The Student Government Association (SGA) held a candidate’s debate March 25 in Watkins Auditorium; SGA candidates discussed their views on a variety of topics affecting campus life.
The event was supposed to have featured debates between candidates running for office in the upcoming April 2 elections. However, due to filing delays on behalf of other contenders, only representatives from the Pro-Student Party stood for questions.
The main event of the evening centered on incumbent SGA President Devin Majors, a junior Political Science major and representative of the College of Business and Global Affairs from Nashville, alongside Hunter McCloud, a sophomore Political Science major and senator from the College of Business and Global Affairs from Portland and Jacob Butler, a junior Agricultural major and a senator for the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences from Lexington.
Majors is running to keep his position as SGA President, while McCloud is running as the Vice Presidential designee and Butler is running for the position of Secretary-General.
For most of the evening, the candidates took questions from the moderator about current issues on campus.
The candidates unanimously voiced their disapproval of the practice of giving out “S”s as midterm grades and their desire to drive more student and senator engagement through events.
In response to questions about budgeting, Majors expressed his belief that funds allocated for scholarships for SGA members should be lowered.
“We have a budget of $40,000, and we spend probably 35-37 thousand of that in scholarships,” Majors said. “So (lowering) that amount will give us more money to stay under budget, and do more stuff for the student body.”
This was a sentiment echoed by Butler, but McCloud argued that cutting scholarships would not ease budgetary concerns because the SGA was already under-budget. All three candidates expressed approval for a bill currently in the senate that would cut scholarships for senators and officers.
Senate Bill 1810, “An Act to Decrease Student Government Expenditures on Scholarships,” would reduce the scholarships for several key Executive Council positions and cap textbook scholarships at $500. It was introduced by Senator Jagger Lampkins, sophomore Communications major from Gleason, and representative of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts.
Veronica Kanka sophomore Communications major from Lewisburg and candidate for Press Secretary, also briefly took questions from the moderator. She discussed the nature of the position and vowed to increase the footprint of the SGA on social media with more “interactive” elements for students.
Finally, two senatorial candidates stood for questions: Gabrielle Sales, a sophomore Business Management major from LaGrange representing the College of Business and Global Affairs, and Lathon Ross, a freshman Education major from Jackson representing the College of Health, Education, and Behavioral Sciences.
Sales said that the largest issue in her college experience was a lack of quality instruction from her professors, and she encouraged students to be honest on teacher evaluations.
“Not all of the professors in the business department are bad teachers. In fact, I’ve had a few that have taught me so much and have encouraged me to push towards my dreams,” Sales said.
“From my personal experience in the College of Business, I’ve had quite a few professors who weren’t the best professors. Their way of teaching just wasn’t the easiest to understand. Teachers like that seem to not only confuse students, but make it hard for students who are already struggling.”
She also cited student involvement as a priority for the SGA going forward.
Ross conveyed his opinion that the Education program at UTM has many requirements making it difficult for some students to make it into the program.
“I feel like Education is missing out on people who could have otherwise been really good teachers,” Ross said, “so I think they should be a little more forgiving.”
Ross closed by expressing his concern with the “broken parking system” at UTM.
In his closing remarks, President Majors echoed Ross’ sentiments about the parking system and decried the fact that the Department of Safety pays a portion of campus officers’ salaries with money brought in from parking citations.
Majors used his final minutes to reiterate the platform of the Pro-Student Party which is: to increase student participation in weekend events on campus; offer financial support for Greek organizations; reform the parking enforcement system; promote diversity and inclusion; and include student athletes in the campus community.
SGA elections will occur April 2, from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. A polling station will be set up in the UC and students can also vote online at www.utm.edu/election.
The Pro-Student Party discussed issues students face and how they will tackle those struggles during the SGA candidates debate Monday, March 25, in Watkins Auditorium. | Photo credit/ Pro-Student Party
