The Student Government Association’s (SGA) Executive Board candidates answered students’ questions about their campaigns during a debate on March 16. The questions were submitted through a form and sorted by Elections Director Carson Cooley.

President and vice president candidates Zainab Naaz and Fatima Malik's answers focused on continuing the current Executive Board's legacy while introducing new initiatives aimed at retention. Presidential candidate Aiden Partenio stressed the importance of Registered Student Organization's involvement in SGA and changing current ineffective structures quickly.

Vice presidential candidate Jenna Lang was absent for the debate because she’s recovering from a minor surgery. The only treasurer candidate Sophia Laurain was also absent.

The candidates were asked questions about RSO’s representation and participation, initiatives they would prioritize, transparency and accountability.

Campus-wide voting begins at 8 a.m. on March 23 and closes at 11:59 p.m. on March 27. A ballot will be available on the Office of Student Activities and Involvement's Engage Central page where students can vote.

Partenio and Lang

If elected, Partenio said they would focus on attending 100 events and meetings of different RSOs during the academic year.

In the past two weeks, he said he emailed 293 RSO leaders individually to see what they need from SGA.

“We need to be talking to them," Partenio said. "We need to be going to their meetings. We need to be understanding what they need.”

Regarding transparency, he said they would make all records and reports public on Engage Central. He said transparency is especially important within the Student Budget Allocation Committee, considering the amount of money they are responsible for.

The candidates encourage public critique so they can change what needs to be improved in SGA. As freshmen, they could provide a new perspective to create big changes, he said.

Naaz and Malik

Malik said she and Naaz would focus on creating an emergency fund for students to support their tuition if they were elected.

“Sometimes there's a semester that is rough and you can't pay that $10,000 that needs to be paid just for you to be able to continue in college,” Malik said. “That is something that would be our main priority.”

The fund would contribute to the legacy the current administration is building with the SGA scholarship, she said.

In response to how they will practice transparency and accountability if elected, Malik said they would allow students to ask unfiltered questions at events similar to that night’s debate.

“They should be given the platform then and there to ask the really tough questions that they have, because in the end, it’s money from their tuition dollars that we are allocating for many different things across student government,” she said.

Above all else, their campaign focuses on retention. As international students, Naaz and Malik said they would use their position in SGA to make CMU students feel safe, welcomed and valued.

Bylaws changes

The following bylaws were passed by the House:

Chief of Staff creates an attendance policy for House members to follow
Senators no longer have to hold office hours
Elections director will run speaker of the house elections in place of treasurer
Designated proxies can fulfill duties of official RSO representatives
Senate leader and speaker of the house need to submit reports to the executive branch

Student Body Vice President Kathryn House said feedback from changes previous SGA members wanted to see and her own observations were reasons for proposing the changes.

The changes need to be passed by the House and Senate to be implemented. The Senate tabled voting on the bylaws until next week for time to read them more in depth.

In other news

Treasurer Christian Dunn introduced new legislation to create a Constitutional and Governance Restructuring Committee. Voting on it was tabled until next week.
Kaunye Flowers was introduced as the new Speaker Pro Tempore of the House.
The House announced that SGA will be doing multiple graduation cap and gown giveaways in the upcoming weeks. Details on how to enter the first one will be posted on SGA’s Instagram this week.