Editor’s Note: This is the second installment of a three-part series on important issues in the upcoming SA presidential election. Look for profiles of the candidates Feb. 16.
Both of the candidates running for Student Association president are considering ways to get students more involved with the decision making of the organization. The winner of the election will be in charge of appointing students to various positions and putting into action his plans to give the student body a stronger voice.
Jeremy Johnson and Aaron Rice emphasized the need for an SA president capable of acknowledging and representing the interests of a diverse campus community. Both candidates expressed interest in distributing SA funds to the most student-serving organizations on campus.
Interaction between SA and student body
Johnson stressed an open-door policy to the student body as one of his top priorities and vowed to make himself easy for students to contact if elected.
“The biggest thing we can do is to be more accessible to the students. I know before I was actually involved in SA, it seemed like this far-off thing that, if you weren’t into it, you didn’t know what to do, but as I got to know the people in SA, before I even got involved, I realized that they’re just like any other organization just looking for people to get involved,” he said.
“As I allowed myself to open up to them, SA opened up to me, and I realized that they were out to get me involved. The big step is to make SA more available to students and let the students know that we’re not just a group of people that are segregated from everybody else. SA is here for the students, but a lot of students don’t realize that.”
Rice said next year, students need an SA president that can represent all of the students. “We’ve got so many different kinds of students here at State, and that’s what I love about Mississippi State,” he said.
“We don’t have one cookie cutter type of student, and that’s why it’s important for the SA president to realize that, reach out … get input from everybody and then consecutively represent those interests to all these different entities that impact the students,” he added.
Rice also suggested polls and surveys as a means of improving the response rate of students. “I’ve heard … people talk about reaching out to the students and involving the students, but you don’t see the real concrete action following it up. The only obstacle that lies in the way [of finding out what the students want] is getting an adequate number of students to respond so you actually have a legitimate prediction of what students think,” he said.
Distribution of SA funds
Johnson acknowledged that the SA gets a substantial budget and, if elected, will consult his appointed executive board on how to properly distribute finances to campus organizations. He mentioned reviewing SA financial spending in past years before bringing his findings to his council as a likely strategy.
“If I am elected, I would get my board together and say, ‘This is what SA spent money on last year. What do you want to put money into this year?'” he said.
“I am a big person on group efforts,” he said. “I’ve learned from previous organizations that things run a lot smoother if you consult with your counterparts before you make a big decision. If I’m elected, I’m going to transfer [financial decision making] to the SA.”
Rice said the SA budget should be distributed more generously toward the most active campus organizations, and one of his goals is to see that theory through. “I think a priority of university and SA money … should go to the organizations that are serving students the most,” he said. “I’m not going to sign an appropriations bill that does not effectively distribute SA funds tied to that goal. I want to make sure the organizations that are serving students the most and serving not only the most number, but in the best way, are getting the most money to do that with,” he said.
“I want to work with the university administration to make sure the 2007 2 percent tax budget is allocated in the same way. The organizations and programs that are doing the most for students are going to need to receive priority in that funding,” he added.