SGA Elections Pass Without Platform
Candi Marshall-Daniels
Arts & Entertainment Editor
MONTICELLO - The Student Government Elections have come and gone. With a decline in student interest this year through voting and participation, one wonders what the future holds.
The Student Government Association at the University of Arkansas at Monticello is the voice of the student body. It takes the concerns and requests of the students to the university.
Given the opportunity to campaign for a two-week period, candidates posted signs of promotion, in hopes of obtaining office. In order to run, candidates must provide a petition with 50 signatures of current students. They must also have a 2.75 grade point average to hold office.
This year only five students applied and neither was opposed.
Without a platform, students are left to make a decision based on familiarity.
Vincent Jackson, UAM senior, said he didn’t vote this year.
“I vote every year but I didn’t this year because I didn’t know when voting was going on,” Jackson said.
“I usually vote for the people I know,” the football player from Fordyce said. “You don’t know what their plans are so you just vote for the name you’ve heard around campus the most.”
Kelvin Williams, a first-year student from Eudora, said he knows Zack Tucker, who ran for SGA president, as his Resident Assistant in Bankston Hall. He said Tucker had a sign that read, “Vote for change.”
“I like Zack, he gets straight to the point,” Williams said.
Mindy Holcomb, director of Student Programs and Activities, said student interest varies. She said from last year, there has been a significant drop off from student participation but hopes the new system, WeevilNet, will improve student participation.
With student e-mail accounts going unchecked, notices about voting and running for office are missed. E-mail is the primary source for the university’s distribution of information.
“The new system requires students to check their e-mail in order to have access to their accounts,” Holcomb said.
In regards to voting being a popularity contest, Holcomb said candidates are allowed to debate, however she said no one requested that platform.
Although several offices need to be filled, the president, vice-president and secretary positions are filled.
Tucker, currently Senate President Pro-tempore and was elected SGA president.
His partner in the vice president position is Micah Bateman and Tiffany Reed was elected secretary.
The Senate will nominate candidates for the remaining unfilled positions and Tucker will appoint. If students are not interested in holding an office, SGA meetings are open to student body. Students can propose ideas and thoughts.
Holcomb said the sky is the limit when proposing ideas.
Tucker said he does not think the elections are a popularity contest, but does think changes need to be made.
"Student government needs reform in order to be influential and effective to assist the needs of the student body," he said. "I think SGA and the Election Commission need to make elections a bigger deal. Advertise more, host debates, go to the departments and as deans and faculty to urge student to run in the senate, and urge organizations to participate in (the Student Activities Board)."
"I understand the hard job of being on the Election Commission, I was commissioner for two semesters, however, there are things that need to be done by the commission and student government as a whole to increase participation in student government and student voting," Tucker said.
A previous president added a light pole by the sand volleyball courts. Previous president Michael Thomas increased the hours of the library’s operating times during finals.
On the SGA Website, students can find the statement, “We are your representatives, we want to know your concerns and comments.”
Meetings will be held Thursday afternoons at 12:45 p.m. in the John F. Gibson University Center’s House Room.
Editor's Note: The typing error of Micha Bateman was changed to Micah Bateman.
