With election day looming April 6 and 7, candidates for SGA president and vice president spoke candidly with editors from the East Tennessean about their platforms and what they want to see change at ETSU.Chad Hall and Nicholas Mitchell are running for president, while incumbent Ashley Bowser and Valisa Griffin are seeking the vice president’s post.

Mitchell and Bowser will be joined by Maggie Darden for secretary/treasurer on their ticket. Mitchell said his platform is “a relatively new platform.”

Mitchell, political science major, a three-year member of the Student Government Association Senate, also serves as the Interfraternity Council president and is a finalist for a position on the Tennessee Board of Regents.

Mitchell said that while presidential platforms have previously addressed student concerns, they haven’t posed any solutions.

“My platform is different because it really narrows down specific student concerns and really addresses them in seven key points,” Mitchell said. “All throughout my platform … there are actual, tangible solutions posed in my platform.”

Mitchell believes his platform addresses several key concerns, including diversity, parking and even the budget issues the university faces.

“The first thing people want to do when the economy turns sour is slash the education budget,” Mitchell said. “When the education budget is slashed, the first thing state officials want to do is to raise tuition. I was a staunch opponent last year of the tuition cap removal and I will continue to staunchly oppose any further measures like that.

“The key for the next SGA administration is to not constantly talk about what we can’t do, but to talk about what we can do.”

Mitchell continued by expressing what he believes are key issues the university is facing.

“Parking has historically been a problem,” Mitchell said, “But I don’t think it is the most pressing issue.

“Something I want to work on is improving the university’s academic reputation,” Mitchell said. “Right now our minimum GPA for acceptance is a 1.9 and I think that is unacceptable … it doesn’t really recruit the kind of students that ETSU should be recruiting.

“We should and can be an academic powerhouse.”

Mitchell says that his administration will reach out to student organizations, even after the campaigning is over.

“I think one focus of the next administration is to really reach out and get our name out there,” Mitchell said. “Make students realize we are working for them.”

Mitchell’s plan includes working toward greater diversity on the campus and “to build an SGA that promotes a free exchange of ideas and policies, without regard to gender, age, race, religion, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, political ideology or national origin.”

With regard to parking, Mitchell’s platform states that his administration will “work with ETSU’s administration to ensure proper and efficient use of funding, so that a tangible solution and relief of our parking problem can be achieved as soon as possible.”

Hall, also a political science major, served on the SGA Senate for two years and is currently secretary of allocations for the SGA.

Hall will be joined by Griffin as vice president and Victoria Highfill as secretary/treasurer on his ticket.

Hall said his platform has a main focus of “making SGA more accessible to all students.”

“We plan to make ourselves more visible to students,” Hall said. “We are open to suggestions from any student because that’s who our focus is toward … any student on the ETSU campus.”

Hall said he hopes to improve the advisement process for students, as well.

“A lot of times you have a student who comes to their senior year and they find they lack one class to graduate,” Hall said. “Not only does this cause a financial burden on someone, but it is really psychologically and emotionally stressful to think you’re going to graduate and then have to put your life off for another semester just to get three credits to graduate.”

“There’s a lot we can do to improve the process.”

Hall also spoke about his ideals for a safer campus, saying he has plans to install more lighting in several areas of campus.

“Even though our record would show we have a safe campus,” Hall said. “There is obviously a problem if the students feel they are not safe … there is some issues we are not addressing.”

Hall said he also plans to work on the parking issue.

“Parking is a huge issue,” Hall said. “We’ve seen a lot of proposals for parking but … you simply can’t squeeze 5,000 cars into 3,000 spaces. That said, we keep continuing to grow as a campus and therefore, something has to be done.

“I think we need to focus on class scheduling, because it’s not all the time that lots are full. We need to target peak hours. “

Hall said he will propose diverting classes to different days or periods and said he believes a solution can be found.

Another thing Hall focused on was sustainability.

“We are a leader in education, a leader in diversity … we definitely want to make ourselves a leader in sustainability,” Hall said. “We’d like to see a presidential commitment to the President’s Climate Commitment. We’d like to see President Stanton sign that.”

The commitment, which is a pledge to become, as a university, more sustainable or ‘green.’

Hall said he also hopes to target marginalized students, by reaching out to them.

“We definetely want to connect to these [marginalized] students and let them know, ‘hey, we’re here’.”

Hall’s opinion on the budget is that it is not only a campus issue, but also a statewide and nationwide problem.

“While it will be difficult to work with the budget,” Hall said. “I know it can be done. We’ve got to look at ways to try and alleviate the burden from the students.”

Hall and Mitchell will be campaigning throughout the week until election day. Although these candidates are running with other students, it does not necessarily mean that the entire ticket will be elected.

Author