Student Government Association elections are days away, and presidential candidates are eager to tell students their goals for the next academic year.
There are three students battling for the most coveted position, SGA President —Cody Dardeau, criminal justice sophomore and current SGA associate justice, Kate Gremillion, mass communication sophomore and current SGA chief of staff and John Valdespino, music industry studies junior.
Each candidate is emphasizing different issues. Dardeau wants an increased student involvement, Gremillion believes she is more qualified because she has more SGA experience and Valdespino wants SGA to be more visible.
Dardeau said he is running for president because he wants to help students more than his justice position allows. He believes students and SGA have “a disconnect.” If elected, one of his methods to increase student involvement will be to hold senators accountable for the concerns of students in their college.
“SGA needs to seek students rather than the students look for SGA,” Dardeau said.
Gremillion said that because she has two years of experience under two different administrations, she has “the best skills set to apply to how things work.” To elaborate, Gremillion said that former SGA President Cade Cypriano, A’09, had an ambitious agenda, but lacked communication skills while Sarah Cooper, current SGA president and marketing junior, has good communication skills, but lacked an ambitious agenda.
“(The other candidates) have not been privy to learning from the past administration directly under the executive branch,” she said.
Gremillion also mentioned that because of her experience, she “won’t have to waste time to build relationships (with the university administration).”
Though Valdespino lacks SGA experience, he said he believes he will be committed to reaching out to students, especially those who know little to nothing about SGA.
“I had no idea SGA existed other than during elections,” he said.
Because other students have shared the same thought, Valdespino said he wants to reach out especially to them.
Both Dardeau and Gremillion have addressed the allocations process.
Dardeau said that he wants to increase the amount of allocations clubs and organizations receive and make the process easier.
“The point of these funds is to reach a zero balance,” he said. “Students currently attending the university should … reap the benefit of the funds.”
Gremillion said that money not allocated goes into the student reserve.
“I’m pro letting students know that we have money to spend,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know that the allocations process is an open process. This is the major miscommunication.”
Though Valdespino admits that he has not attended an SGA meeting, he stressed that he will be committed to his position if elected.
“I don’t know if anyone else is willing to give as much effort into this as I am,” he said.
He said he plans to make meetings widely known by having weekly SGA updates in The Maroon and by creating an SGA blog.
Because her concentration is public relations, Gremillion said that she understands it is mutually beneficial to speak openly with student media.
“Transparency is not putting up SGA signs; it’s giving The Maroon our budget,” she said.
Dardeau has a similar view. He believes there needs to be open communication between SGA and student media. He also noted that SGA has been “slightly ridiculous” in their methods of communicating to the media.
“It would be beneficial not to continue the current process,” Dardeau said. “We’re all still students.”
Valdespino said he believes he will be more visible than Cooper is. He also believes there is nothing wrong with beginning his involvement in SGA as president.
“It’s the biggest way to make a splash,” he said.
Though Gremillion mentioned she does not want to make any promises she cannot keep, she said she plans to have an updated list of House of Representatives members and to keep in contact with them. She also said she plans to bring back the director of constituent issues position.
Dardeau said he wants to be “aggressive to the administration,” but needs student support.
“To have student support is paramount to getting anything done,” Dardeau said.
Precious Esie can be reached at
