The USC Student Government held the executive office candidates' debate Feb. 19 at at the Russell House ballroom.
The candidates shared their ideas for how to improve campus life and the functions of Student Government with the Daily Gamecock and SGTV.
Student body president candidates
Courtney Tkacs, David Henao and Bradley Gittens are the candidates for student body president.
Tkacs serves as the student body vice president for the 2024-25 academic year. She said her goals are to be consistent and communicate with the student body.
Her platform is based largely on improving the student experience through the improvement of night life safety and Travel Tuesdays, her plan to collaborate with the Parking and Transportation Services on campus to help students without cars travel around Columbia.
She also intends to use social media to further reach out to students. Tkacs said her experience with Student Government would allow her to complete her goals efficiently. Tkacs said she recognized the importance of using the ideas of the other candidates to allow everyone to be heard.
"I will ensure that every single candidate that has run this year is put into the input to the organization," Tkacs said. "I incredibly respect every single one of you and the ideas that you bring, and want to ensure that those are implemented."
Henao wants to advocate for all students, especially those who are overlooked. He is "not a politician," but rather someone who has been where the average student is, he said. As an outsider, Henao wants to improve the student experience past their first year.
"I'm making sure every student, from Greek Life to graduate, freshman to senior, has their needs addressed by the Student Government," Henao said. "My main goal was to give students a choice, and I've been successful in doing so so far."
Henao also said that the Student Government hasn't had "anyone challenging incumbent candidacies." Tkacs said that doesn't impact the government's ability to function and that the Student Government has been very effective. She added that he should speak to the four other candidates from last year about his concerns.
Gittens is a transfer student and US Marine. He intends to use his military leadership experience to improve Student Government.
His platform is for increased accessibility of delegates, accountability and following through with preexisting initiatives.
"I believe in having better transparency and having better communication," Gittens said. "I want everyone to be on the same page and communicate with each other, so I might have delegates share at meetings in person, not just by email."
Despite lacking experience in Student Government, Gittens said he is confident that his experience in the Marines has given him the skills to make tough decisions that affect people's well-being.
Student body vice president candidates
Jordan Richardson and Emma Connelly are the candidates for student body vice president.
Richardson serves as the assistant director of communications for Tkacs' campaign and is Tkacs' running mate. He said his experience in this area has given him a commitment to ensuring quality academics, advising and providing spaces for student change and engagement.
"I've learned throughout these past two years as a student leader, going to students works better than if we expect students to come to us constantly," Richardson said. "We're busy with meetings, exams, stuff that's constantly going in life. We need to go to students, have events and programs for us to go to them."
Richardson also advocated for an event called Advice for Advisees, where students would come to advisors and give them feedback from advising. He also suggested implementing a box outside of the Leadership and Service Center so students can slip their concerns, questions and comments to Student Government.
Connelly serves on Student Government's Congressional Advisory Board and is Henao's running mate. A major highlight of her platform is to continue the Swipe Out Hunger initiative introduced by current vice president Tkacs. Students can donate their meal swipes to students in need.
"I spoke to a student who is food insecure, and she told me that right now, the pantry that's available for students mostly just has canned foods, and it's not enough to sustain her," Connelly said. "I would like to improve those opportunities."
She also wants to introduce Students Helping Students, an initiative to keep volunteer work on campus rather than outsourcing it.
As for the concerns of the average student, Connelly wants to improve the Wi-Fi by updating routers in collaboration with the Department of IT and the Board of Trustees to achieve the required funding.
Speaker of the student senate candidate
Maura Hamilton is the current speaker of the student senate and the only candidate for the speaker's office
She said she is excited to continue her efforts from the previous year. Hamilton acknowledged her high standards and how she had learned that being speaker means being part of a team.
Her goal for this year is to improve upon finances in Student Government.
"If you ask a student about Student Government, majority of the time, the only thing that they're going to know about us is that we do give funding to organizations," Hamilton said. "When I stepped into this role, I did not realize how much collaboration between the treasurer's branch and senate there was, and turns out, there's a ton. And I want to make sure that we're keeping that collaboration in the upcoming year."
Hamilton also aims to improve as a delegate and support both senators and student organizations on campus.
Student body treasurer candidates
Ashley Reynolds, Elenor McMakin, and Lester “Jr” Lewis are the candidates for treasurer.
Reynolds currently serves as director of philanthropy for Alpha Kappa Psi and brings an outsider's perspective to the treasurer's branch. She supports the use of the student organizational fund and wants to fund every organization that aligns with the codes. She also wants to communicate with students when they are reaching the end of the fund.
Reynolds wants to hold treasurer workshops, extend eligibility for student organizations to get funding and reinstate reimbursement for travel conferences, but set realistic expectations for those requests.
"I think a lot of people don't realize that your allocation request doesn't just go through the treasurer's office," Reynolds said. "It also goes through risk, which is a university office, and once it passes us, it has to go to reimbursement, which is also run by the university."
McMakin works as a comptroller and has founded an organization on campus and sees how the treasurer's decisions impact organizations.
Her platform is based on the importance of understanding the codes and advocating for clearer interpretations. As a comptroller, McMakin has experience with conflicting interpretations and how the confusion can make her job more difficult. She also advocated for comptrollers to be informed about the process of organization funding requests.
"We do need to be vetting these people and making sure that they know the codes," McMakin said. "They know what they can improve, and also what is wrong in the request and how to fix it, so that these requests are more likely to be approved and not get struck down."
Lewis was part of the Homecoming Court 2024. His goal as treasurer is to give money back to the organizations and allow people to decide what they do with their money. He said he hopes to raise a fund of $500,000 to add to the student activity budget and potentially eliminate the student activity fee.
Lewis intends to host a dinner for potential donors to invest in Student Government so the budget can be expanded and organizations can be funded. He challenged the current administration for their failure to make changes.
"These same policies and idea that you have, they could have been done two years ago," Lewis said. "Now you could have just put these policies in place, but let me say that when I take office on day one, comptrollers will not be treated like dogs, they will be treated like humans with dignity and respect."
McMakin disagreed and said that she has been trying to change the way the treasury works, but as a comptroller, she was unable to. She decided to run for treasurer so she could make real change. She also clarified that she has never had the power to treat other comptrollers unfairly.
Polls will open at 9 a.m. on Feb. 25 and close at 5 p.m. on Feb. 26.