The last of three debates preceding the 2019 Student Government Association (SGA) Election focused on questions by SGA senators, representatives from organizations and audience members both at the debate or pre-submitted on social media.
The 2019 SGA Election’s Presidential Town Hall Debate was held 6:30 p.m. Feb. 19 in the Art and Journalism Building, Room 175. Presidents of all three slates spoke about Ball State students’ concerns and defended their platform points.
The three presidential candidates had to respond to a wide variety of questions including combating sexual assault and stances on student inclusion.
Khanya Msibi, Student Government Association's (SGA) Spectrum representative speaks at the SGA Presidential Town Hall Debate held Feb. 19, 2019, at the Art and Journalism building, room 175. Msibi asked the presidential candidates questions regarding their platform points about sexual assaults, diversity and inclusion. Scott Fleener, DN
Khanya Msibi, the Spectrum representative at SGA, questioned why diversity and inclusion of marginalized identities on campus wasn’t more of a priority, with only one platform point by a slate related to the subject.
“We kept our platform points at what we thought was a manageable level because we want to be able to tackle issues that aren’t on this platform and the issues that arise on this campus that we see as students tell us, ‘Hey, this needs to be fixed,’” said Jake Biller, presidential candidate of United.
Aiden Medellin, presidential candidate of Elevate, spoke about his slate’s platform point section Embracing Students, which mentions expanding gender inclusive housing.
“Your platform points don’t represent how you’re going to be as a slate,” Medellin said.
He said he can’t wait to be educated himself, and educate his slate and the Ball State community about why it should be diverse and why the members of the community should continue to embrace each other and not just accept each other.
“We are not only focused on accomplishing our platform points but listening to the needs of any and every student and trying to get the things done that they want us to get done for them,” said Julian Simmerman, presidential candidate of Empower.
Msibi also questioned Empower and Elevate on the effectiveness of their platform points regarding sexual assault on campus.
Simmerman brought up his platform point proposing to make the course Elemental by Melissa Holtzman, Ball State sociology professor and the class's co-creator, into an optional Physical Fitness and Wellness course.
“We’re not saying that this course is the end all be all for sexual assault,” Simmerman said. “We’re just saying it’s a good first step to combat sexual assault, and we truly believe in this course.”
“So the idea was to expand [sexual assault monologues], so that we have these stories received anonymously,” Medellin said about his platform point. “And not just about the victims, because it’s our job to hold this climate accountable.”
Medellin said a theater group called Busted Space “would love” to pair with the slate to put on performances to tell the stories of the anonymous survivors of sexual assault.
Isaac Mitchell, current Student Government Association (SGA) president of Amplify speaks at the SGA Presidential Town Hall Debate held Feb. 19, 2019, at the Art and Journalism building, room 175. Mitchell ends his term at the end of the 2019 spring semester. Scott Fleener, DN
SGA’s current President Isaac Mitchell asked the three presidential candidates if they would continue to be involved or join SGA should they lose the election.
“It’s definitely crossed my mind to be a senator in SGA (and) applying to be a senator,” said Simmerman, who received several questions regarding Empower’s lack of experience in SGA. “The passion that I have for the changes I want made within SGA could definitely do well for me in that position.”
Medellin and Biller said they would continue to be involved with SGA in some capacity.
Medellin later asked Simmerman directly if he could promise to be a senator next year. Simmerman said he could make that promise, but at the moment his focus was on winning the election.
“We’ve approached this campaign from the stance of ‘We’re not here to talk about our opponents; we’re not here to talk about their platform, their experience,’” Biller said after the debate about United staying out of rebuttals against Elevate and Empower. “We’re here to talk about us, we’re here to talk about United.”
The slates then delivered their final concluding remarks of the three debates.
Medellin said Elevate was the first slate to release its platform points, have a campaigning event after the nomination convention and meet with organizations after the convention.
“We weren’t scrambling to create things; we were already established,” Medellin said.
Simmerman said Empower will represent the entire student body.
“We’ve listened to what people have to say and we just don’t think that keeping the same leadership within SGA is necessarily the good thing,” Simmerman said. “We have a fresh perspective and I think a lot of people respect that fresh perspective and they think that would be a good thing to implement in SGA.”
“I think throughout these debates we have made our case clear that United is a slate that is committed to serving its students and willing to take their concerns to administrators and bring about real change on this campus,” Biller said. “I think it’s clear that United has the knowledge, we have the experience and, frankly, we have the grit to make life better for Ball State students.”
Contact Charles Melton with comments at cwmelton@bsu.edu or on Twitter @Cmelton144. Contact Rohith Rao with comments at rprao@bsu.edu or on Twitter @RaoReports.
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