UC student leaders prioritize well-being, collaboration and spirit

The new student body president at the University of Cincinnati wants to continue  initiatives that have worked in the past in which she and other student leaders championed improving neighborhood-student relations and add a few new priorities like improving Bearcat spirit and educating students about how government works.

“We want to create opportunities for students to collaborate across perspectives,” explains Alicea. “Right now we are in a world where you can be on one side or the other, and there is not much in the middle. We are finding ways students can advocate and learn how the system operates and impacts their lives.”

Alicea and student body vice president, Zohair Siddiqui, were elected to their UC leadership positions in March. 

Both Alicea and Siddiqui would like to sponsor a statehouse day in which UC students make a trip to the Ohio legislature to meet with representatives and senators and discuss issues of importance.

“Other schools do a statehouse day, and I want to do that at UC as well,” says Alicea. “These are the people making decisions. How do we contact them? We have a lot of students who are very vocal on campus, and we want to make sure we are educating them on how to use their voice with the proper channels.”

Alicea is a third-year criminal justice and international affairs major from Union, Kentucky, and Siddiqui is a third-year medical sciences and business economics major from Mason, Ohio. 

Alicea was vice president of the student body last year and has been active in various student organizations such as serving as a senator for her college’s Tribunal, co-president of the Ohio Innocence Project undergraduate chapter and a fellow with the UC-based Portman Center for Policy Solutions. 

Siddiqui served as president of UC’s Remote Area Medical, a nonprofit organization that sets up pop-up medical clinics in communities in Cincinnati. 

He is also a Darwin T. Turner scholar, part of the University Honors Program and has also been active in various other organizations such as the Student Alumni Council, Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, Student Consulting for Nonprofits and the Programs & Activities Council, the student organization for sponsoring campuswide programming including speakers, live music, comedians, films and special events.

Last year former student body president Josh Copley and Alicea, then vice president, worked to encourage students to organize safe and smart off-campus parties and to build stronger connections to the neighborhoods near the UC campus.

They were able to help fraternities and sororities with properties near the UC campus obtain recycling drums which were useful in cleaning up after tailgate parties. 

"It was really cool to walk by on a Sunday afternoon and see all the fraternities using the recycling drums,” says Alicea. “I know it worked efficiently so this year we are expanding on that.”

Student leaders also began work on an off-campus living guide. It will soon be published online and via print and is packed with tidbits of information for new renters. It might have everything from dates of trash pickup to how to change an air filter.

“It just shows you how to live off campus after your first year,” explains Alicea. “That transition can be harder than students expect.”

Past student leaders expanded involvement in Green Dot, an innovative approach to violence prevention, specifically gender-based harassment or violence. They worked with bars that surround the UC campus through promotion of the Clifton Heights Music Festival activities.

All these activities will continue with support from Alicea and Siddiqui.

“Every Bearcat deserves to feel like they belong at UC,” says Alicea. “While that is not always the easiest feat, I want students to know that when life gets hard there are real people and resources that are ready to catch them.”

Siddiqui says he and Alicea hope to implement their platform dubbed “The Game Plan.” It focuses on enhancing experiences at sports events, promoting fair opportunity and access to programs on campus and championing student mental health and wellness.

“The Game Day experience portion falls on the lighthearted side,” says Siddiqui. “We want to boost Bearcat spirit and continue to foster traditions across campus. There are super serious issues that we can touch on but not all things have to be super serious all the time. Some lighthearted issues around campus can help as well.”