Wednesday night, the Student Government Association held their annual debate as an effort to inform students of who they could vote to be their future leaders, as well as to inform them of the importance of SGA in general.
Zakari Smith, SGA’s Academic Representative for Behavioral Sciences, watched the event as a spectator.
“I think that there’s a lot more competition in the room tonight, which was good because last year some of the spots were just vacant and ready to be filled. It was wonderful to hear everybody’s opinions and their visions for the future,” Smith said.
Grace Huizingh, SGA’s current Director of Academic Affairs, was among the first candidates on the podium for the debate is now running for executive leadership.
“I think it’s a really cool opportunity to get to lead, to get to advocate for students, and to represent people like the faculty and students,” Huizingh said.
For students, voting for SGA’s next leaders is important. It is also important to be well-informed about what is happening within SGA, the student body and the university as a whole.
“I think it’s important if you have a problem that you want to be addressed. It’s important to know how to contact the people who can actually fix that problem for you,” Huizingh said.
Mallie Fitzgerald is running for the position of Director of Student Organizations.
“You really do have a voice. You can vote for people that you want to be the representative between you and the faculty or you and the administration. It’s been really empowering to see SGA’s ability to change things on campus, and students have such a crucial role in that, in electing SGA officials,” Fitzgerald said.
Makayla Williams is re-running for her current position on SGA: the Director of Diversity and Inclusion. She said that her role is crucial to maintain a healthy culture on campus.
“Making sure that the student body is being represented well, we need students to come to these events so that we can be able to see who we’re working for, and be able to communicate well with them. If we have students that show up to these events, we want to make sure that we are representing them well in our own areas that we work in, but ultimately, so that we can all work for the same common good,” Williams said.
SGA Election Day will take place on February 26th. Students will receive an email with the ballot and will be able to vote from 9 AM – 5 PM.
