The race for Student Body President is getting closer as Plymouth State ends a week of solid debate and campaign.
Students face a variety of choices when voting. Below are short summaries (in alphabetical order by last name) of each candidate’s platform.
TREVOR CHANDLER
Trevor Chandler is a sophomore Political Science major currently serving as a Hall Hall Community Advisor and Student Senate Sophomore Class representative. Chandler is running for the position of Student Body President with Vice President Candidate, Aly Dethlefs, a first-year Anthropology major. Dethlefs is the first-year class representative on Student Senate as well as the Secretary for the Model UN.
According to his platform on facebook.com, Chandler is interested in addressing “C.A.T.S.” or community, activities, tuition/textbooks, and Sodexho.
In regard to community, Chandler discussed his techniques this past year as Chair of the Communications committee for Student Senate.
“I have already taken action to improve Town/Gown relations by fighting to put Student Senate meetings on Plymouth Public Access for the students and the surrounding community to have full access to our meetings,” stated Chandler.
In regards to book prices, Chandler is in favor of new legislation.
“I will commit myself to being the first Student Body President to lobby the legislature to pass laws to reign in the publishers whose monopoly drives up book prices,” explained Chandler. “I will seek support for 2 new laws, the first would require publishers to inform educators about the prices of the textbooks they are ordering. This will help teachers see how the prices of the books they order will affect students. The second law would require publishers to specifically detail what changes have been made to a new edition. This would allow teachers to make more educated decisions when upgrading to a new edition of a text book to see if it is worth the additional const and decreased value in buyback of books.”
Tuition is another topic addressed in Chandler’s campaign.
“Lowering tuition is not impossible, and is it up to us to take a stand to bring it down,” Chandler explained. “Currently, approximately $1,200 of our tuitions goes to pay for energy cost for fuel and electricity…in keeping with my dedication to the environment I will advocate and promote saving electricity not only in our Residence Halls but also in our academic buildings.”
SEAN GREENLAW
Sean Greenlaw is a senior Philosophy major currently serving as the Speaker of the Student Senate. According to Greenlaw’s platform on facebook.com, he is campaigning to improve Town/Gown relations, promoting equality for students across campus, focusing on campus wellness, improve the situation surrounding academic advising and stop solicitation on campus. Greenlaw is running without a running mate for Vice President.
Part of Greenlaw’s campaign is to fix two major topics on campus; academic advising and the problem of student debt after college.
“The Senate this year has proven that this is an ongoing issue, with students not getting the advising that they need, our faculty not getting the information they need to give the best advising, and a lack of feedback on the process” stated Greenlaw. “I will continue with the efforts of those involved by working with administration to try to bring programs to improve academic advising, work with the faculty to give them the most up to date information to assist them in advising, and getting continuous feedback from students to make sure that these efforts are working.”
Addressing the second problem of student debt, Greenlaw stated, “My goals to help improve this issue is to start with the basics, such as helping students understand the financial aid process, promoting scholarships that do not get taken during the year, and creating campaigns to lobby to increase federal and state contributions to colleges, and universities and lower the interest rates on loans.”
Lack of communication between Student Senators and their constituents has come up as a general discussion topic for most Student Body Presidential candidates this year. “This issue came up earlier this year, and as an Executive Board we came up with processes to ensure that the Senators were communicating with their constituents in the form of weekly reports. We also realized that there are different schools of thought when it comes to representing constituents,” explained Greenlaw. “I will encourage Senate to continue with the usage of the weekly reports and the continuation of effort of the Hall Representatives and Communications Committee of Senate as well as the publication of The Torch to keep our constituents informed of the goings on, and to gather opinions and feedback.”
JON O’NEILL
Jon O’Neill is a junior Economics major currently serving on Student Senate as the Student Apartment representative. His platform on facebook.com is focused around bringing in more stores for bookstore competition, changes to the dining services, taking a look at Plymouth States fiscal record and parking issues. O’Neill is running without a candidate for Vice President.
The two major issues that O’Neill chose from his platform were parking related issues and fiscal responsibility.
“I am proud to say I have already taken action concerning the parking permit situation,” O’Neill stated. “Parking permits have gone up in price 4 years in a row and next year the recommendation from the parking committee will be to not raise the prices due in major part to my efforts to stop raises in permit and fee prices.”
In regards to Plymouth State’s budget, O’Neill stated, “Fiscally, I believe the school’s budget of 72 million dollars next year is too large and fiscally irresponsible and I am proud to say I am the only member of the Student Senate who voted No on passing the budge and I will continue to vote “NO” when I feel your money is not being spent responsibly.”
O’Neill offered a different opinion than his opponents when discussing the school bookstore.
“Unlike my other opponents, I do not believe the school bookstore has your best interest at heart. I believe they are a monopoly and therefore can not bring the best price possible,” he said. “As an economics major, I am award that only a marketplace can bring the best quality at the cheapest price, therefore, I do not propose to change the bookstore policy, I wish to oppose it. I will do my best to raise awareness of real textbook marketplaces such as Amazon, E-Bay, and E-Campus online. I think students need to know about the alternatives to see how they are not being served by the campus bookstore.”
In conclusion, O’Neill stated, “If elected Student Body President, I will become the first Libertarian in Plymouth State History. What does this mean? This means that I am not interested in the pomp and circumstance associated with being President…I am doing this because I truly believe that you, the students, are not being represented well by your Senate, or your administration. I have come to believe over my years here that they do no have your best interest at heart, and I will do whatever I can to make them listen to, and truly work for you, the student.”
DUSTIN SIGGINS
Dustin Siggins is a Junior Business Major in his third semester on Student Senate, currently serving as a Junior Class representative. Siggins is a third-year member and current Vice President of the Dodgeball Club, as well as an active Member in Campus Crusade for Christ. Dustin is also a former columnist, writer and Opinions and Editorials editor for The Clock.
Running as a Vice Presidential candidate with Siggins is Alex Ward, a Junior Social Studies major with a Teacher certification option. Ward is a member of ACSD and the History club. Though he has no previous Student government experience, he is a three-sport coach for Inter-lakes High School.
According to Facebook.com, Siggins is interested in the construction areas around campus, tuition costs to attend Plymouth State and lack of communication between Student Senators and their constituents.
“I will keep my campaign promises by keeping them simple, realistic and attainable,” said Siggins. “Lowering tuition is highly unlikely without a solid and realistic plan, such as shifting costs onto those who cause them to exist in the first place. Creating more efficient and less costly construction projects is only possible by offering different ideas backed up by facts, figures, and the expertise of those in the field.”
Student Senate and constituent relations are an integral part of Siggins’ platform.
“Keeping students informed of what is going on around the campus and of the many options available to them as students is another big part of my campaign, and one that I have worked very hard at,” explained Siggins. “Also, Alex, my running mate, is very well connected within the student body, and between us we know a large number of students. Since people know who we are, they will be comfortable with coming up to us about their problems.”
On the topic of Town/Gown relations, Siggins stated, “I have attended several Campus/Community Council meetings this academic year, and have gotten to know many town officials and landlords fairly well. Now that I have a rapport with these particular individuals, I will attempt to modify how the town regulates student off-campus housing in order to bring students into an environment where they can be surrounded by like-minded people – other college students – and where there will be a reduction in tension between the town and campus officials, residents and law enforcers due to this separation.”