Editor’s Note: This is the third 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.This year’s candidates for Student Association president both believe city and campus interaction could use some improvement. They also have made plans for how SA funds will be divided up between different campus organizations.
Interaction with city
Current SA Attorney General Braxton Coombs said he believes the SA often focuses strictly on the university, but a good relationship between the SA and the city is vital.
“I think it’s definitely good to have good relationships with the Board of Aldermen, with Mayor [Dan] Camp, with several city officials. I want to make sure that we do that,” he said. “But in order to do that, we can’t just take. We’ve got to give a little bit too.”
Coombs admitted that the SA’s current relationship with the city is not the best it could be.
He said he wants to ensure that the SA has a working relationship with the city, in which both parties are somewhat involved in the other’s actions.
“I don’t want to be around the city just when we need something. You’ve got to help them too,” Coombs said. “Who likes someone who only comes around when they need something?”
Current liaison to the SA president, Jeral Self, whose grandmother is on the Starkville Board of Aldermen, said the members of the board would like to know more about what the SA does with the money given to it by the city.
“I know that they have a busy docket, but I think it’d be nice if we had a student representative come at least every three months to keep them updated on what’s happening on campus,” she said.
She feels that better communication could improve relations between city officials and campus, she said.
“We already have strong ties to the community because Mississippi State is Starkville,” she said. “But I feel like if we kept the Starkville city government updated on what we did, they would feel a little more gracious to help us in the future.”
Distribution of SA funds
The SA appropriates funds to different committees within the organization as well as external student organizations.
Coombs said the SA public relations committee is an area that would greatly benefit from SA funds.
Public relations helps publicize events and gives students knowledge about what is going on, he said.
“We’re here to ensure that students have the best experience possible at Mississippi State, that we communicate their needs clearly to faculty and get things done for them,” he said. “We’re not here to just put on a Greek event or anything like that. We’re here for much more than that.”
The campus outreach committee also has extreme potential and deserves to be appropriated SA funds, Coombs said.
“They’re supposed to be the liaison between student organizations and the SA. I want to bridge that gap,” he said.
If elected, Self said the MSU art department is in need of more funding than it’s been given.
She had never been to the art building before she decided to run for SA president when a graphic design student helped her design her campaign materials.
“If I could direct more funds in the Student Association to any group or specific genre or major, I would definitely direct more funds to the art department. The work that comes out of those studios is amazing,” she said. “I [would] help them have more art shows and help get more people in there to see their work. They are definitely not getting what they need.