Five students are vying for the position of student body president in the student body elections today. In this election’s only main contested election, there are five candidates with different policies and priorities, but only one will take the office. Students may vote online at vote.ncsu.edu, and Student Government is implementing its new Instant Runoff Voting system for the election. Inside are the candidates’ answers to questions about their goals for the future and their ideas for serving N.C. State students.
John CogginSenior, communication
What are your platform goals and how do you plan to carry them out?
The first is promoting diversity by making it real to students. We have lots of discussions and committee meetings about the wonderful diversity at State, but at some point we’re going to have to take it out of the meeting room and onto the Brickyard. So I want to use structures already in place … to bring student groups together for meaningful service activities, social causes and interaction to introduce students to each other and make them aware of the wonderful diversity at N.C. State. The second is study abroad. I want to make it affordable for every student. It’s possible to study abroad for equal or less for each student than it costs in Raleigh, but travel often gets in the way. I’d like to work with colleges, administration, the study abroad office and outside sources to make sure that if a student wants to study abroad at N.C. State that she or he can do so without any financial limitations. Finally, I want to make service count for credit at N.C. State. Under the new GER requirements, I want to include a course offering where if someone dedicates a substantial amount of time to a non-profit organization in the community, then she or he can get course credit for it.
How do you plan to work with the Student Senate?In previous years, the student body president has made news squabbling with the Student Senate. I’ve come in as an outsider to SG, but I am not running against anyone in this election. The other candidates for SBP nor the Senate. During the campaign, I’ve gotten to know a lot of the Senate members and everyone I’ve met seems very interested in working on these types of issues to promote the role of SG as an advocacy group. I look forward to working with Senate to advance these goals rather than fighting against Senate to make headlines.
How do you plan to work with administrators?It mainly comes with just forming relationships. We’re fortunate at this University to have an administration that truly cares about the students and meeting their needs. Rather than working against the administration, I want to work with the administration so that both the students and the university’s goals are met.
How will you make yourself approachable?I’m not someone who’s going to lock myself up in my office 24 hours a day. I’m going to be on the Brickyard during lunch time. I’m going to be at student organizations’ meetings talking about the stuff I’m working on and I want to make sure I have time set aside [for] any individual or group that wants to talk to me. I’m going to have an opendoor policy and not just be willing to receive students, but also be proactive about learning about their concerns.
What is your favorite memory of your time at N.C. State?Rushing the court when we beat Carolina last year in basketball.
Do you have a favorite quote that describes you or your campaign?I like my campaign slogan, “Many voices, one University,” and then there’s always “Use your noggin, vote for Coggin.”
What will you do if you don’t get the position?I’m going to keep on working for these issues, it’s one of those things where you can’t start talking about this and stop because the election did not turn out the way you expected. No matter what, I will be working with student groups to bring a greater sense of community to our campus. I’m going to keep on working with administration to make study abroad affordable. And I’m going to keep taking steps toward creating a spirit of service at N.C. State.
How you plan to prepare people for the year after you?
I think that starts with putting the right people in the right positions while I’m in office. These issues I’m talking about cannot be accomplished by one person. It’s going to take a team of amazing, goal oriented people to make positive changes on this campus. By appointing people and working with people who are committed to these goals, the causes will live on long after N.C. State.
What do you want your legacy to be?I want to be known as a student body president who moved away from focusing on mundane, managerial issues and got N.C. State thinking about real issues that will affect us long after we leave this institution. I want to be the Student Body President that started leading N.C. State in a positive direction.
Jay DawkinsJunior, civil engineering
What are your platform goals and how do you plan to carry them out?
I want to reignite the N.C. State students. I want to do that by fixing the ticketing system, getting better perks for athletics, like free food when we win games and sponsoring more student-based initiatives that build pride, like a bell in the Bell Tower. I want to give students a say in where their money goes. And to do that, we’re going to publish where all the departments are spending their money — make it public knowledge. We’re going to let students decide in a referenda which parts of the budget they support or don’t support making the University work for the students. We have to reform Student Conduct. We have to build unity with a crosscultural mentoring program. We have to either improve or address service in the overcrowded atrium, dining issues and that type of thing. And finding a way to get a Wolfline night service between campus and apartment complexes and downtown on the weekends.
How do you plan to work with the Student Senate, despite this year’s tensions between the student body president and Student Senate president?I plan to actually go to meetings and work on those bills with them. We’ve got a finite number of people who work hard to do things here and to try to divide those people is ridiculous.
How do you plan to work with administrators?We need to go about it reasonably. Instead of treating them like the enemy all the time, I want to approach negotiations reasonably and not with anger and be less combative.
How do you plan to be approachable to the student body?I’m not going to make them come to me. I’m going to go to them. If you remember how Tony Caravano operated, he would go out to the Brickyard and talk to them one-on-one and I plan to do that.
What’s your favorite memory of your time at N.C. State?The Boston College game last year and we were down by a few points at the end and Daniel Evans [hurls] this impossible bomb to John Dunlap… and it somehow scores the touchdown to win the game. The eruption from the stands was unforgettable.
What will you do if you don’t get it?I will work hard to make sure a lot of these things happen because I’m really passionate about it, but I will spend a lot more time partying.
