Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a three-part series on important issues in the upcoming SA presidential election. Look for profiles of the candidates in the Feb. 15 issue.Along with maintaining and improving the relationship between students and the Student Association, both candidates for SA president say they strive to become the voice of the Mississippi State student body.
Whoever is chosen must take on the responsibility of being a liaison of sorts between students and the administration.
Selection of cabinet
One of the SA president’s duties is to appoint a cabinet made up of members who serve on various committees.
Junior business and economics major Braxton Coombs said cabinet members must realize the importance of committees.
“It’s going to be essential that we select good people, people that understand when they come in there [to the committee meetings] exactly what their responsibility is,” he said. “You are specifically there to represent the students. Cabinet members need to know that’s exactly why they’re there.”
Coombs said he will make sure cabinet members who sign up for committees will show up to the meetings.
Senior biomedical engineering major Jeral Self said she wants the SA to be open to the people who have been highly involved in the organization and people who have never had leadership experience.
If elected, she said she would fill her Cabinet with strong personalities that are full of character and desire to work hard for the university.
“Character, integrity and structure make or break organizations. I want people who have personalities and like to have fun,” she said. “I’m looking for people who want to give back to Mississippi State because Mississippi State has given a lot to me.”
Relationship between students and administration
Both candidates believe the position they are vying for is meant to serve as a channel of communication between the student body and the MSU administration.
Coombs said the administration’s relationship with students is relatively strong, but that the SA needs to work to communicate better with the administration.
He said communication is important in every aspect of the SA.
“In order for the administration to know what students’ needs, interests and wants are, they come to the Student Association,” he said. “If the Student Association can’t provide them with those answers, they’re not going to know how to effectively make a student’s experience here at Mississippi State second to none.”
If elected, Coombs said he will make it a point to talk to students and learn of any concerns they might want to bring to the administration.
“It is my job as SA president to communicate that to the administration in order to better serve students,” he said.
Self said the relationship between the administration and the student body is not bad, but there is always room for improvement.
“I feel like they always ask us what we want, and sometimes what we want gets lost in communication from the mediator [SA president] to [MSU President Robert] ‘Doc’ Foglesong,” she said.
Self said she feels that through student participation and conflict resolution, disagreements will be resolved quicker.
The student that has the issue should bring it to the administration in a face-to-face meeting, rather than only a mediator presenting the issues.
“A lot of the time, the people who have the problems and the mediator who goes can’t even relate,” she said. “I feel like the students need to go to the meetings to discuss these issues. The truth comes best from the person who has the problem.