Parking, dining, graduation rates and the game-day experience were all topics that headlined the SGA presidential candidate debates, moderated by incumbent SGA President Kurt Sasser Monday night in the Student Center.
Each candidate began with an opening statement, then was asked particular questions in rotating order with one minute to answer the question. Two minutes of discussion among all three candidates followed the initial answer.
Parking:
Kel Jackson addressed the question of parking first, saying parking is something that is a concern of students every year, mentioning that he has spoken with several people, including president Jay Gouge, about it. Jackson proposed a five-year plan to add more than 2,100 parking spaces, and the first 1,000 spaces by the end of this year, all without raising student fees or tuition.
Trevor Ramsey said there is no doubt that something needs to be done about parking on campus and that being from Auburn, he did not want to turn Auburn into a "concrete jungle," and that he is excited to work with SGA to improve parking on Auburn's campus. Ramsey mentioned that off-campus parking is a problem and that increasing the number of visitor parking spaces at apartment complexes and subdivisions is something that could be accomplished through the right initiatives. He even proposed a sponsored visitor center.
Kirby Turnage's position on parking was that the majority of new parking spaces on campus would come from the demolition of the Coliseum in order to build a parking deck, and noted that the only way to pay for the parking spaces that Jackson promises is to increase tuition. Jackson replied that the spaces would come from land that the University already owns, but is being used for different purposes at the moment, like the construction of the new OIT building.
Dining:
Turnage spoke on dining first, saying, "The question is not how to get out of it, it's how to make the most of it." He said that having every dining venue open 24 hours a day is not feasible, but that he will work to get dining venues that students need 24 hours a day open for that time, like Caribou Coffee at RBD library.
Jackson replied first, saying that dining availability is something that the University can feasibly work to improve, proposing that hours of dining venues be staggered to produce 24-hour availability. He said one goal is to improve the quality of Auburn's dining program so that people will want to buy into the dining on campus, so much so that eventually, the dining plan will no longer be a necessity, but a preferred option.
Ramsey noted that the dining at Auburn is a work in progress and introduced his online program, "Students to Students," which would allow a student at any time to donate the remainder of the money on their meal plan to a student who needs the money more. He also introduced the idea of spending dining dollars at other places like Sewell Hall and inside Jordan-Hare Stadium
Game day experience:
Turnage said SGA should work on an improved system of getting students into football games, because students are waiting for three and a half hours outside the gates. He proposed assigning students gates to avoid the large cluster outside the stadium.
Ramsey, who has worked with athletics through the last year, said he would provide approximately 10,000 water bottles for students waiting to get into the game on any day that the heat index reached 95 degrees. Also, Ramsey said he will work to get better food and ticket options for football games.
Jackson agreed with the other candidates and introduced parking issues on campus, mentioning making space for visitors to park, and how to transport those visitors to the game.
Other topics that were discussed during the debate were the Toomer's 10 system, the new student health and wellness center that will break ground this semester, bringing speakers to Auburn, voter turnout and environmental awareness and sustainability on campus.
Running unopposed, vice presidential candidate Vanessa Tarpos and treasurer candidate Curry Stevenson briefly addressed the crowd with their platforms prior to the presidential debate.
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