Meet your SGA exec team

President: Dane Block

Block’s campaign platform, Build with Block, was more than just a play on words as he focused his campaign on improving the student experience with five components.

The five “blocks” of his platform were student safety, access and affordability, dining, transportation and himself.

In addition to serving as a College of Business senator, Block has served in cabinet. These positions have taught Block many lessons on how to be a leader, he said, and the most important one he has learned is the importance of the relationships you build along the way.

“One thing I would like the incoming freshmen to know about me is that I am there for them, and I want them to succeed in all areas of life as they transition into their freshmen year,” Block said. “When students look at our team, I want them to see students and friends first and foremost.”

Block said that when he says, “Build with Block,” he doesn’t want to restructure the entire University, but rather, he wants to build upon what has made Auburn such a great institution.

Vice President: Schyler Burney

Burney, senior in economics, has traveled all over the state and across the country exploring her newfound interest in politics.

After starting out as a physics major, Burney found a home in the College of Liberal Arts following conversations with former SGA President Jacqueline Keck about her experience with physics.

Getting to work with Lobby Board, an organization that connects students to state legislators, allowed Burney to get a taste of real-world politics. She now plans to follow in her father and grandfather’s footsteps and attend law school.

This past year, as one of the liberal arts senators, Burney visited Washington D.C. to see the progress of a recent program that places Auburn interns with alumni to help with living expenses. She was able to help develop and expand the program.

Burney’s primary goal as vice president is to help the different colleges’ senators, who represent the students from all the colleges across campus, understand how to best connect with and serve their students.

“We have 30 or 40 senators, so one of my main goals this year is to successfully train them to take on the role that they’ve been elected to do,” Burney said.

Treasurer: Dixon Simmons

Similar to his major officer counterparts, Simmons is looking to do the most effective job he can while keeping the thoughts and opinions of the student body at the forefront of his mind.

A large part of Simmons’ vision for the upcoming year is to reallocate student fees in order to more fully benefit and support student organizations.

A portion of each students’ tuition gets allocated to what are called SAP organizations to promote the student experience. Simmons wants to ensure that organizations can do things like hire more advisors, increase liability spending and increase funds for Organization Board.

This doesn’t mean any raise in tuition, just a reallocation of fees already paid. Simmons also wants to be more transparent and resourceful to students. He plans to publish a yearly finance report on the SGA website as well as an office for financial literacy.

SGA Executive Officers

Block said they looked at the platforms of candidates, previous involvement with SGA and across campus and any fresh ideas the candidates had.

Many of the executive officers have had previous experience with SGA, including Starr, who was the candidate in the SGA presidential runoff with Block. Starr received 48 percent of the vote in the runoff, and Block thought this connection to the student body was valuable.

Starr, Yelton, Chandler and Hand came from assistant vice president roles in SGA last year. Arthur was a student senator for the business school, while Kramer was a senator for the school of liberal arts.