The Student Government Association next year needs leadership that has a concrete, appropriate direction for the university, and the know-how to see it happen.

We believe Jason Nichol and Brittany Mouzourakis are best suited for the task.

More than the other candidates, Nichol and Mouzourakis articulated, with some detail, their main policy points and how they would be implemented.

This is not to say that the other candidates were not impressive or that they did not have good ideas. We simply believe Nichol and Mouzourakis are strongest.

Both candidates stressed their executive board experience, and we believe this is most strongly connected with presidential duties.

Especially impressive were Mouzourakis’ budget credentials. As chairwoman of the Student Budget Allocation Committee, she spoke concretely and intelligently about the university’s current allocations system and insufficient student requests for that funding. Currently about $10,000 of $95,000 sits unused, she indicated.

Student retention is a significant part of their platform, and Mouzourakis’ SBAC experience is directly relevant to improving retention through student involvement. More comprehensive SBAC funding would provide for students a wider array of extracurricular options.

Her knowledge of the allocations schematic makes it likely that she would make this goal into reality. She mentioned plans to make the allocations more transparent and accessible to students.

Nichol also expressed a strong, definitive viewpoint on the medical school. This tied directly into their preference to strengthen existing programs -

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