You can vote in the LSU spring Student Government elections here. SG recommends you vote via computer due to formatting constraints on mobile.

The five LSU Student Government presidential and vice-presidential pairs sat down Tuesday to debate issues such as accountability, internal improvements and their goals if elected.

Candidates began by introducing themselves and what their campaign is focused on.

Gerald Le and George Tisdale lead the crawFISH ticket. Their campaign is centered around increasing fun at LSU. They are pushing for more events on campus for students.

Benjamin Barousse is the Home ticket’s presidential candidate. He is a finance junior at LSU and has served in the Student Senate and the executive branch.

His running mate, Anna Katherine Harrell, is a psychology junior who has also served in Student Government. The pair is dedicated to making sure every student voice is heard.

“Our Home campaign is really built on a genuine commitment to every student on this campus, and acknowledging that while every issue may not affect us personally, that does not make any issue less important,” Harrell said.

Tyler Holliway and Gabreyela Gonzalez are of the Heart ticket. Holliway is a junior dual-degree student studying English and political science. She is currently the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Student Senate.

Gonzalez is chair of the Latin caucus, coordinator of campus affairs and sustainability, chair of the Student Sustainability Fund and part of the LGBTQ+ caucus.

Both Holliway and Gonzalez are running because they love to serve their communities.

“I genuinely think people should be at the heart of everything we do and serving should be our mission,” Holliway said. “Serving is our purpose.”

Jack Miller, the Rooted ticket’s presidential candidate, is a management junior. He formerly served as a student senator for three semesters and now serves as the director of public policy.

His running mate, Sydney Hebert, is a biological engineering junior. She serves as the Vice President of the College of Engineering for SG’s College Council.

Running as the Together ticket’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates respectively, Darion Frazier and Bellamia Miceli want to create an atmosphere where students can connect with each other and have more opportunities to come together.

“We really understand what it takes to make this team come together and really draw different types of people to come together and make this community so strong,” Miceli said.

Accountability

The first question asked candidates to explain how they plan to hold each branch of Student Government accountable.

The crawFISH ticket emphasized their trust in the overall system, saying that each branch of SG is designed to keep the others in check.

“I’ve never been involved with student government before, but if there’s anything I know from reading court cases, it’s that I trust in the capability of our branches,” Lê said.

The Home ticket thinks a more direct approach is necessary to ensure accountability, starting with more mindful appointments within the executive branch.

They plan to re-empliment the “president’s cabinet,” a group of appointed student leaders who help advise SG representatives.

Barousse said this group of appointees should be diverse and extremely qualified, which will help keep not only the executive branch but all of SG accountable.

“Accountability starts with surrounding yourself with people who think differently than you, who have different experiences than you,” Barousse said.

The Heart campaign promised to put the most qualified and devoted students into leadership positions. They also introduced an idea to create a more publicized Student Government tracker. The tracker would make SG decisions more public to students and allow for more student involvement.

The Rooted ticket believes the key to accountability is constant communication with the student body. Miller said he wants to go beyond an open-door policy; he wants his team to reach out to students before they feel the need to reach out to them.

“I think aside from accountability between the branches, it’s very important for the student body to be keeping us accountable,” Miller said.

Hebert explained the pair plans to appoint liaisons to represent groups of students on campus.

The Together ticket argued that accountability starts with setting clearer and more defined expectations for SG leaders. Miceli pointed out that currently many student leaders are not given clear goals, which leads to accountability issues within SG.

Lasting Impact

The next question focused on longevity and how each ticket planned to create long lasting initiatives.

The Together campaign said they are confident that their policies will remain for years to come because of the positive responses they have received from students.

The pair have sat down with student groups across campus to work with them to create initiatives that will benefit students. They feel strongly that their work will outlive their time at LSU because of their dedication to solving student issues.

The Rooted ticket wants to create permanent solutions to the major issues on campus. Miller said one of their biggest concerns is infrastructure changes, specifically the Greek and UREC parking lots.

The pair is also pushing for more safety reforms, including Good Samaritan laws in dorms, an increase in Narcan access and infrastructure changes.

The Heart campaign mentioned how they plan to fill the potholes around campus and implement a three-tier system to ensure that roads around campus stay updated and safe for drivers.

Another of their concerns is access to basic resources like water and shade on campus. The pair plans to create more stations on campus to give students a place to cool off.

“I know during the summer heat, with record breaking temperatures a lot of students suffer. We heard that students are tired of it, and we want to help by creating ‘cool areas,’” Gonzalez said.

The pair feel that reforms like these will stay at LSU for generations to come due to their creative and helpful solutions.

The Home ticket said the key to creating initiatives that last is being realistic. The pair met with multiple departments at LSU, inducing Parking and Transportation, Disability Services, Greek Life, etc., to ensure that their initiatives were practical and attainable.

Those policies include enhancing representation in SG, increased accessibility for disabled students, more transportation options for students on the weekends, and protection against wrongful plagiarism allegations.

The crawFISH ticket shared numerous policies, which they admitted to being “a bit far fetched.” The duo wants to pursue a small enrollment cap to limit the number of students on campus.

They want to demolish some parking lots to provide space for a new Buc-ee’s gas station. They are also advocating for LSU to end all construction on the lakes.

Another one of their major goals is to ban all e-scooters from campus as they pose a serious threat to the squirrel population on campus.

Improving Student Government

Overall, the crawFISH ticket feels like SG has done a good job handling student issues in the past. Both Lê and Tisadale agree there is no need for any major changes to the system.

The Home ticket agreed that SG has generally been reliable in the past, but Barousse and Harrell think the organization could be even better if the president’s cabinet were to be reinstated.

“You’re not representing 10 students. You’re representing 40,000, and we think it’s super important that… we are reaching all corners of campus and making sure that we’re hearing their concerns,” Barousse said.

Harrell also emphasized a need for more communication and connections between the different branches. She proposed newsletters and different collaborations to keep everyone informed.

The Heart campaign said SG could improve by adding a semesterly summit, where registered student organizations and Greek life can come together in one space to collaborate on initiatives.

“Things are getting done in Student Government, but they should be vocalized a little bit more, and they should be expanded to other organizations and other spaces on campus,” Holliway said.

Miller and Hebert feel that SG should work to connect more with the student body and inform students about what Student Government does through social media or newsletters.

The Together campaign believes better communication would improve Student Government’s initiatives and relationships with students.

They also agree the best way to do this is through social media, a strategy they have already utilized to reach students via Instagram during their campaign.

“So many students don’t read a thousand pieces of paper or a slide post that lasts eight slides. They want to hear directly from their peers that they’re going to be electing on Thursday and Friday,” Frazier said.

Student Government elections will be held Thursday at 7:30 a.m. to Friday at 4:30 p.m.