Editor’s Note: This is the third installment of a three-part series on important issues in the upcoming SA presidential election.
In addition to developing relationships with students, the city and academic leaders, the Student Association president is also partly responsible for bringing those entities together through events and activities.
SA presidential candidates Jeremy Johnson and Aaron Rice have individual ideas on how to integrate these bodies, whether it be through unifying student organizations or evaluating actions and reactions by the student body.
At the center of Mississippi State’s annual activities is Bulldog Bash, the largest event put on by the SA each year.
Johnson said he is satisfied with the direction Bulldog Bash has been going.
“Bulldog Bash has grown to be one of the largest free outdoor concerts in the state, and [the current SA officers] have a great game plan,” he said. “[The SA’s] job is to figure out who the students want to hear and bring them here by following the plan, raise the money and get the sponsorships to put on the best concert.”
Rice agreed that planning for campus events is in good shape but said there is always room for improvement.
“I think there are ways to improve them,” Rice said. “The No. 1 issue we need to address with these events is getting student input on them. Whenever you have 40,000 people coming to Bulldog Bash and 16,000 students, which most of them will be there, and you’ve got a few people deciding who’s going to play, that’s a problem. The SA needs to bring in as much student input as possible into who [they are] bringing.”
Johnson said that more community involvement and organizational unity can help build programs and events.
“I’m on the committee for Spring Fever, and we’re putting a lot of work into and trying to get the community involved even though it’s on campus,” he said. “I have a lot of thoughts about things I’d like to see happen.”
One of the things Johnson wants to implement if elected is a programming council, which can bring larger programming organizations together to create larger events.
“I would like to get all the presidents of the large programming associations … and have them come together and synchronize in a sense,” he said. “Where you have 50 students here and 50 students here, you can bring more people together to put on one big thing instead of having 15 of the exact same type of event.”
Rice said he wants to find innovative ways to further increase funding for events, noting that events put on by several organizations have improved and increased as financial support has risen. More events will give more incentive for students to stay in the city when they would otherwise go home, he said.
“So many organizations have been able to increase the amount and the quality of activities on campus and off campus,” Rice said. “I do not want to hear a student say they’re going home because there’s nothing to do. I want students to be here in Starkville having the best experience they can, whether that’s [achievable through] working with the city to promote nightlife and just a student-friendly college town that people can enjoy, or working with the administration to prioritize and fund these organizations that are putting on great activities.