As the University campus transitions from winter to spring, one of the largest and most influential organizations on campus, the Student Government Association, finds itself in the swing of election season, a tumultuous time of campaigning, debating, and passionate promises to make the university a better place in the year to come.
In past years, SGA has had difficulties getting students to participate with the student government election process. As a past member of UGA Senate, I know how hard it can be to get students interested and excited about student government. But, here is the true fact of the matter:
Student Government is Important.
Which means the elections to decide the executive board and senators for student government are perhaps one of the most important things we, as students of this great University, can do to create positive, sustainable change on this campus. Never mind the basic fact that voting is your civic duty. That is a no brainer, but student government elections and their impact reach beyond mere civic duty.
Voting in the SGA election gives you the chance to choose the individuals who will represent you and make decisions on your behalf in a major way. This shouldn’t be taken lightly. In voting in SGA elections, you are deciding on the people who will be making decisions regarding budgetary allocations and campus wide reform and changes. Current SGA President Johnelle Simpson encourages students to vote because, “voting and becoming more involved in this process puts much more pressure on Student Government representatives to be accountable and remember that they have been chosen by their peers to serve them.” SGA has a big voice on campus. They have the ear of a lot of administrators. They have the chance to make things happen. And you have the chance to decide who these people are…. Do you really want to waste it away by not voting?
In an effort to create a group of more informed voters, we reached out to the three executive tickets who agreed to give the Odyssey at UGA a brief snippet of their platform and candidates for each position! Here are the executive tickets and their candidates:
I Dare UGA
The Platform: Dare UGA’s platform focuses on campus safety, mental health awareness, inclusivity, and affordability. We aim to increase a sense of security through regularly scheduled campus safety walks, a "walking buddy" system to be used by students at night, and an overall transparency between students and the authorities who keep them safe. Our goals for mental health awareness include installing a mental health task force that connects the administrators of all mental health programs on campus with student leaders in order to pinpoint and create solutions for the mental health needs of students and ensuring that the proper steps are taken to carry out those needs. We want to increase campus inclusivity through initiatives such as Unite Night, a structured event that blends different clubs and organizations together with the goal of connecting students from different backgrounds, and Town Hall, a chance for any student to come speak directly to leaders both in and out of SGA and feel included in the decision making process of their campus. We want to expand programs that alleviate the financial concerns of students, such as an initiative to provide UGA bookstore gift cards to low-income students and a professional business clothes exchange for students who cannot afford their own professional attire, with the overall goal of furthering these and other programs that will make college a lighter burden for all.
What sets our campaign apart is action. With each of these platform points, we have taken initiative and furthered progress in these areas. For example, for campus safety, we coordinated a campus safety walk with the UGA Campus Police and Facilities Management Department, walking the campus with concerned students and identifying broken lights and other potentially harmful aspects of campus. For mental health awareness, we have contacted these leaders and developed a shortlist of immediate problems and concerns and ways to fix them. We have strong ideas and the ability to carry these ideas out, and that is why we believe Dare should be your next Student Body Government executive board.
The Candidates:
Tifara Brown (President): I am a third year MIS major. I was the valedictorian of my high school, and I have served as the president of Georgia 4-H.
Gaby Reyes (Vice President): I am a second year advertising and communications major. While I am fluent in Spanish, I can’t roll my R’s!!
Hamilton Way (Treasurer): I am a third year entertainment and media studies and film studies double major. I spend my free time making quesadillas, eating quesadillas, and generally wishing I was a quesadilla.
Commit UGA
The Platform: Our goals surround improving health, transportation and resources for students on campus. On health, we want to focus on mental health, women's health and ensuring medical amnesty for students (aligning UGA policy with state law.) We also need to improve transportation during the day and ensure a solution to late night travel on and off campus. Some of the resources we hope to expand or add include an emergency student loan fund, increasing the number of late night study spaces on campus, and improving technology.
What makes our ticket unique is our experience and our relationships. Whether it's that our Presidential candidate would become the first Vice President to become President or the leadership of our VP candidate in the Senate or our treasurer's experiences and leadership outside of SGA, we have what's needed to get the job done. We also have the relationships to accomplish those goals, whether it's with other student groups, the administration, faculty, or local (the Mayor of Athens has endorsed our campaign) or state governments.
The Candidates:
Houston Gaines (President): I'm originally from Athens and was born here, and it's been really neat not only growing up here, but going to school here -- Athens is truly a special place. I'm excited to run and hope people will pick Commit because we bring the experience and relationships to make substantive change happen on and off campus.
Jacob Fucetola (Vice President): I recently adopted a puppy from the humane society named Layla. I chose to run because I've seen how much SGA has and can accomplish, and want to continue that progress to benefit the student body.
Sehar Ali (Treasurer): I tried out for the X-factor before coming to college.. Obviously that didn't work out. But my wide variety of experience and leadership positions has helped me craft a unique perspective that will benefit the students.
All In UGA
The Platform: Our platform emphasizes the importance of destigmatizing and aiding mental health. 1 in 4 college students has a diagnosable mental health issue and we want to make help for that easier, more affordable, and more accessible. In addition, we want to create more inclusivity on campus by starting at the dining halls and campus eateries (by creating more religious friendly, gluten free and vegan friendly food spaces), as well as SGA. All In believes strongly in representing the student body at all levels - not just some facets of campus. We want to challenge the administration to increase diversity on campus. We also want to work with parking services and other on campus resources to make parking on campus safer, as well as fix problematic high traffic areas all around campus (for example, ECV). We plan on doing all of this by reallocating pre-existing funds that the school has access too.
Students should pick us because we all have leadership outside SGA as well as the most all-encompassing experience within UGA. Our ticket has served on every branch of SGA, as well as in important leadership positions in other organizations across campus. We are extremely proud of our efforts on campus that we've made in order to improve the lives of students and would be honored to continue our mission. in addition, we are incredibly passionate and have worked towards the foundation of everything we want to accomplish already.
The Candidates:
Shallum Atkinson (President): I am one of eight brothers and sisters!
Megan Coriveau (Treasurer): I have spent the entirety of my bulldawg bucks on energy drinks while studying.
Sam Street (Vice President): I met Justin Timberlake when I was in fifth grade, and I still haven’t gotten over it.
Election season is a big deal. Students have the chance to choose the leaders who will lead the Dawg Nation into the future. I urge every student to get out there and vote Monday March 28, through Wednesday, March 30. Let’s enact change. Let’s get out there and vote.
Note: A special thanks to the campaign staffs of all three campaigns who were helpful in securing the information given in this article. You guys are doing an amazing job, and I wish all of the campaigns luck going in to election season.
