A student voice: Gannon Sprinkle's plan for the city council
By: Rhian Evans
A University of Maryland student is looking to leap into politics through a special election in March.
Gannon Sprinkle, a junior government and politics major with minors in economics and public policy, hopes to expand student representation on the city council by running for the vacant District 3 city council seat, he said.
Sprinkle, who previously served as a deputy student liaison to the council during the 2023-24 academic year, said, “Student liaison was a great experience, and it's very important, but they don't have a vote.”
Sprinkle continued, “It is very hard to change hearts and minds when you're sitting beneath the dais and to try to lift council members' votes just by bringing 50 of your friends and classmates and peers to testify on a program.”
Sprinkle believes that “students deserve to have a voting member up there, and city council members are allowed to propose agenda topics student liaisons are not and oftentimes we had to work to lobby city council members to propose things on the agenda that we wanted to hear.”
If elected, Sprinkle hopes to expand tenants’ rights, add green space and increase pedestrian and bike safety in the city.
Current District 2 council member, Llatetra Brown Esters, worked with Sprinkle while he served as a student liaison to the council. Esters recalled he was “more involved than the previous SGA liaisons,” and that he seemed to take the job very seriously.
Ultimately, Sprinkle hopes to “inspire others to get involved in local politics and to run for office. I do think that is increasingly important, and that we need people our age to be in decision-making seats, to have votes, to have the ability to influence our communities and our society for the better.”