University Coalition may have been the last slate of candidates to enter the race for executive leadership of Student Government Association, but it is the best choice to represent the student body.
Out of three slates, University Coalition was able to pull together the most diverse candidates and the strongest platform in the shortest amount of time.
Candidates Kerri Cropper (president), Michelle Voss (vice president), Derrick Stalbaum (treasurer) and Megan Veit (secretary) manage to balance approachability and professionalism, qualities necessary to successfully lead Ball State University's SGA.
Voss' leadership experience within SGA will serve the slate well as it tries to pass platform initiatives through the complicated avenues of university bureaucracy.
Veit's term and a half as president of Residence Hall Association will also be of great benefit as SGA tries to work more closely with the organization, a goal all three slates said was important.
University Coalition has also spent time checking into the feasibility of its platform items, often researching how other Indiana universities have put similar initiatives into affect.
The other two slates in the running, Cardinal Impact and Cardinal Collaboration, have not looked as closely at other universities.
All three groups have some strong and some weak platform items, and Coalition has already said that if elected it would consider incorporating the best ideas from each slate.
Cardinal Impact's diversity goals and organization of scholarship opportunities online would be good additions to University Coalition's platform, as would Cardinal Collaboration's plan to implement an online reservation system for the Learning Center and improve upon the university's emergency alert system.
All four of Coalition's candidates are able to speak competently about the slate's goals, and, just as importantly, they are able to speak personably.
The other slates lack this balance, each exemplifying only half of the equation.
Cardinal Impact is professional and organized, with more leadership experience and more administrative connections than any other slate.
It is also the least approachable of the three slates. Often sounding like they're reading from a script and keeping answers close to the chest, the candidates don't seem all that candid.
Cardinal Collaboration, on the other hand, is the most personable slate. Its candidates not only seem to truly want student input, but they also consider that input when they hear it, admitting at times that they don't have every answer.
The slate lacks professionalism, organization and research, though. While Cardinal Collaboration's ideals might be in the right place, its ideas often aren't.
University Coalition, though, employs a strong and charismatic mix of competence and congeniality.
Presidential candidate Cropper has made it clear during the campaign that University Coalition wants to truly represent the students, and so far, it has done a good job of reaching out and asking for student input, such as with its open forum Web site.
This openness is a necessary component of not only a successful election campaign but also of a successful SGA career. If University Coalition keeps up the good work it's done so far, it can change SGA and Ball State's student body for the better.
If this is the kind of change you're interested in seeing, vote University Coalition.
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