At the second and last Student Government Association (SGA) 2014 elections debate on April 2, candidates discussed a wide range of issues with students in an informal setting in the University Lofts.
SGA Website
Presidential candidate Victoria Davis announced her idea for a new SGA website at the beginning of the debate, sparking discussion on the status of the current website.
Davis said she would make the website more interactive by including daily updates and having live town hall meetings where students could interact by asking questions through Twitter.
The incumbent candidate for vice president of public relations, Camryn Bradley, said he has already submitted a plan for a new SGA website that will include a unified campus calendar.
However, incumbent candidate for executive Vice President Ashley Osato Uzamere said that the SGA website is not under the direct control of SGA but under an employee of Georgia State, so SGA representatives do not have direct control over it.
$9,000 dollars spent on public relations
During the first SGA debate, a student from the audience asked incumbent Bradley why $9,000 dollars were spent on public relations and there was still no transparency of SGA. At the second debate, Uzamere explained to students how his money was spent.
She said it was not an embezzlement and Bradley had not run away with the money. She said the money was spent on T-shirts, free scantrons and blue books for students and promotional items. She also said that unless Bradley had spent all $9,000 dollars, the budget would have been cut for next year.
Daniel Pogioli, a candidate for SGA Senate, asked Bradley why $2,000 dollars were spent on t-shirts. He said he could find cheaper options for t-shirts. Bradley said the polo shirts used for SGA members came out to be expensive.
Bradley also said that the number of followers on the Instagram and Twitter pages had gone up by the thousands since his time as Vice President of Public Relations.
Access to bills
Senate candidate Joash Thomas asked whether or not bills passed by SGA were posted online. Uzamere said that the bills were sometimes as long as 30 pages and were therefore not posted. She and Bradley said students could come to the SGA office to get copies of the bills passed.
During his speech, Thomas said he believed all bills passed by SGA should be posted online. He said he would be posting a summary of each bill he voted on if elected on social media. Senate candidate Garret Koehler said he believed all bills should be posted online since students don’t have time to go to the SGA office to request copies of bills.
Voting
The last day to vote is Friday, April 4. Student can access the link to vote on the SGA website, sga.gsu.edu.
