Auburn students will be casting their votes for the SGA election, which will be held Feb. 14.
Every candidate has spent the week campaigning on the concourse, hoping students will fall in love with their platform.
Presidential Candidates
Will McCartney, junior in ecological engineering and economics, will improve food quality and taste while promoting fair pricing and reduced lines. He will keep funding for the Toomer's Ten, solve parking issues and plans on supporting sustainability programs.
McCartney hopes to keep students informed and involved by instating a press secretary and an open-door policy. He wants to support community involvement as well as existing student organizations. He will improve the career center and focus on increasing networking options.
McCartney wants to increase the value of an Auburn degree and freshman retention rates.
"I have many specific goals, but my overarching ambition is to better the Auburn student experience," said McCartney. "I want what you want. War Eagle."
Owen Parrish, junior in civil engineering, plans to enhance campus dining through improvements such as an on-campus delivery system and frozen yogurt in the Village. He plans to make changes to parking and transportation for more game-day options. Parrish intends to make registration more efficient and give students a fall break and dead days. Other elements of his platform include extended dorm visitation and Student Initiative Grants.
"These are not just ideas; these are things I'm committed to make happen," said Parrish. "These are tangible goals that can happen and will happen if I'm elected SGA president."
Cary Bayless, junior in English, focused his platform on connecting across campus. He plans to improve student-facility connections by working to make course descriptions available to students prior to registration. He will also implement a "Connectivity Calendar," which will help connect students to organizations and events while minimizing concourse handouts.
"I'm here to serve you as the individual student," said Bayless. "I'd love to hook you up with some fun things and make a real connection."
Joseph Cortopassi, junior in chemistry, plans to enhance online registration and establish a dead week policy. He will install technology to update students on parking availability and fight for more parking spots on campus. He intends to establish a Student Legal Services to make legal advice available to students. Cortopassi will offer all-you-can-eat venues, a farmer's market on the Green Space and challenge the administration to hold Tiger Dining accountable for their prices in Tiger Dining. He will work to ensure more efficient transportation and improve the Auburn mobile application.
"Everything that I have in my platform are real attainable goals," Cortopassi said. "This is a lot of fun, but at the end of the day, this is something I'm very serious about and very passionate about."
Vice-Presidential Candidates
Melanie Smith, junior in HDFS, will work to increase resources available to students. This includes graduate school preparation, an online syllabus database and peer advising. She also looks to improve the Tiger Links program. She will help students get involved on campus by making the application process easier through mock interviews and resume critique. She intends to make the senate more transparent and accessible to students.
"I really want to be vice-president so students' voices will be heard on Senate," said Smith. "I think there are definitely improvements to be made, and I would like to be a part of the improvements so we can serve the student body the best we can."
Joseph Dumas, junior in political science, intends to hold senators accountable for their colleges. He will support legislation that allows Tiger Card usage at sporting events.
"I want to bring awareness to students about the senators they have so they know what bills are brought up and how the senators are voting for them so that students can have awareness about the things that are happening in SGA and at the University," said Dumas.
Treasurer Candidates
Richard Pettey, junior in finance and Spanish, focused his platform on student financial interests, such as reviewing the Senate budget, holding a town hall where students can voice their concerns, working for a student representative in tuition decisions and keeping students informed on how their money is spent. He will also pursue corporate partnership opportunities and increase financial accountability of the SGA budget and SAP expenditure.
"I think students should know where their money's going and how it's being spent," said Pettey. "I think that they should have a voice in that."
Michael Pittman, junior in finance and marketing, plans to improve the quality of Auburn WIFI on campus, hold teachers to Auburn's standards, improve transportation and lower food prices. He plans to arrange for more speakers and events so students' money is spent in a beneficial way.
"I've worked hard with the budget through Senate this year, and I saw a lot of ways I can help the Auburn students," said Pittman.
Miss Auburn Candidates
Ragan Cox, junior in supply chain management, plans on holding a voter-registration drive and bringing a voter polling station to Auburn's campus for election Day.
"I'm trying to make the process easier for [the students] to vote in the 2012 presidential election," Cox said. "I would serve in 2012, and I hope to make an impact during the year that I will be Miss Auburn."
Katherine Kelley, junior in marketing, hopes to make Auburn a more sustainable campus by installing recycling bins on game days and by instating a spirit-points system for recycling with your organization.
"It's something that is really attainable for Auburn students," said Kelley. "They can all get a grasp on it and all contribute. It's something that's easily forgotten, but easy to do."
Libby Lukens, junior in biomedical sciences, will expand the amount of opportunities students have to serve by highlighting the areas that need it most.
"For the past three years, I've gotten really involved with service at Auburn and fallen in love with it," said Lukens. "It's been so humbling during campaigns to see people volunteering and getting out there. I want to expand volunteering we already have in Auburn."
Morgan Valle, junior in communication disorders, intends to raise awareness about natural disasters and ensure the campus is adequately prepared through relief efforts, volunteer drives, education and the distribution of disaster packets.
"My platform is about keeping students safe and benefitting students," said Valle. "I just want everyone to know what to do if a disaster does hit our area so we can keep Auburn beautiful."
Beth Westmoreland, junior in food science, plans to internationalize Auburn's campus through an International Awareness Day that facilitates interaction between international and domestic students.
"We're trying to inspire Auburn students to study abroad and to get to know international students that are already here," said Westmoreland.
"You don't have to fly to China to have an international experience."
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