The annual SGA debate was held in the Student Center Ballroom to introduce Miss Auburn and SGA major candidates.
The Miss Auburn candidates were the first group to take the stage as they were introduced by current Miss Auburn Madison Rolling and given the opportunity to briefly introduce their platforms.
The Miss Auburn Top 5 are Abby Agnew, junior in business analytics; Ashley Moates, junior in communication disorders; Sarah Patrick, junior in accountancy; Katelyn Simpkins, junior in biomedical sciences; and Faith Webb, junior in public relations.
Agnew said he platform is inspired by her struggles with accepting her diagnosis of severe depression and anxiety. She said her goal is to encourage transparency and healing.
“I was more concerned with how people’s perception of me would change,” Agnew said.
Moates said her sister is the inspiration behind her entire platform to “make people’s dreams come true” and provide disabled people with the college experience.
“Someone with disabilities is not defined by those disabilities,” Moates said.
Patrick said her platform focuses on increasing financial literacy.
“I think it’s so important for us students to invest back into our community,” Patrick said.
Simpkins said her campaign supports the Backpack Program to give nutritious school lunches to children.
“They’ll have adequate nutrition so they can come to school and learn,” Simpkins said.
Webb said her platform is about finding balance with a healthy lifestyle, which is inspired by her own personal struggles.
“I starved myself and I made myself throw up for four years,” Webb said. “It wasn’t until college that I’d gotten better until I gained the freshman 15, or 20.”
Current SGA President Jesse Westerhouse emceed the debate part of the event and asked candidates questions about their platforms.
The SGA treasurer candidates are Frank McEwen, junior in finance; Alex Patrick, junior in economics; and Gabrielle Pollard, junior in chemical engineering.
McEwen said his campaign slogan “Bank with Frank” coincides with an acronym identifying his platform focuses.
“B stands for budget. A stands for assess. N stands for no hidden fees. K stands for knowledge,” McEwen said.
Patrick said there are three major points in his campaign.
“First, I want to increase the number of corporate sponsorships that SGA works with,” Patrick said. “Second is to get serious about financial literacy. Third is to increase the amount of money, or begin the conversation, to increase the amount of money that student organizations get.”
Pollard said her experience as a transfer student has prepared her for the role of becoming SGA treasurer because she had to learn how to make the drastic move from paying $2,000 to $10,000 a year when she changed schools.
“I want students to understand how to budget,” Pollard said. “I think the best way would be by giving out classes.”
The SGA vice presidential candidates were up next and they are Sarah Beth Cape, junior in finance and information systems management; Griffin Osborne, sophomore in finance; and Justin Smith, junior in chemical engineering.
Cape said one of the things she’s interested in doing is increasing the number of senators per college.
“One senator for one college isn’t always enough,” Cape said.
Osborne said transparency and communication are the top priorities in his campaign.
“I don’t think you can sit back and let students come to SGA,” Osborne said. “You have to go to them. What I want to do is go to organizations weekly and allow them to voice their opinion.”
Smith said he is an experienced leader committed to the Auburn student body.
“Part of my platform is just being open and accessible,” Smith said. “There doesn’t need to be a change in the structure of the senate, but the attitude.”
The candidates for president were the last group to take the stage. The SGA presidential candidates are David Facteau, junior in psychology; Brock Hendon, junior in finance; Jacqueline Keck, junior in economics; and Caleb Marshall, senior in mathematics.
Facteau said one of the things he wanted to fix is the price of football tickets.
“Right now we have the third highest cost of student tickets in the SEC and that’s a number that really needs to go down,” Facteau said. “When we lower that cost, we save money for other things.”
Hendon said “Brock Solid” is about the student experience.
“Students access and student success,” Hendon said. “Student access would be how you use your voice to continue to promote change on campus, some of those being student ticketing, campus dining. We can also talk about student success and what do we have to do to make sure our students are successful here at Auburn.”
Keck said Auburn will be successful through a team effort under her administration.
“I chose ‘We Can with Keck’ because I’m a candidate that know it takes a team to create effective change,” Keck said. “Together I think we can better Auburn.”
Marshall took his time during the debate to identify himself as the “greatest of all time" and the type of leader the University needs.
“Auburn needs a guy like me running the SGA,” Marshall said. “The two things on my platform are leadership and ideas. I don’t want to be here...no I didn’t want to be here, but I had a few friends rally behind me because I’m an innovative thinker.”
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