Weeks after the launch of his new app, Porter Kennedy is taking on his next endeavor as he runs for Auburn’s SGA President.
Feeling satisfied with the app’s initial “buzz,” Kennedy hopes his koozies and platform will bring him the same success in this election.
Kennedy, junior in finance, has shaped his platform to approach three areas of Auburn’s student ticketing, parking
Kennedy plans to approach the topic of student ticketing by disbanding the penalty system, Kennedy said.
Kennedy plans overarching changes during his term, if elected, as he said he feels in recent years SGA has mainly gone back and forth on the ticketing policy.
As for locations for Kennedy’s two large ventures, Kennedy discussed building a parking deck across from the Auburn Alumni Association as a second library parking deck and building a cafeteria in the place of Parker Hall.
“[Parker Hall] is right next to the Greenspace, and I think it’s the prime location,” Kennedy said. “People would go there all the time.”
Kennedy noticed the campus has a number of fast-food chains including Panda Express, Chick-fil-A, Chicken Salad Chick and Papa John’s and said the healthier, cafeteria-style food option is inconvenient for some students.
“Wellness Kitchen is a little bit out of the way for a lot of students,” Kennedy said. “If we had one that goes in this centralized location, I think that would be great.”
Kennedy said he believes the addition of this new cafeteria would not change the payment system and it would continue to use the TigerCard dining dollar system. He said he does not believe meal swipes would be available at the location and as president would make building the facility priority.
“I think they know what changes they want to happen, and I think I can make them happen, and I’d love to,” Kennedy said.
Despite his critiques of SGA, Kennedy said he knows the organization and has been involved for the past few years. Kennedy said he believes SGA has the potential to do more for
In reference to the hard conversations including sexual assault, racism
“Hopefully it trickles down to the smaller levels where people can really grasp it,” Kennedy said. “It starts with [the leaders] and then hopefully we can get fraternity presidents, sorority presidents, different on campus [organizations]… talking about it to their people involved in their organizations,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy said this is what he believes will really make a difference. He said it can already be seen in programs like Green Dot that protects against and works toward putting a stop to sexual violence on campus.
While Kennedy had difficulty choosing something he disliked about Auburn, he has shaped his platform to pinpoint certain problems on campus he believes he can fix.
“I think we can think bigger and that’s what we’re going to try to do under a Kennedy administration,” Kennedy said.
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