Adam Telle and Juan McCullum drew sharp distinctions between each other in the race for Student Association president. The opponents will debate Monday at noon in the Colvard Union ballroom before Tuesday’s runoff elections.
McCullum cited his experience as the vice president of the SA this year and earlier term as a SA senator as his primary qualifications.
McCullum said he worked with the Senate to make sure it had legislation going, to check that the senators were getting responses from their constituents and that they were all productive.
He touted his independence, saying, “(Telle) does say that he followed (SA President) Josh (Blades) around and did whatever Josh did. I did not.”
Telle said his experience as executive assistant to the SA this year makes up for his relative lack of overall SA experience.
“I think the important thing to emphasize about experience is experience is not just about titles, not just about appointments and it’s not just about positions,” Telle said. “Experience is about work and it’s about dealing with people and dealing with people who are in positions on this campus that matter.”
Telle said he worked all summer for the SA, helped raise $2,000 for athletic support by selling T-shirts during Orientation, helped plan Bulldog Bash and attended alumni events in Tupelo and Jackson.
Both candidates support increasing the window of time a student gets to use to drop a class.
When asked if he believed if a drop policy would be coming up next semester, Telle said, “I think it’s obvious from past administrations that’s the next thing in line …it’s going to be the top priority of the Telle administration.”
An add/drop policy was a central part of McCullum’s platform both this year and last year. McCullum said he had the SA Senate passed a resolution last semester concerning the drop policy.
However, SA Cabinet and Senate members dispute that any legislation ever passed the Senate. (See accompanying article).
Both McCullum and Telle support a program designed to ease the transition between high school and college, referred to as freshman experience.
McCullum said the program needs to “key in” on the social aspects of the freshmen.
“First of all you have to get them socially inclined, then show them the traditions at MSU.”
McCullum added that this would help the students adjust to life on campus, get them involved in organizations and help with the retention levels of freshmen as well.
“Right now Mississippi State University has the resources that are required to make students feel at home,” Telle said. “We’ve got to do a better job of helping them to adjust.”
The candidates differed on Bulldog Bash, the annual fall street party sponsored by the SA.
The SA should build on the success of the event, but needed to appeal to more people, McCullum said.
“It was successful because 20,000 people were there,” McCullum said. “But was the crowd diversified? Were the acts diversified? I don’t think they were.”
Students should be polled to see what they would like at the event, McCullum said.
Telle was proud of the event, saying that the attendance number spoke for itself and that SA tried to include as many different acts as possible.
Telle added that in order to make Bulldog Bash a better event, it was crucial to maintain the good connections that were already made.
“I’m the only candidate with experience working directly with Bulldog Bash,” Telle said. “I’ve worked closely with (Starkville Police) Chief (David) Lindley and the Board of Alderman.”
And the good connections are exactly what both candidates hope to keep when the city elections come around next semester.
Telle said the issue of the city election all came down to education and voter registration.
“We have to be careful who we choose to support and run for alderman, ” Telle said.
Telle said he attended several Board of Alderman meetings this year as a part of his responsibilities as executive assistant.
McCullum said he wanted to “unite the campus” before focusing on city affairs.
“My No. 1 concern is to keep the relationship that we have with (the Board of Alderman) right now,” McCullum said.
His experience as the No. 2 person in the SA makes him the best candidate, McCullum said.
“It’s easy to say, ‘Well hey, you know I followed him so I know there’s nobody else that can do it,'” McCullum said. “But that’s like me saying you’re riding that bike and I’m following you around everywhere you go on that bike. Until I can get on and actually ride that bike and fall off a good couple of times, I don’t know if I can ride that bike yet.”
Telle did not say what he thought of McCullum, saying that students should seek out other people in the SA to find out who is the better candidate.
“I think it would important to ask the other members of (the Executive branch),” Telle said. “I think if you would look at where the support is coming from in the two different campaigns, and compare the amount of other members of the Cabinet involved… you just have to look a little bit and you can figure it out.”