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A spirit that is not afraid

2021 SGA candidates debate campus issues

<p>SGA Senate meets on Sept. 14, 2020, in Auburn, Ala.</p>

SGA Senate meets on Sept. 14, 2020, in Auburn, Ala.

This year's candidates for SGA and Miss Auburn hashed out their platforms and plans at SGA’s major candidate debate last night on Jan. 28.

Current SGA president Ada Ruth Huntley, senior in global studies, moderated the debate, putting a series of position-specific questions to the candidates. Miss Auburn candidates were all given the opportunity to give a speech but were not given platform questions or time for debate. 

Treasurer candidates Stephen Sadie, junior in finance, and Hannah Streitman, junior in finance, laid out their respective plans for promoting financial literacy. 

Streitman highlighted her involvement in creating Auburn’s current financial literacy program, a partnership with Regions Bank, and her intentions to continue work on it. Sadie declared his intentions to make financial literacy a part of Auburn’s core curriculum. 

Both treasurer candidates agreed that the position is expanding into influence beyond simply managing the budget. 

When asked about their plans for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in student government, Sadie described intentions to add more liaison positions to the student senate “so that we can hear [those organizations’] voices.” Streitman suggested reallocating funds from the student activity fee directly into underrepresented organizations. 

Both vice presidential candidates — Cole Callahan, junior in biomedical sciences, and Andrew Dismukes, junior in finance — had practical ideas to make student senate more accessible. 

Callahan suggested regular office hours for senators, and Dismukes suggested concourse hours and increased polls to students. 

Both promoted their experience in student government, with Callahan highlighting his time served in the college of science and mathematics schools council and SGA senate. Dismukes noted his position in SGA senate as president pro tempore, the senate position below vice president.

For the final portion of the debates, the presidential candidates took the stage. 

Sloen Zieverink, junior in public relations, described her platform according to her slogan, “Be Known With Sloen.” 

She called her campaign one “dedicated to the students, where all concerns are heard, all questions are answered [and] all intentions are transparent.” 

Transparency in student government was discussed repeatedly, as both Zieverink and Tyler Ward, junior in political science, have plans for goal-tracking programs. 

When asked what they believed the top issues facing Auburn students today were, the common topics were COVID-19, inclusion and being heard in SGA.

Zieverink emphasized the importance of watching and following the example of other universities in our COVID policies, and she reiterated her claim that every Auburn student should be heard and known. 

Ward brought up issues of diversity and inclusion, but he noted that “these other issues cannot be addressed unless we address COVID-19 first,” calling for “actionable steps” to do so.  

Rett Waggoner, junior in finance, emphasized the importance of the concerns of each individual student and having those heard by SGA. 

“The No. 1 thing that SGA should always be for is the individual student,” he said. “And each individual student has a variety of things that concern them.” 

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When asked about their experience with and plans to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, Waggoner mentioned his intentions to appoint an executive vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion. 

He also expressed that he “appreciated” Ward’s friendship and Ward’s efforts as the current chair of the SGA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. 

Ward said in a follow-up statement to The Plainsman that he did not want to be solely responsible for all of SGA's diversity, equity and inclusion decisions.

“To Rett’s point, I love that I’ve been able to become your friend, but I’m also not going to be your diversity, equity and inclusion work,” Ward said in his rebuttal at the debate. “To Sloen’s point, … the way that we [promote diversity, equity and inclusion] is to make sure that everyone is doing their job and holding themselves accountable.” 

Zieverink said she hoped to put an EAGLES seat into the student senate to better represent students with intellectual disabilities, and she said she seeks to work more closely with the International Student Organization.

“I think this is a really important thing that can be done,” she said in reference to increasing EAGLES program representation.

All three presidential candidates championed student feedback from various channels — Zieverink with executives making themselves directly available on the concourse, Waggoner with a push for more low-commitment senate positions to allow more accessible SGA involvement and Ward with “Feedback Fridays.”


Emma Kirkemier | Campus Reporter

Emma Kirkemier, junior in English literature with a minor in journalism, is the campus reporter for The Auburn Plainsman.

@emmakk253


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