Brandon Small
Miami University
Brandon Small, a junior at Miami University, is a student leader that is central to the efforts around diversity, inclusion and equity on our campus. He currently serves as the Associated Student Government Secretary for Diversity and Inclusion and previously served as an On-Campus Senator, a Director of the student-led Miami University Diversity Affairs Council and as President of his Residence Hall Community Leadership Team. In his work on campus, Brandon strives to increase cultural competency of fellow student leaders and the campus as a whole. He has spearheaded legislation to improve bias reporting mechanisms and to improve the campus experience of female-identifying students. Most recently, he led the effort to successfully advocate for the naming of campus spaces in honor of three Freedom Summer Project volunteers who were murdered in Mississippi after receiving training at Miami University during the civil rights voter registration movement. Brandon is also a talented singer and serves as the President of the Soul2Soul A Cappella group on campus.
Personal Statement
My time at Miami University has been marked by commitment to giving back to the space in which I have been able to grow as a leader, scholar, and community member. One of the most intensive involvements has been with Miami University’s Associated Student Government. In my time as an On-Campus Senator, I primarily focused my efforts to the areas of diversity and inclusion, student safety, and governmental relations and civic engagement. Throughout my term I worked to foster the cultural competency of my fellow senators and students, most notably through my composition of the organization’s comprehensive anti-discrimination policy. I also worked extensively with students from various communities to ideate recommendations toward the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, such as its bias reporting mechanism. Through this term I was also able to write, present and pass legislation aimed at improving the experiences of female-identifying students through expanded access to health products on campus. Finally, I utilized this position to engage students directly with the political process through voter registration efforts and participated in advocacy trips to the Ohio Statehouse and House of Representatives to demonstrate the university’s commitments to student life to state lawmakers.
