Nigel Walton describes himself as a person of action who has always had a passion for politics.
“I’ve always had an interest in politics and government,” Walton said. “I told my friends I wanted to be president of [the Student Government Association] no matter what college I went to.”
Walton is the chair of the academic affairs for SGA.
“Whenever a student has a problem with financial aid, their classes, research and professor relations, we handle that,” he said.
When placing his previous work on a scale of one to ten, Walton said it would be an eight.
“Most of the people on my committee are not senators in SGA, just people that wanted to volunteer and be a part of it,” Walton said. “I’m also starting to work on faculty diversity on campus.”
Walton said that his religious beliefs and leadership also play a role in his interest in politics. He leads college ministry efforts at Ebenezer Baptist Church. He also said his majors in sociology and religious studies exemplify this.
“I respect and value all religions because they all have some sort of truth to them,” he said. “And I also believe in loving people, and that’s what I try to bring to policy, no matter what color, gender or sexual orientation.”
Walton said he feels like SGA is not operating at its full potential.
“I believe that with my administration that we will stop running on potential and start running on action,” he said.
Walton referred to the mold issue in housing, which he said still has not been addressed by SGA.
“We’ve constantly said that we are going to address it, but no one has. We haven’t put our feet to words, and I know that I’ve dropped the ball as well,” he said.
Walton’s long-term goals are creating a better Homecoming with the Spotlight Board and to push for more funding for the Multicultural Center.
“There are only three people [servicing] 27,000 students,” he said. “If we say we graduate the most African Americans, we need to do a better job of servicing them.”
Walton’s campaign team is run by only black women, including former SGA member Janae Jones, which stems from his experiences as a child.
“I grew up in a home with a single mom,” he said. “If you want to get people to do something, you get a bunch of black women around.”
Walton summarizes his campaign with two words: purpose and significance.
“I don’t do anything just for me to get praise for it or for popularity. I do stuff for purpose,” he said. “I believe that students here have a purpose, whether that’s getting out of poverty or creating a legacy, and I want people to release that purpose through my campaign.”
As far as significance, Walton said that aspect is focused on what students get out of Georgia State.
“I want students to graduate and say they are one of the most complete human beings they can be because of the people, classes and professors at [Georgia State],” he said.
