The Unity Party was founded by current Student Government President Nathaniel Rodefer in the 2021 Fall semester and is now headed by University and Student Affairs (USA) Chair Maya Drum and Senate President Raymon Johnson for the current Fall 2022 senator election. 

Drum has been involved with SG since last fall, beginning as a senator under the Unity Party, and is now the current USA Chair that oversees Osprey Voices and other student affairs.  

The Unity Party was founded on three distinct pillars that they plan to continue to embody, according to their Instagram account: Integrity, Ingenuity and Inclusion.

One initiative the Unity Party is focused on is called “Community Swoop”, aimed to maximize UNF pride by extending offers and deals off campus with an active Osprey1 Card to select businesses, according to the Unity Party’s Instagram account. 

“I think still being able to have that pride while you’re off campus will help the morale go up a little bit,” Drum said. 

“Student Government would partner with local businesses that would offer Student Discounts for all UNF students,” wrote their Instagram account. “This would be a reactivation of an old initiative from 2018 that included 13 different businesses.”

Another initiative that Drum brought the Unity Party is focused on more inclusive on-campus dining, like religious dietary restrictions and health-related restrictions like gluten-free options. 

“Making sure that everyone doesn’t have to worry when they come to campus about where their next meal is going to come from,” Drum said. 

Drum explained the idea of possibly combining the two initiatives like extending the Osprey student deal to religiously inclusive dining options off campus. She said another goal is to get pre-packaged kosher and Halal meals into the SG-funded food pantry, Lend-A-Wing. 

As the USA Chair, one of Chairwoman Drum’s jobs includes running Osprey Voices, where she and other members of SG hand out surveys for students to fill out as well as talk to students about their experiences at UNF. 

She explained that the Unity Party brings a perspective of being able to talk to students and know what their struggles are. 

“Unity people are people you see everywhere,” Drum said. “We’re in the best interest of the students because we are students at the end of the day, and we value that so highly at Unity.”

The Unity Party is running against the Soar Party. 

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