The Mississippi State University Student Association held their 2019 SA Debate on Tuesday, allowing each candidate to convey their specific platform points and answer moderated or audience-generated questions.
The event was moderated by The Reflector Opinion Editor Mia Rodriguez, as to prevent perceived bias from within the SA.
The two candidates for SA treasurer, Grace Barr and Jes Miller, were called to the podiums first. Both are junior-year finance majors, Barr with a concentration in entrepreneurship, and Miller with a concentration in risk management and insurance.
Barr has served in SA for two years, first as a member of the Programming Board and then as an SA Cabinet member, and believes her SA experience, as well as various other leadership positions in campus organizations and consistently managing her own personal finances, has given her insight into how SA could run its finances more efficiently.
Barr focused on the need for the treasurer to be objective in their budgeting, and to focus on whether the SA’s funds are adding value to the college experience, measuring the cost-benefit analyses of events.
Miller has served several official positions within Phi Gamma Delta, as well as co-director of recruitment for the Interfraternity Council, and he has helped the MSU Foundation as a part of Foundation Ambassadors, currently serving as its president.
Miller advocates for more frequent Appropriations Committee meetings to increase the rate of fund allocation to organizations, more fiscal responsibility by funding initiatives that increase the efficiency of SA funds, and monthly financial reports to increase transparency.
Following the treasurer debate, the two candidates for secretary, Bailey Lehmann and Sarah Helen Skelton, took the stage. Both candidates emphasized the need for greater communication, both within SA and to the student body.
Lehmann, a sophomore kinesiology major, has served in Freshmen Council and is currently one of the co-directors of public relations for SA.
Lehmann promised to push for all teachers to add their syllabi to the syllabus bank, so students are able to see the syllabi for prospective classes when registering.
In order to address the need for better communication, Lehmann wants to restructure the SA’s General Body meetings, giving students the ability to ask questions to SA members directly in the first 20 minutes of every meeting, with the next 20 minutes focusing on internal SA updates for the individual branches.
Skelton, a junior communication major, has served with Freshmen Forum and the Donald Zacharias Leadership Conference, and she is now the director of both programs.
Skelton aims to improve social spaces around campus by adding more outdoor seating areas, create a 24-hour permanent study space on campus, and install an SA text hotline for students to be able to more efficiently voice concerns to SA. Additionally, Skelton advocated for the use of Google Calendar to better convey upcoming events and have a centralized center of event information, with which Lehmann concurred.
The vice president debate followed and was between Emily Case and Josh McCoy.
Emily Case, a junior political science major, has been elected to the SA Senate twice and expects her senatorial experience would help her as vice president. Case plans to push for off-campus dining options with payment through a campus program, adding more crosswalks to ensure the safety of pedestrians on campus, and creating incentive scholarships for achievements like perfect attendance.
“With Senate, that requires you to go over things that the student body wants and not what I, Emily Case, personally want,” Case said. “I think that is something that is really important, just with leadership in general, to keep always keep in mind, who you are representing and not yourself.”
McCoy, a junior chemical engineering major, is serving as both the chair of the Shackouls Honors Council and president of the Speech and Debate Club, as well as being a Montgomery Leadership Fellow and an SA senator.
“The unique position I’ve had in each of these roles has allowed me to foster a relationship with administration on campus that’s necessary to keep the ball rolling and get it going from the very beginning. Because that’s what’s most important, having that sort of rapport with faculty members is what makes legislation actually happen,” McCoy said.
McCoy wants to hold Senate more accountable to passing legislation, standardize the advising system, implement an automatic registration system and have SA Executive Council members be trained in the Safe Zone Ally Training Program, in order to be more inclusive of LGBTQ+ students in SA.
Both Case and McCoy pledged to help solve the parking issue on campus.
Finally, President-Elect Jake Manning, a fifth-year student double majoring in biochemical engineering and software engineering, made his way to the podium to give his platform. Manning has been in SA since his freshman year, serving as a senator and pro tempore of Senate, and currently, Manning is the acting vice president of SA.
Manning emphasized the need for physical changes to the student experience on campus, providing his plan of rerouting the buses to better serve new construction on and off campus. With the upcoming renovation of the Humphrey Coliseum, Manning also plans to negotiate a new placement for the student section.
Past physical changes, Manning wants to address advising complaints, instituting standardized guidelines for all advisers to follow, and consolidate often hidden fees for classes onto students’ myState accounts, clearly delineating costs for students.
“I could go on all night about this stuff,” Manning said. ”SA really is something that I’m passionate about, something I really enjoy getting to do, and I am very excited to continue working and trying to make these changes for the student body.”