Student Union Executive Council is nominating Sophomore Class President Morgan DeBaun to fill the post of vice president of public relations, following former officeholder Courtney Reeves’ resignation Wednesday.

Student Union (SU) Treasury voted unanimously to confirm DeBaun on Tuesday night. The nomination, announced by Student Union President Jeff Nelson in an e-mail last weekend, now awaits confirmation by the Senate, which will take up the matter Wednesday night.

DeBaun said she is very excited to be a part of the Montana slate, which she believes “has really made strides forward to renew student activism on campus,” and she emphasized her commitment to improving communication between students and SU.

“My main goal is to increase the dialogue with the student body, really getting student inputs and making sure their voice is heard by their administration,” she said.

DeBaun recognized the weight of her new responsibilities, but she said she hopes to ease the transition by working closely with the current SU executive board and “making sure that we are all on the same page and supporting each other.”

“It’s a big position; it has a lot of responsibilities for a sophomore,” DeBaun said. “I’m going to take it one step at a time. I am fully committed to the position and representing the student body to the administration.”

Nelson praised DeBaun for her creativity and the new ideas she will bring to her position.

“Morgan has a lot of innovative ideas that Student Union hasn’t done before, and she has already been practicing those ideas,” he said. “She has a concrete vision to promote Student Union and also to promote things that different students and student groups are doing on campus.”

The executive members nominated DeBaun after interviewing several other candidates who applied.

“We deliberated for quite some time based on the criteria that we were judging on. We thought that Morgan was the person who could step into this position and have an impact immediately,” Nelson said.

Nelson said he believes that most members of SU are holding back from judging the nomination for now and waiting to see what the Treasury and Senate decide.

“People are familiar with Morgan from her work as sophomore class president, and people are eager to hear what our vision is and exactly how she plans to move this position forward,” Nelson said.
DeBaun withdrew from her position as president for the class of 2012. The new class president will be confirmed next week.

Reeves said she was unable to fulfill her duties due to health and personal concerns.

With additional reporting by Perry Stein and Michelle Merlin.