The founder of a new student charity group and the man who led Student Government Association meetings last year will face off in the SGA elections.
The nomination convention took place Monday in the ballroom of the L.A. Pittenger Student Center.
One by one, two students — campaign managers for the groups of students aspiring to the student government leadership positions — stood from among the assembled senators and revealed the two candidates: Alliance and Velocity.
Alliance is composed of presidential candidate Chris Wilkey, vice-presidential candidate Heather Closson, secretary candidate Brittany Weaver and treasurer candidate J. P. Bechtel. Alliance said its mission is to build relationships and promote communication among various aspects of the Ball State and Muncie communities.
The second slate announced, Velocity, is composed of presidential candidate Chad Griewank, vice presidential candidate Zeynel Guzeldereli, secretary candidate Kasie Sturm and treasurer candidate Sean Ratkus. Velocity said is will strive to continue a momentum it sees within the student body and SGA. It called itself a "unified movement forward."
"I know the direction we're headed," Griewank, a junior hospitality and food management major, said. "I know what the Senate wants to accomplish and I know what the student body wants to accomplish. I feel I have the right idea of what we need to do and where we need to go in order to succeed."
Griewank has been involved with SGA each of his three years at Ball State and is this year serving as the senate's president pro tempore, which means he presides over the organization's weekly legislative meetings.
Alliance's presidential candidate is Wilkey, a junior sales and economics double major, who co-founded Cardinal WINGS. He has never been involved with SGA before, but said each of Alliance's other candidates have and he doesn't feel apprehensive about being new to the organization.
"I'm not that intimidated at all," Wilkey said. "I have a lot of leadership experience outside [of SGA] and I'm not afraid to ask for help when I know I need it. I've made sure that the three candidates I'm running with are very strong in my weaknesses and are going to help me get everything done."
Both slates have websites — www.bsualliance.com and www.bsuvelocity.com — that offer brief biographies and photos of their candidates as well as explanations of the slates' goals.
Alliance's platform is split into five different areas that focus on building relationships in and among students, organizations, the community, diversity and awareness, and SGA. Some of the slate's goals, as listed on their website, include creating a free bike sharing service, hosting a Village Beautification Day and organizing a month-long volunteer competition with various campus and community organizations.
Velocity's platform is divided into five values: passion, inspiration, courage, approachability and efficiency. Within these values, Velocity said it wants to create a president's council composed of the leaders of all campus student organizations, use a program called Eco-cell to raise money for sustainability projects through the donation of old cell phones, and look into providing students reimbursement for meals they miss because of university-approved absences.
Both slates state they want to increase school spirit and continue successful current SGA programs, such as the T-shirt trade-in.
Voting begins on Feb. 27. In the meantime, the slates will campaign and two debates will be held. They both will begin at 7 p.m., with the first on Thursday and the second on Feb. 23. Each debate will take place in Cardinal Hall A.
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