Executive candidates discuss policies
Student engagement and Student Government outreach took center stage at Wednesday afternoon’s Student Government Executive Candidate Debate, putting candidates’ initiatives like meter parking and student safety in the back seat.
While candidates detailed some of their initiatives in opening statements, many of the questions came back to how SG can be more accessible to students and reach out to get more people not only involved on campus, but caring more about SG.
“It’s not about in-reach, but outreach,” vice presidential candidate Courtland Thomas said.
He said that while SG officers are engaged with some students and organizations online, there should be a push for members to be physically at events and speaking to students to get more people involved.
Vice presidential candidate Ryan Bailey proposed what he called a weekly “union meeting” that would include executive officers and their cabinets, student senate and concerned students.
Fellow vice presidential candidate Alex Waelde proposed an SG outreach program instead, suggesting free pizza as an incentive for student attendance, but Bailey quickly corrected him.
“We actually already have something like that. It’s called delegation council,” Bailey said. “There actually was free pizza at our last meeting.”
Student senate currently uses delegation council as a liaison between the legislative body and members of each delegation.
Waelde said he was aware of delegation council and served as the Darla Moore School of Business’s delegation council chair as a first-year student. He said it needed improvement as well as a way to get and keep people involved.
The fourth candidate for vice president, Will Fortanbary, suggested a semesterly meeting with SG officers, student leaders and top administrators, including President Harris Pastides, to look at “where the university is going.”
All four vice presidential candidates agreed, however, the role of vice president is not one that should be used exclusively to further one’s initiatives. They all said they would primarily use the position to support initiatives by the student senate and the president.
Of all four candidates, Bailey was the only one to consistently push the prime plank of his platform: the work he’s currently doing as the chairman of the safety and transportation committee in student senate, which he hopes to continue if elected.
Presidential candidates Josh “Otter” Moore, Chase Mizzell and Kenneth Bragg also focused on SG’s role within the greater student body.
“The biggest issue is getting people involved and coming to meetings,” Bragg said.
He suggested holding forums to gauge what is most important to students before going to administrators with initiatives.
Mizzell rejected notions that SG was in trouble, though.
“Student Government is in a time of unprecedented growth,” the current student body vice president said, pointing to the debate’s attendance, which he estimated doubled last year’s, as proof.
He also noted personal steps he has taken to reach out to average students that officers could potentially copy.
“I made it a goal to meet three people while I’m walking to class every day,” Mizzell said.
He proposed a more aggressive strategy for getting students involved when they first enroll at USC, including making the annual First Night Carolina more focused on ways for students to become involved.
He also noted that many students’ involvement may just be less visual.
“I doubt there are many students that are involved with nothing,” he said.
Moore said he would take inspiration from SG’s semesterly Blitz Week, when senators stake out students on Greene Street and in Russell House to fill out surveys about SG initiatives. Moore said he would apply this to a plan to boost student involvement.
Moore placed heavy emphasis on campus and campus-area safety as well, both at night and during the day, citing Tuesday’s accident in which a pedestrian was hit by a student driver in the middle of the afternoon.
Even the candidates for treasurer, who typically focus more on facts and figures than the human element, placed an emphasis on the relationship between SG and students.
Treasurer candidate Haley Guyton, who is currently a comptroller, said her role was limited and future comptrollers need the power to reach out to more students. She said she’d use the role of treasurer to unite students and SG as well as reach out into the community for donation-type sources of additional funding.
“People want bigger and better things ... but we have to have the money to do it,” Guyton said.
Caroline Hendricks, currently president pro tempore of the student senate, who has worked with the finance committee on allocations in the past, said the treasurer should always be available as well as the comptrollers.
“The treasurer’s office should always be open,” Hendricks said.
She later echoed Guyton’s proposal of seeking off-campus funding, especially for underfunded organizations.
Treasurer candidate Brandon White, who preferred not to use a microphone, chose to place more emphasis on student organizations than SG.
“The treasurer’s No. 1 job should be being the first friend of student organizations,” he said. “Student organizations are more than just their budget sheet. They are the combined passions of the students inside of them.”
White, who is currently SG’s secretary of student organizational outreach and Carolina Productions’ chief financial officer, proposed a multiyear plan for SG allocations.
While White stated he was the only candidate with experience managing a large budget — Carolina Productions’ budget of more than $500,000 — Guyton cited her experience as a comptroller and “frugal nature” as preparation for the job.
“I like to spend other people’s money and keep mine close to me,” she said.
Hendricks admitted she does not have experience as a treasurer, but is familiar with the SG budget and allocations system and will have “plenty of time” to further familiarize herself with it, as, if elected, she would not be creating the budget for the 2013–14 school year but the 2014–15 school year.
Through all of the technical talk, humble-bragging and sly digs, there was one brief moment of comedy.
At the end of the presidential debate, each candidate got to ask opponents a question of his or her choice. Mizzell opted to ask Bragg and Moore what they were most passionate about at USC.
“I love my SEC football, I’ll be straight with you there,” Moore immediately replied.
He explained that he had only missed two games since his freshman year. One was to visit his family in Florida, and another was the potential for a girl.
Looking back, Moore said, “That never would have happened.”