal career in student government,” Hall said. “However, the possibilities for Brady are only limited by his ambition.”
Harris decided to forgo running for senate office after he lost the student body president campaign to Favero.
“One thing I love about Brady is whenever he helps a student or Weber State, he does not look for credit for what he has done,” Favero said. “Wherever he ends up, I know it is going to be for the good of students, and he will continue growing as well.”
Harris has served as WSU’s student senate president for two years, and was the Davis campus senator for two years prior. Before coming to WSU, Harris spent two years serving in the student government at Southern Utah University.
“Brady is the power behind the throne, or the man behind the green curtain in ‘The Wizard of Oz,’” Hall said. “The impact Brady has had on students will never truly be known.”
Several members of WSUSA said they believe Harris sets the standard, tone and pace for everything WSUSA has done in the past few years.
“If anything that will affect students is happening, Brady will be up all night and day making sure students are taken care of,” Wilson said. “He is always looking out for someone’s best interest besides his own.”
Wilson and Hall said they believe Harris’s will leave a legacy that will last for years to come.
“Brady has accomplished a lot throughout his time here,” Wilson said. “If one thing can be said about Brady, it’s that he has always put students first before anything else in his life, even before his studies, personal life and friends.”
College of Arts & Humanities senator India Nielsen said she hopes Harris’s the legacy will inspire other students to be altruistic.
Favero, Hall, Nielsen and Wilson said Harris loves to play pranks in the Student Involvement & Leadership Office, allowing them to see that he also has a different side of his personality outside of the “Mr. Professionalism” the average student sees.
“Brady specializes in the unbridled type of fun you do not have to be apologetic for, and you do not have to worry about someone running home to their bishop or their mom,” Hall said.
Hall said his favorite story about Harris happened last year at the Utah Leadership Academy when he and Harris decided to play a game of tag for a half hour before the bus could leave to go back to Utah as punishment for another student, who had made them late three times at ULA.
“Brady is the greatest person in the world to work with because you always know if you need help, he will always be willing to help,” Nielsen said.
