The Daily Gamecock: What experience makes you qualified for this office?
Aaron Kirby: Well, the fact that I would say I’m coming in with a fresh slate. I’m not running as a member having prior served in Student Government. I’m coming as a member of the student body. I’m not conformed to Student Government. And looking at it from the outside in, you can see all the issues. You’re not blinded by the conformity of being in it, so you can really see the problems. You kind of look at it from a different angle, from my perspective, and try to fix those issues. Right now, there’s a huge buffer between the Student Government and the student body that they represent. And maybe if you’re there, you can’t see it, but from where I’m standing, I surely can. My goal is to break that.
TDG: If you could accomplish one thing during your term, what would it be?
AK: Well, I actually used to walk around the campus with a notebook and ask each and every student that passed, "What’s the one thing you would change at Carolina?" And I’ve gotten an array of answers. The two big things were parking and the meal plan. And the meal plan is because, freshman especially are doing this because they have to have the meal plan, but you only get a certain amount of swipes and you can only use them within a certain time. And the college schedule doesn’t work around the nine-to-five kind of regular working schedule. So, if you have a class that’s early in the morning and then you get out and you want breakfast because you’re hungry, well, your time might be up for that. And at the end of the week you lose all the swipes you didn’t use. It's not like it rolls over. So, you know, you’re paying for it, but you’re still losing what you pay for. It’s not really fair. So maybe at least have that rollover put in place. There’s no way we’re going to just fix the parking issues in one day. It's like Rome wasn’t built in a day, and parking garages aren’t built in a day ... It's kind of hard to do, but it is possible.
TDG: What inspired you to run for the job?
AK: Well, I love politics. I am a political science major. I originally came to college as a history major but fell in love with politics ... And so I’m passionate about it. I really love the idea of representing people. I feel that I’m human. I'm the non-politician’s politician. So I feel that you get an authentic representation of me, and that’s what I want to give back to the student body.
TDG: What food do you think embodies your personality and why?
AK: I love fried chicken, fried chicken is amazing. If you don’t like Chick-fil-a, I don’t know what’s wrong with you. It encompasses the Southern gentleman aspect. Also, I appreciate the history of the country ... That’s an American food. It’s just like burgers and french fries. A chicken sandwich is American.