The Signal hosted this year’s SGA debate between executive vice president candidates (EVP) Ty Kuecher and Yann Mondon. Both candidates covered their platform, concerns students might have on campus, and what they hope to accomplish during their terms.
EVP candidate Kuecher said he hopes to expand student involvement during his term, with the development of a student app in collaboration with Georgia State organization Panther Hackers.
“I will work towards facilitating involvement with the university by developing a student life center app, with the help of Panther Hackers so that we can tackle the issues of involvement and awareness so that next election season receives a quarter of student population votes. There is no student government without students, there is no university without students, we need to engage them and I truly believe creating an app and doing all this is achievable,” Kuecher said.
Candidate Mondon plans on keeping students involved and closing the gap between SGA and the student body by communicating.
“Connection first with accountability to say it’s out job that student hear from us, it’s not the other way around. We must attend to students, because we represent students so that begins with more communication,” Mondon said.
But Kuecher said he also hopes to bridge the gap between students and administration through the implementation of his app and more meetings.
“If there was a chance to create this app, because I know there are some hoops we have to jump through, students should be able to voice their opinion and say what they want to student government directly,” he said. “During meetings they could have a collective arrangement where everyone can speak on the issues they brought forth, and then they can take it to the Vice President of Student Affairs so that they can hear what the students want and need,” Kuecher said.
However, Mondon said the meetings aren’t as effective.
“We have meetings all the time, senate meetings are biweekly and students are available to them. So I feel like our initiative should be how we reach out to our students more conveniently. I know a great idea would be emails to say this is what happened in the meetings, and if somebody feels a certain way about it and address it from there,” Mondon said.
Since student Asma Elhuni was detained from SGA’s meeting with President Mark Beckerin Jan., students became upset and concerned with how the SGA would advocate for their concerns if something like this happened in the future. Mondon said he plans on rebuilding the trust of students by fostering the needs of every student.
“No needs are different. We are here for the students first and foremost whether we agree with what they are saying or not. We have the duty of serving our students, and even though we might not be able to give our stance on different things that go on in the university, the city of Atlanta, or university system of Georgia, we must be able to attend to our students,” Mondon said.
Voting begins on April 3- 6 at 12 pm. Winners will be announced on April 11at 12:00 pm.
