Who is Hypno Joe? Get to know TCU’s new student body president
Joe Winick’s campaign sign shows “Hypno Joe” on TCU’s campus on March 27, 2021. (Photo: Nick Girimonte/Staff Writer).
Published Apr 6, 2023
Joe Winick, also known as “Hypno Joe,” has always had a strong connection to TCU.
“I have always known I wanted to be a part of TCU,” said Winick. “My dad went there and it had been a dream of mine my whole life.”
Winick is currently a sophomore at TCU serving as the vice president of academics for his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, but it is not his main passion.
Winick, who coined the promotional name “Hypno Joe,” announced his run for student body president on March 20 via his social media.
TCU students voted him by a large margin into the student body president position on March 31.
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Winick is no new face in TCU’s Student Government Association (SGA). He served on SGA’s House of Representatives in his first year and has been a part of SGA ever since.
“The first thing I did when I got to TCU as a [first-year] was reach out to join student government,” said Winick. “I knew all along that my goal was to end up as student body president.”
He has big goals for the university. His campaign ideas included the installation of a 24-hour convenient store, expanding parking lots, better optimization of the space in the recreation center, allowing students to help choose who will be performing at the school’s yearly concert and creating donation trucks to collect leftover items for donation that otherwise are thrown away during move-out.
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Beyond his ideas, it was his unique campaign strategy that helped him stand out.
Winick used the name “Hypno Joe” on his campaign posters as a reference to the Hypnotoad, a cartoon toad that gained massive popularity during its appearances in TCU football and basketball games this past season.
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) November 26, 2022
“When I first started planning my campaign, I was going to pick a slogan that went with my last name, like ‘Win with Winick’ or ‘Be a Winner’, but after this year’s football season, I had to go with Hypno Joe,” said Winick. “I’ve been told it has helped greatly with getting my name out there and what I am trying to accomplish.”
Winick’s campaign was structured around meeting students face-to-face to explain why he decided to run.
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“I couldn’t stop seeing his signs around campus, so I decided I had to go to one of his events to figure out who he was and what he was trying to do,” said sophomore business major Davis Putnam.
Regardless of his lighthearted campaign, Winick emphasizes that the backbone of his campaign is built on his experience in student government.
“It is really important that students don’t take this election as a popularity contest,” said Winick. “By voting for someone with experience, if elected I wouldn’t waste any time getting things done.”
