Every year, the Ball State Daily News assigns a grade to the university’s outgoing Student Government Association (SGA) executive slate based on how effectively it accomplished its goals, along with its impact on the Ball State student population and surrounding community.
The Poole and Large administration was led by former President Noah Poole and former Vice President Brenna Large. Their campaign platform focused on transportation, student experience, safety, health advocacy and campus life.
Related: Point-by-point evaluation for Poole & Large’s student government administration
Out of the five platform points, only one was complete, leaving the other four somewhat finished. While most of the administrative team’s ideas to improve campus life didn’t get far, they adapted their original ideas into similar, more feasible plans.
One of the first ways they worked to improve student experiences across campus was by adding a help button to the MyBallState website that students could easily find to help them manage the website.
Although the administrative team originally wanted to create a new app, Large said they didn’t want to since the university had just rolled out the new MyBallState program.
Still, the help button helps students get into the new university-wide website.
Another thing Poole and Large wanted to accomplish was implementing mental health days in the official school calendar.
They worked with the Office of Student Affairs to make sure the faculty was more understanding of mental health.
What Poole and Large found is that such a goal is nearly impossible to accomplish because “the academic calendar is made years in advance,” said Poole.
Another one of the administration's goals that fell short was the idea to increase the minimum wage for student workers.
Poole said the issue has been a task that past executive boards have pushed for but received the same result; pushback.
Transportation was also a major focus throughout the 2024-2025 academic year. The Poole and Large administration ran buses to special sporting events on weekends to ensure student safety while on campus and allowed for more commuter lots with better, more accessible signage.
Another promise Poole and Large campaigned for was to have more seating in green spaces throughout campus so that students could enjoy nicer weather.
Poole and Large said this project would likely be completed in the summer of 2025 and should be completed by the upcoming fall.
However, that’s not all. Another project expected in the fall is “Stall Talk,” a newsletter piloted in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center to be posted on bathroom stall doors for students to learn about campus events. Poole said students should “hopefully see this next year.”
Poole and Large said students can also expect greater transparency from the SGA administration and easy ways to report automatic door outages so that all students can enter campus buildings.
It seems like the Poole and Large administration made many of these goals, knowing they might not be finished by the end of their term within the 2024-2025 academic year. Was this done strategically so that if plans fall through or aren’t executed, the team will be graduated and not around to hear students' dissatisfaction?
While many goals were made, not all of them were executed in a timely manner. This board had high goals, and they just barely met or somewhat met them. The final grade we give the Poole & Large administration is a B-.
We’re grading them this way because while the administrative team had many ideas, they had to change some of them, which led to amending some goals from their original campaign promise.
We understand not every task can be completed in a timeframe that aligns with the academic calendar. Still, when a handful of campaign promises aren’t accomplished by the end of the administration’s term, it begs the question of its intentions.
The incoming executive board should try to plan out their goals for the school year more thoroughly so that more students can reap the benefits of SGA’s accomplishments firsthand. This may allow the student body to trust SGA more.
Contact Shelby Anderson via email at sanderson9@bsu.edu.
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