SGA presidential candidates present platforms around transparency, equity
One of the tickets of the SGA election, headed by Kyle Walker, Nolan Kamoo, and Olivia Schwartz, prepare to present their platform at Meet the Candidates via Facebook Live on Thursday, March 11.
"Transparency" and "equity" were the words of the evening at the Student Government Association's 2021 Meet the Candidates event on March 11.
The event hosted two Central Michigan University SGA elective tickets this year. It allows each ticket to explain their goals and receive questions from viewers. They were not allowed to debate with each other.
The first ticket was headed by Katelyn King for president, Dylan Baker for vice president and Kevin Bautista-Mancilla for treasurer. The second was headed by Kyle Walker for president, Nolan Kamoo for vice president and Olivia Schwartz for treasurer.
Both tickets focused on those words of the evening — transparency and equity.
Baker said that SGA can be "unknown and quite intimidating" at first glance. He wants to break the stigma.
"The Student Government Association isn't about representing the Student Government Association," Baker said. "(It's) about representing the student body."
Baker and Bautista-Mancilla, junior, are both involved in Greek Life on campus. They both said they want to create more liaisons for the Greek Life councils not yet involved in SGA.
Along with Greek Life, Baker said they want to have more "transparent communication" between the different offices at the university as well.
The other ticket focused on transparency too, but Kamoo, freshman, gave more examples within the organization.
One of the ways they hope to make SGA more transparent is through a new website, Kamoo said. It would allow SGA to post legislation more accessibly and be a "one-stop shop" for everything SGA.
Kamoo said that he and Walker already worked on making SGA more transparent by creating a template for press releases. These press releases would be specifically for legislation, explaining if it passed, failed, or was tabled and why. It was first announced at the last SGA meeting.
In terms of equity, King, junior, said that she wanted not only a diverse cabinet, but also a "more equitable position."
King worked at Special Olympics Michigan for two years, she said. It showed her "how far discrimination can go" first-hand, which is why she wants to promote a diverse cabinet and new positions.
"It is so important to us to use our positions to amplify voices of color and underrepresented communities around our campus," King said.
Positions weren't the only solution presented. Having more diverse coursework and making sure CMU athletics have a diverse set of athletes are priorities, she said.
Kamoo said their ticket wants to offer many new positions as well. They want to "amplify" the positions they already have and add more to cover a wide range of students.
Kamoo said one of the ways they're looking to create more positions is by asking offices such as Student Disability Services for a representative.
"We don't have all the answers and we never will," Kamoo said. "But we can certainly learn from other people who are in those positions."
But Kamoo and Walker don't only want to focus on what happens internally within SGA and the university. Walker wants to take it statewide by talking with other SGA organizations at other universities and establishing a "coalition" of presidents and vice presidents, he said.
"We want to have the opportunity to learn from each other, mentor each other, and, if possible, work together," Walker said. "(We want to) advocate for student-related issues at the state government level, and possibly the national level."
The two tickets will participate in an Executive Board Debate will take place during the regularly scheduled SGA meeting at 7 p.m. on March 22. Voting will take place virtually March 29 through April 2 on Engage Central. The election results will be announced on April 3.
