To best serve the student body, McKnight said he and his campaign team created their platform to give a voice to those without one.
“The whole point of our platform is empowering UNC,” McKnight said. “Empowering voices on this campus that are not being heard — especially students who have fallen through the cracks and don’t feel like they are being heard by student government, by the administration or even by their fellow students.”
McKnight said because of this, the major platform topics of his campaign are sexual assault prevention, mental health awareness, academic accessibility, affordability, veterans and athletes.
As student body president, he hopes to build upon the Three Zeros Initiative by partnering with the administration to provide more solar panels and more resources for students to recycle and compost.
Jihanne Burgess, a manager of the McKnight campaign, said she thinks McKnight’s platform speaks to the entire student body.
“We’re addressing things like mental health, we’re addressing things like textbook affordability, we’re addressing things like the digital changes to ConnectCarolina and that’s something that all students struggle with,” Burgess said.
Sophomore Mariah Harrelson has known McKnight since kindergarten and is now one of his campaign managers.
“I can really attest to his character long term, just because we have been friends for a really long time,” Harrelson said. “He was my student body president when I was in high school and I got to observe the servant-leadership that he carried out that role with and I really respect him a lot.”
