Leadership Highlight: University of Memphis’ Student Government President Chris Bailey

In an effort to highlight the people who are leading colleges and universities across the nation, we at Watch The Yard reached out to University of Memphis and did an interview with Chris Bailey, the 2025–2026 Student Government Association president.

The position of student government president is a highly respected role and there is a special pride that one takes in being elected by their peers to lead. Bailey, who is majoring in Business Economics, is from Memphis.

He is a proud Spring 2024 initiate of Alpha Phi Alpha.

We interviewed Chris Bailey and talked to him about his position, goals, future and what it means to hold this type of leadership position in 2025–2026.

Read the full interview below.

What is the biggest thing you’ve learned as a student government president so far?

Learning how to blend student concerns with the University strategic goals, with a focus on ensuring the students are kept in the conversation. This has been a challenging year in higher education, and many legislative updates have caused for troubling times for students and university’s alike. By working alongside our student affairs division I have gained valuable insight on meeting those concern and the mission of the University at the same time, by focusing on creating a successful outcome for every student on campus we have developed our University in many different ways.  

What made you decide to attend University of Memphis for undergrad?

After graduating from East High School I had the Tennessee HOPE scholarship, and University of Memphis allowed me to stack my merit scholarships alongside any other scholarships I received. So it quickly became the most cost-effective school, and they allowed for me to actually receive money to go to school. I did plan on transferring after my first semester, but after going to FROSH camp and joining empowered men of color, I decided to stay. 

How has University of Memphis molded you into the person you are today?

I think the university of Memphis has molded me into who I am today because I am more confident in my skills than I was when I started at the university. I have a clear path and vision for how I want my life to go, and that is because of the faculty and staff that have poured into me and poured into the next steps of what college is about, becoming a successful alumni. The university of Memphis gave me opportunities that I never thought would’ve been possible in my own city, from out of state service projects, to sitting down with former and current mayors and picking their brain on what made them successful. 

What specific initiatives have you headed up this year (or are planning) and how do you think they will improve the school and surrounding community?

Two specific initiatives that we have done with our student government association have been our student organization fund, and our student lounge. We were able to pull funds from the student activity fee and create a pool where our finance committee oversees the distribution of funds to our registered student organizations. This initiative actually started when I was serving as vice president in 2024-2025, and coming into my presidency it’s the first thing that I was able to establish. Our student lounge space was a collaborative effort between student government and student affairs, where, at the beginning of the year students expressed the need for a space that they could call their own. After a thorough audit of the university services, we found the technology hub in the university center was not being utilized to its full capability, so we were able to move that technology across campus and bring in additional materials to create the student lounge. 

How is your student government administration/school currently working on attending to the mental health of students?

We believe that the student lounge space is a foundational step in ensuring a positive mental health experience for students. Researchers song that when students have the ability to build community and genuinely connect with other student students, they are more successful, they retained at a higher rate, and they graduate at a faster pace. None of this would be possible, if the students didn’t have a psychologically safe space dedicated to them. 

What does leadership mean to you?

To me leadership is service. You don’t sign up to be a leader for the accolades or for the awards or for the recognition. You sign up to be a leader because there’s a group of people that needs to move in a positive direction. Being a true leader means putting the needs of the people that you are leading above your own, and it means showing them the way that can help everybody be better, that can encourage everybody to be more successful. When I look to leadership, I look to Christ, and Matthew 20:28 states “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” To me that is true leadership.

We now live in a digital world, what do you think schools need to do to represent themselves online in 2025–2026?

I think they need to capture the student experience. What better way to represent yourself as a university or as an institution, then to capture the most authentic experience of your constituents. These institutions don’t exist to serve the board of trustees, or the alumni, or even the president. These institutions exist to serve the students, and if you can capture and represent that in the modt authentic way, that is the best representation of your school.

Why do you think Watch The Yard is important to Black students and college culture?

I think watch the yard is important in the black students in college culture because it gives them an opportunity to see success in different regions, in different areas, and in different ways. No two institutions are the same, but by seeing how somebody else has been successful, I can take some of that success and bring it to my own institution. By seeing somebody else that looks like me being positively represented, it makes me want to be a positive representation. Watch the Yard also holds us accountable to a positive college culture, Ensuring that the media that we do see is a proper representation of the values that we should be upholding as leaders. 

What do you plan on doing after graduation?

After graduation, I plan on going to officer candidate school for the United States Marine Corps. After graduating from officer candidate school I plan to come back to the university of Memphis and attend the Cecil C Humphreys law school. My long-term goals are to open my own family law firm here in Memphis, that represents families across the mid south. After I have established myself, I would like to run for mayor of Memphis and eventually governor of Tennessee.

We at Watch The Yard would like to commend Chris Bailey for his work as the student government president of University of Memphis.

Photo Credits: Kristen Russel @kp.russell // University of Memphis @uofmemphis