The Committee on Student Elections (CSE) held a Student Government Association (SGA) Executive Elections Candidate Meet and Greet on Sunday night. The event operated in a town hall format with students submitting questions to the moderator, Associate Dean of Student Engagement Tiffany Sanchez. The floor was later opened up for students to ask additional questions, and each candidate was limited to a one minute response.
Executive President candidates Charlie Green, Liam Haviv and John Hughes, Executive Vice President candidate Anna Du and write-in candidates for Executive Secretary Andy Kim and Adelaide Morphett were present. The event lasted about two hours and about thirty to forty students attended.
The bulk of the night’s questions regarded SGA’s role in promoting diversity and how it serves underrepresented minorities on campus, such as the Black Student Union (BSU) and the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance (DSAGA).
BSU Vice President Tiffany Onyejiaka referenced Wednesday night’s debate and asked how SGA can stand up for and build trust with these groups.
“Something that I have noticed is that all of you guys have talked a great deal about diversity initiatives and measures and projects, but when I look back to Wednesday night and when the whole incident happened, only a couple of you really came into the middle of it and voiced your opinion and stood up for it. So when something serious like that happens… I can’t trust you to stand up and defend me. How do you plan to become more like freedom fighters?” Onyejiaka said. “Your diversity initiatives are great but how can we trust you to be there for us when we are facing tougher opponents than the SGA president?"
Haviv responded that trust is built over time. Then, Hughes spoke about the importance of following up with the BSU and the crucial role emotion should play in SGA’s responses to race relations on campus.
Morphett said that relationships are built through purposeful actions. Kim expressed the need for SGA to better communicate with the student body. He also noted that he has never previously been involved with SGA.
Du said that SGA should prioritize outreach and accountability to the student body and that students should run for SGA if they feel underrepresented. Green echoed Du’s response, focusing on the importance of breaking down boundaries.
Sanchez thought the Meet and Greet was productive and had a decent turnout.
“I think it went really well, I’m glad that the turnout was what it was,” Sanchez said. “The candidates did a good job. I was appreciative that students were able to ask questions from the audience, which we wanted to make sure that they were able to do.”
Morphett said that even though everybody was not able to get their questions answered, it was beneficial to bring these concerns to the table.
“I think it was great that this event was able to come together, especially since it was really last minute, and I commend the other candidates who were able to come as well. I don’t think everyone got to have their questions answered” Morphett said. “I think overall it was a positive thing.”
Kim took a different stance. He expressed frustration at the predictability of the event and said that candidates said what people wanted to hear.
“I personally thought that the forum was very predictable. I thought it was just a response to the video, and the whole controversy that occurred. The candidates said what everyone wanted to hear. I think that all the candidates up there are all nice people and are very open-minded,” Kim said. “We’re all willing to listen and approach people, but I personally think that I have more desire and passion to fight for diversity.”
BSU member Kwame Alston said that if the CSE and SGA had prepared better, the event wouldn’t have felt rushed and more questions could have been answered.
“I felt it was nice to have in general, but had the CSE or the student government thought about it and had something that was planned, everyone could have had extensive time to ask their questions so it didn’t have to be so rushed and more questions could have been answered,” Kwame said. “It was nice to have my personal questions answered, but I can’t say the same for everyone else who was in this auditorium.”
Chris, a member of DSAGA's executive board, expressed disappointment with how some candidates used last year’s Chik-fil-A resolution, where SGA voiced its opposition to the company’s presence on campus because of its alleged anti-LGBTQ bias, as a way to show their advocacy for marginalized communities.
“So I’m actually a little bit conflicted as to how the candidates represented the LGBTQ community in their saying, ‘Oh we supported the Chick-fil-A resolution’ as a measure to say that they are doing well on quote-unquote 'progressive' topics,” he said. “I’m really disappointed that many of them did that to disguise the fact that the SGA has not done great on other topics such as race.”
