Building involvement in the Student Association and gaining stature with the city of Starkville were common themes of the four candidates for SA president, who debated Wednesday in the Colvard Union ballroom.
The election will be Tuesday.
Juan McCullum, Thomas Gregory, Adam Telle and Ro Taylor offered different ideas of the best way to achieve those goals.
Taylor said he would like to streamline the process by which organizations apply for funding. He also said the SA should better publicize its events.
Taylor supported expanding and making more inclusive events like Bulldog Bash, the annual fall concert and street party.
“We need to make (Bulldog Bash) a thing where everyone goes,” Taylor said.
Telle said maintaining a solid relationship with university and city officials is critical to getting funding and support for events like Bulldog Bash.
“That’s the reason we got that money (for Bulldog Bash)-because (officials) respected us,” Telle said.
Gregory also said relationships with officials are important and pointed to his experience in organizing roundtable meetings with student leaders and city and university officials.
“I think the city is ready to help with things like the night route,” Gregory said, referring to the shuttle route which runs on weekend evenings. “The city wants students to stay in town on weekends.”
McCullum wanted more diverse programming for students.
“We should sponsor as many things as we can,” he said.
The SA should also spend money supporting university recruitment and retention efforts, McCullum said.
“We’re the biggest university in the state and we need to keep it that way,” he said.
Candidates emphasized the need for students’ voices to be heard in the fall 2004 city elections.
Gregory said he would work to register students to vote in Oktibbeha County.
“Once they know students have the power to change Starkville, the relationship will grow,” Gregory said.
Telle said that a motivated student body could put as many as two candidates on the Board of Alderman as well as electing a “student-friendly mayor.”
McCullum said his administration would focus on bringing the student body together, then worrying about city concerns.
“We’ve got to get the university united and then go to the city,” McCullum said.
Taylor pointed to the potential effects student political action could have on Starkville’s residents.
“The (city) election will be the biggest thing with community relations we can do,” Taylor said.
Candidates pointed to different experiences which, they said, makes them uniquely qualified for president.
Staying over the summer to work on SA projects, in addition to serving as executive assistant to current SA President Josh Blades, makes him the best candidate, Telle said.
Telle said Blades’ successor should be someone who can maintain the momentum his administration achieved.
“If we lose that momentum, we’re going to fall right back to mediocrity,” Telle said.
Taylor said students should vote for a candidate based on what he is going to do, not what he has done.
He downplayed his non-involvement with the SA this year, saying that he had served on SA committees in the previous two years and that he has held leadership positions in a variety of campus organizations.
“This is not about what you’ve done before today,” Taylor said. “This is about how hard you’re going to work.”
McCullum said his experience as the current SA vice president, in addition to serving as a senator, made him the most knowledgeable candidate. He also said, however, that people should vote for him based on what he says he will do.
“Experience matters, but we shouldn’t be boastful,” McCullum said. “You have to have a diverse group. I will go out and recruit nontraditional students, black and white Greeks (and) independents.”
Gregory said his two years’ worth of experience on SA Cabinet has made him familiar with how the executive branch of student government works. He also pointed to his work ethic.
“I will not let you down,” Gregory said.