Editor’s Note: The Daily News reached out to all three slates running for election during the 2019 Student Government Association (SGA) elections and offered them the opportunity to write a Letter to the Editor addressing The Daily News’ readers. These letters were received prior to the evidence of copyright violation being submitted against Empower and Elevate. The Daily News publishes Letters to the Editor with minimal copy edits and provides a headline only if the author does not provide one. We reserve the right to withhold submitted letters depending on the content. Letters should be approximately 500 words and sent to editor@bsudailynews.com.
It’s that time of year again, Ball State. It’s time to elect a new executive slate for the Student Government Association. You have a big decision to make, one which will impact how SGA operates during the next school year and potentially for years to come. We would like to take a moment to help you get to know our slate. We are Elevate, and we are the slate Ball State needs.
Our group consists of President Aiden Medellin, Vice President Cameron DeBlasio, Secretary Cassidy Mattingly and Treasurer David Sinclair. Our goal, as a collective group, is elevating the needs of every student, one step at a time. We have the qualifications to not only fulfill the requirements of our respective positions but to also accomplish that goal during our year in office. Each of us brings a different background of leadership roles to this slate. Each of us has the experience that makes us the most qualified slate on the ballot.
Over the past few months, we have been formulating a platform designed to fulfill the needs of you, our fellow students. Our points accomplish a variety of goals. We plan to reroute a red loop bus to the blue loop so buses run more regularly along Riverside and Neely. We want to rework meal plans so students can access their 14, 18 or 21 meals per week at their leisure rather than having set timeframes to use them. These are just a couple of the 15 points we’ve put together to help make your experiences on campus a little better.
There is, however, one point to remember more than any other, but it is not a part of our platform. The most important point is this ― when it comes to accomplishing an executive platform, our slate has the experience to do it. We have two sitting senators on our slate who have written legislation and brought it to the senate floor. We have the current deputy chief of staff for SGA who has seen how an executive slate operates. We have a finance major who has worked with the finances of real people in the professional world. Our team knows how to accomplish tasks in SGA. We have done it in the past, and we would be honored to continue to do it in the future as your executive slate.
We will close with one final point. There has been talk about SGA being outdated. There is a notion that SGA doesn’t actually do anything. We would like to respectfully disagree. From the bill authored by Aiden to create priority scheduling for members of ROTC to the bill currently being proposed by Cameron to ensure every person affiliated with Ball State receives emergency text alerts, there is proof SGA creates real change on this campus. We have worked tirelessly to make this university a better place for you, and we hope we will have the chance to continue to elevate your needs as your next executive slate.
- Elevate, 2019 Student Government Association Slate
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