Saving students’ money is the top ticket issue for qualifying candidates in the upcoming Student Government election. SG elections commissioner Jacob Gower released the candidate list Wednesday for president, vice president, University Court justice, Union Board representative and college council representatives. Dixon Wallace McMakin, SG director of athletics, and Sen. Kristen Oaks, College of Agriculture, are running together for president and vice president, respectively. They said students can expect to see the words “Vision LSU 2008” beginning next week. Student Senate Speaker Colorado Robertson is also running for president with Shannon Bates, mass communication junior, as his running mate. Robertson said their campaign is called “The Foundation: Building from the Ground Up.” Brandon Taylor Craft and Wesleigh McLeod, history sophomores, are running on a ticket as well, but they said their campaign has no slogan. Craft said they have no specific goals. “We aren’t going to make up a campaign platform with objectives we won’t be able to do,” Craft said. But Craft and McLeod said they want to bring new faces to SG and hope they appeal to students because they are SG outsiders. The McMakin-Oaks and Robertson-Bates tickets share a similar central goal: to save students money. Specifically, lobbying the state legislature for textbook reductions tops both tickets’ list of campaign issues. Other common campaign issues include providing wireless access throughout campus, creating an athletic priority point system for students attending away games and keeping 459 Commons open until 3 a.m. McMakin said his ticket’s list of campaign issues strives to fix the day-to-day problems students will face. He said they plan to lobby the state legislature for student income breaks as well. Other key issues on the McMakin-Oaks ticket include extending the Thanksgiving holiday break, publicizing teacher evaluations online and fighting increased football ticket prices. McMakin said he plans to create a “Mayors’ College Council” if elected. He said the council will meet with the mayor once a month to discuss city issues relating to the University. Robertson said a few of his ticket’s campaign issues include increasing library security during evening hours, improving campus lighting, extending library hours and creating an online counselor appointment schedule. Robertson said he is running because he wants to accomplish three things before he graduates. “One is to lay a foundation not just for my Student Government administration, but for future Student Government administrators,” Robertson said. “I want to make sure everyone has the best college experience as possible by improving programs. And I want to save students money.” Robertson said he wanted a running mate who has never been in SG. “I have plenty of experience working in SG, and now we need someone who doesn’t know about it,” he said. “Fresh blood is always good.” McMakin said a main reason he decided to run is to leave the University a better place – specifically by reuniting the campus. He said he wants to eliminate student apathy about SG.
“Sometimes you don’t have to have a leadership role,” McMakin said. “But I have been in leadership capacity since I have been here and want to continue to serve the students in that role.”
Robertson and Bates are holding a press conference Friday at 4:30 p.m. at the LSU Student Gates to announce their campaign. McMakin and Oaks will be addressing students Monday at 4 p.m. in the Journalism Building’s Holiday Forum about their campaign.
Robertson said a few of his ticket’s campaign issues include lighting, extending library hours and creating an online counselor appointment schedule. Robertson said he is running because he wants to accomplish three things before he graduates. “One is to lay a foundation not just for my Student Government administration, but for future Student Government administrators,” Robertson said. “I want to make sure everyone has the best college experience as possible by improving programs. And I want to save students money.”
Robertson said he wanted a running mate who has never been in SG.
“I have plenty of experience working in SG, and now we need someone who doesn’t know about it,” he said. “Fresh blood is always good.”
McMakin said a main reason he decided to run is to leave the University a better place. He said he wants to eliminate student apathy about SG.
“Sometimes you don’t have to have a leadership role,” McMakin said. “But I have been in leadership capacity since I have been here and want to continue to serve the students in that role.”
Robertson and Bates are holding a press conference Friday at 4:30 p.m. at the LSU Student Gates to announce their campaign. McMakin and Oaks will be addressing students Monday at 4 p.m. in the Journalism Building’s Holiday Forum about their campaign.
—-Contact Natalie Messina at [email protected]