Newly elected Kent State USG President Nathan Smith and Vice President Ridwan Olayiwola discussed their administration’s plan for the 2026-2027 school year on March 26.
Smith, the current senator for the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, and Olayiwola, the current senator at large for international students, sat down with Kent Stater TV’s broadcast manager Sofia Helena in an exclusive interview. The duo was elected March 25, defeating current senator at large for residence halls, Cass Popp, and senator for the Honors College, Jordyn Lytle.
To open the interview, Smith and Olayiwola reflected on the journey of becoming elected. They shared thanks to all those that helped with the campaign and said it involved a “crazy” amount of hard work.
“It wasn’t just the two of us that have dedicated our time to this,” Smith said. “We have so many members of the campaign that we had helping us out. It just all comes down to all those people.”
Moving on to the duo’s goals for the upcoming term, Smith pointed to the “UNIFY” slogan that was marketed during the campaign. He said it stands for “understanding, needs, innovation, fairness and your voice.” According to Smith and Olayiwola, the slogan represents their desire for students to understand what USG does, and how it’s useful and impactful in their lives.
“It’s something completely different to actually know what the problem is and something else to know who to go to for the problem,” Olayiwola said. “Success for us would be for students to know to go to USG for this problem, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve.”
A priority within the duo’s campaign was to “break the status quo cycle,” and according to Olayiwola, that means breaking the stigma that leadership is all about controlling people. Instead, he and Smith want to emphasize that leadership is more so about understanding the needs of the people and excluding personal bias from key decisions.
“All that matters is what’s actually right for the students,” Olayiwola said. “That’s what we’re trying to bring. That’s the system we’re trying to build.”
One problem the duo sees on campus is a lack of school spirit. To combat this, Smith plans to collaborate with athletics, student organizations and greek life organizations to build a more lively and proud Kent State community.
To conclude the interview, Smith and Olayiwola reaffirmed their commitment to marketing USG to students. They said it starts by building good relationships with student organizations and frequently using social media platforms to engage with students.
For more updates on USG and its newly elected officials, visit their website or Instagram page.
John Engoglia is managing editor. Contact him at [email protected].
