SGA candidates break ice on issues

The candidates for Student Government Association president and vice president addressed the student body and took questions during a forum at the Pegasus Ballroom on March 17.

The event was structured as a casual town hall format where candidates Matthew McCann and Adam Brock, and Nicholas Gurney and Fernando Gonzales, could introduce themselves to students and answer their questions.

One hundred people attended the event, according to Hannah Fraher, assistant supervisor of elections for SGA.  Questions were submitted in advance and screened for appropriateness.

One of the questions posed to the candidates was if they believed that SGA was diversified.

"I don't think that the current SGA administration across the board is adequately diversified," Gurney said.  "It's not necessarily as open and as transparent a place as it could be, and I think that's why it doesn't adequately represent the diversity in our university."

Gonzales followed up on this point, saying that their goal is not just to have a diverse SGA, but also an inclusive one.

McCann agreed that SGA is not diversified and that this is an issue that needs to addressed.

"Just based on the four candidates up here, I think it's very evident that SGA is not as diversified as it should be, and I think this relates back to the approachability of SGA at this time," McCann said.

He said that this issue can be addressed by working with organizations such as the Multicultural Student Center and student organizations at UCF.  He said that SGA leaders must engage with students more.

"It's our responsibility to create that inclusive environment," McCann said.

McCann and Brock discussed their proposal to take the free print lab a step further. They want students to be able to upload documents to a server and then pick them up later.

"That's going to cut down on reduced print times, and it's going to be highly beneficial for all students," McCann said.

They also proposed the creation of an SGA application for mobile electronic devices and that would provide information to them, such as the wait times in the print lab.  They are hoping to extend the application to as many platforms as possible.

The Gurney-Gonzales campaign had some proposals of its own with a focus on academics.  They want to expand study space and available technology in the UCF library.  

The candidates fielded several questions from UCF students.  One of the questions asked by Kaylee Wolf, a freshman political science major, asked candidates what they believed is the most important resource available to students on campus and how they can improve upon it.

McCann cited effective leadership as the most important resource.

"It's student leaders that are respected, that do actively listen to students needs and desires,"  McCann said.

"Without that representation, every other resource is really inferior, it's not a true resource."

Gurney said that information is the most important resource available to students.

"I think that information is absolutely the most vital resource for students across our campus because I think you can have the most effective student leaders in the world,  but if they are not effective at communicating directly to the students, then they're not that most important resource," Gurney said.

Gurney also said that every student who applies to work for student government should be given the opportunity to serve in some capacity, even if they are not able to get the position they originally applied for.

"If information is properly addressed and properly translated to students, then we're going to see a higher influx of student input, student ideas, student concerns," Gurney said.

Candidates also addressed if transparency is an issue in student government.  Gonzales said that transparency is very important, and that one of the ways that they aim to do this is by having a current budget always available online.

"By posting a live or current budget of student expenditures on the main page of the website, even if it's not looked at, it's available to the students," Gonzales said.

Gurney also believes transparency is important.  One way he would improve transparency as president is to remove the door to his office right off its hinges, so that he is more approachable to students.

"One of the very small ways that we want to accomplish that is to quite literally take the door off the hinges," Gurney said.  "I don't think there should ever be a situation where a student can't freely walk in and approach the student-body president.  I truly believe that."

Ryan Garrett, a senior social science education major, said that he was satisfied overall with the event. Garrett was, however, disappointed that more students did not attend the forum.

"The actual response from students to show up to the event was unfortunate," Garrett said.

He said that many of the students that showed up were tied to the campaigns in some form rather than just being students trying to get information.

"I would like to see student government focus on instead of trying to buy campaigns with money and food, really try to focus on getting student input way ahead of time rather than just the three days that they're out there raking in votes."

Wolf said one issue that she agreed with was the proposal from the Gurney-Gonzales campaign to allow people to serve in SGA in some capacity, even if they don't get the original job that they wanted.

"I'm still undecided [on whom to vote for].  I'm a freshman, so this is my first presidential election here.  I'm planning on coming on Monday and probably making my decision then," she said.

Wolf said that her interest in politics and government made her decide to attend tonight's event.