John MickeyJunior, business management
What are your platform goals and how do you plan to enforce them?
The “uKnow” Knowledge base — basically having a central point for valuable student knowledge, a discount list, a student service database that concisely tells students what a student service does. Tax-free leadership — N.C. State leading the way with ways across North Carolina to lobby the legislature. Ticketing reevaluation — assessing redrawing the ticketing system, both basketball and football. Advising — there’s a gap in advising especially with switching majors.
How do you plan to work with the administration?As student body president, relationships with administration can be a great asset when advocating for students. That does not mean being buddy-buddy with administrators. It means being professional, respectable, standing up for students’ rights with integrity. But we can’t lose sight of the big picture. We need to be winning wars, not battles. If it’s something big, Student Government needs to be united in standing up to the administration whether it’s for or against.
How do you plan to work with the Student Senate, especially with the tensions between this year’s student body president and Student Senate president?As student leaders, we can have differing opinions, but there’s some things we should be able to agree on — being connected to students, getting student input. I want to work with the Senate to create a culture of humility within Student Government.
How do you plan to be approachable to the student body?Simply being visible. I’m going to be living on campus next year with a potluck roommate. I’m going to be eating at Fountain Dining Hall. On the campaign trail, I talked to student organizations. That shouldn’t stop after you’re elected as student body president.
What’s your favorite NCSU memory?Being an orientation counselor, being a Resident Adviser and being a Bible study leader — just impacting people’s lives.
What will you do if you don’t get elected student body president?I will continue to push for issues I care about and get more involved in Campus Crusade.
Bobby MillsJunior, political science and economics
What are your main platform goals and how do you plan to carry them out?
The main platform goal is to close down Hillsborough Street for HauntedHillsborough Street, 8:30 a.m. start times instead of 8 a.m. and on-demandbus service.
These are things I’m already working on and if I’m elected, I’ll be ableto complete them.
How you plan to work with the Senate?I think it matters who is elected to determine the relationship. You can’tput the cart before the horse
How do you plan to work with administrators?Honestly, just direct contact. I’ve proven that this year throughdifferent events: through debit cards on campus and extended dining hallhours, with Athletics extending the tailgating hours, and withTransportation for on-demand bus service and the night serviceoptimization study.
How do you plan to be approachable?In the same way I am now – by being a part of all different organizationsand having them all represented in the executive branch.being approachable and being out there. I don’t think many people have said they haven’t seen me at an event thisyear.
What is your favorite memory of your time at N.C. State?When we beat Carolina last year and the Haunted Hillsborough Hike.
What is your favorite quote that best describes you or your term next year?“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
What will you do if you don’t get the position?There are certain issues I will continue to work on. I’ll probably be moreinvolved in the Student Wolfpack Club and be ready to graduate.
Ty RoachSenior, biological sciences
What are your platform goals and how do you plan to carry them out?I’d like to be able to use your campus meal plan on Hillsborough Street and more student specials in local businesses. I’d like to see party buses going from some key apartment complexes and campus to downtown and back. I’d like to see more organized pre-gaming events, especially for revenue sports. I’d really like to see more school spirit. I’d like to see a mass calendar system to be more efficient and accessible. Any organization could post anything that they wanted, so students would have the opportunities to know what’s going on and when. I’d like the day off after we beat Carolina in basketball. Co-requisite transcripts means that you would not just have grades on transcripts but any other extracurricular involvement, community involvement and work study, research done through the school. Everyone wants tax-free textbooks, I think pretty much everyone wants that. I would delegate the right people to the right jobs, which is one of the things that Mills has not been so good at. You have to be a liaison between the administration and student government.
How will you work with the Student Senate?
I would be at every Senate meeting and I would voice my opinion what I think is the opinion of the majority of students at the school. I also plan to keep communication a lot better between Student Government as a whole. Information needs to move within student government in the correct fashion in a timely matter.
How do you plan to work with administrators?I’d like to have some sort of meeting with upper-level administration from every college and from the University, as well as athletics on a regular basis. I would like it to be a larger level discussion with those people in an open forum. I think there should be some time that students themselves can voice their opinions to upper administration. I know that’s hard to do too. The chancellor and people are very busy, but if they could have some time where they could give information and receive input from the student populous as a whole.
How do you plan to be approachable?I plan to be exactly as I am now. I’m a very loquacious person, I’m very outgoing. I don’t think there’s anyone who’s ever met me who would say I’m unapproachable. I love to talk and I’m always open for any ideas. As far as approachability I don’t think there’s anything I would change.
What is your favorite memory from N.C. State?Being on the ACC championship wrestling team. Me and everyone else on that team worked so hard and for it to finally come into fruition was great. Not just the time at the tournament, but the party and festivities that ensued afterward were [great] too.
What is one quote that describes you or your campaign?“There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one.Everything else is number two.” Bertolt Brecht
What will you do if you don’t get the position?That could greatly change my plans. If I did get it, I would drop a chemistry major and be down to two majors and minor, I’d quit TAing and I’d probably quit wrestling. If I do not get the position, I will probably continue wrestling, continue TAing and continue pursuing three majors and two minors, but somehow I’d like to still be active in Student Government. This experience has been enlightening about the executive workings of our campus, how things are put together, and what really are some of the bigger issues.
