Candidates for Student Association president, treasurer and attorney general presented their platforms at the SA’s 2005 Executive Elections Debate Monday.
Presidential candidates TJ Harvey and Jon David Cole debated first, covering their platforms and their commitment to MSU.
Harvey said that if elected, he will concentrate on three key areas. He said student organizations are the main artery of the campus and that he will concentrate on providing better tailgating opportunities. Harvey also wants to promote MSU’s traditions for new and transfer students.
“We have a rich tradition, and we want to educate students about them,” Harvey said.
Cole said the SA needs to focus on the aesthetic appeal of the campus, and that traditions are also very important. Academic reform in terms of open teacher evaluations and reform of academic advising will also be one of his goals if elected, Cole said.
“The largest challenge that Mississippi State will face over the next few years is enrollment,” Cole said.
The candidates also answered questions about how they will deal with current concerns with the organization of the SA cabinet, public events, the visibility of the SA on campus and the experience and commitment each candidate has that qualifies them to be the SA president.
The candidates did agree on some platforms, including Greek relations and the importance of traditions.
The issue of how to deal with the SA’s monetary fund dominated the treasurer debate.
Candidate Spencer Broocks said he will use the tax revenue in the best interest of the students, and that he will divide the money fairly amongst the student organizations.
Candidate Matt Vitart said the role of treasurer will be one of the most important positions on campus this upcoming year because of the city’s 2 percent food and beverage tax. Twenty percent of the money generated by the tax, or about $200,000, will be allocated by a board made up of several members of the SA, including the treasurer.
The attorney general debate focused on issues surrounding the SA constitution.
Candidate Seth Robbins praised the SA for posting the constitution online, but said that infrequent updates sometimes led to discrepancies between hard copies and electronic copies of the document. If elected, he would push for more frequent updates, he said.
Candidate Hunter Travis said that he didn’t have a “huge knowledge” of the SA constitution, and that that pointed to a larger problem on campus. Not many people outside the Student Association know much about the constitution.
Candidate Brian Pugh said that the constitution is easy to read and understand, but that it isn’t well known. Some students, he said, aren’t even aware that the SA has a constitution.
Current SA president Adam Telle said that the candidate debates enhance the atmosphere surrounding the elections. Most students don’t know the issues of the elections, he said, and the debate generates an opportunity for students to interact with candidates.
“It gets all the candidates in one place at one time,” Telle said.
Students can compare and contrast each candidate and understand the issues involved, then they can make an informed decision when they elect a certain candidate, Telle said.
Mary Brown, the SA elections commissioner, introduced the candidates and posed questions prepared by the SA as well as questions submitted by members of the audience.
The debate was cut into three, 30-minute sections, one section for president, one for treasurer and one for attorney general.
The format of each section began with a five minute opening argument, followed by a block of questions from the SA where the candidate were allowed a minute and a half for response, and a block of questions from the audience with the same amount of time allowed for response, Brown said.