Student Government Association candidates spoke about rebranding SGA at the forum last night.
Candidates for vice president of Student Activities Council and SGA presidential candidates talked about their platforms and answered questions at 7:30 last night in the Great Hall in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center.
Voting opens Thursday at 8 a.m. and closes Friday at 5 p.m.
The two candidates running for vice president of Student Activities Council are Kalen Castor, cellular and molecular biology junior and athletics commissioner for SAC, and Morgan Wanamaker, dance junior and chief commissioner of SAC.
Castor spoke at the forum about her memories of attending SAC events as a freshman and the effect they had on her first year as an OCU student.
Wanamaker said her platform includes a desire to host two Free Movie Night events off-campus, as have been hosted by former administrations. She also talked about the professionalism and planning necessary for events to be more successful.
The candidates running for SGA president are Cate Kurtz,
history/English junior and student senator (at-large junior), and Bobby Trae Trousdale, mass communications sophomore and speaker of Student Senate.
Kurtz said she wants to promote diversity on campus. She will continue to fund diversity organizations who have requested SGA funds in the past, she said. She also plans to continue events such as Diversity Day, created by Jordan Tarter, current SGA president. Kurtz said she plans to host a monthly, informal “low-commitment” forum with SGA for the student body.
“I want the forum to have the feeling of an open door policy where students can come to SGA if problems arise,” she said.
Trousdale said his platform is “3 C’s: create, collaborate and community.” He said he intends to rebrand SGA by revisiting and revising the constitution and introducing a new program called “Community Renewal” to bring the campus together and strengthen community relations.
Both candidates said they want to change the way students view SGA. They said SGA has attempted to be more transparent and open in the past and has fallen short.
“This is why I feel like a public informal forum would be very helpful for students wanting to know more about SGA and how they affect the campus,” Kurtz said.
Trousdale said he feels a rebranding of SGA would help with this issue.
“[SGA] has been thinking about itself for too long,” he said.
Trousdale said a restructuring of SGA in the new term would help ease tensions within Student Senate as well.
“The new president could redesign those relationships between members of SGA,” he said.
Both candidates said they look forward to a new term of SGA.
“No matter which way the vote goes, SGA will be in good hands,” Trousdale said.
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