Student Government presidential candidate and possible “future king” Charles Merrick vowed to take away voting during the SG Presidential Debate on March 25.
The four Student Government presidential candidates answered a multitude of questions from students during the debate, hosted by ATV and The Eagle. The debate was followed by a Town Hall hosted by ATV.
Merrick addressed the student’s apathy towards Student Government by exercising his “divine right to rule American” and pledged to take away the voting rights of students if elected. Merrick said that, through ironically, he can increase the number of students who vote in the SG elections and SG awareness overall.
“Fake Neil Kerwin has more followers on Twitter than people who voted in last year’s election,” Merrick said during the town hall.
Merrick also plans to decrease the $10,000 presidential salary by $1,000 if elected.
Candidate Abby Finn argued that students do not understand Student Government. Candidates Emily Yu and Deon Jones said the SG needs to go to the students instead of students coming to Student Government.
“I think a lot of students feel isolated from Student Government, and, by being isolated they are ‘OK, they don’t want to deal with me, I don’t want to deal with them,’” Jones said.
The candidates also talked about neighbor relations and the recent approval of the Campus Plan. They all said relations with the neighborhood residents were better than past years and hoped they would remain friendly.
Yu said she would improve neighborhood relations by working with greek life and the Community Service Coalition to bring philanthropic projects to the neighborhood.
Yu said she would try to help implement a fixed tuition at AU if she was elected SG president.
Finn and Merrick criticized fixed tuition, saying AU depends on tuition as its main financial source.
“So if we are simply are going to have fixed tuition and, like Charles said, there’s inflation, it’s simply not going to be feasible,” Finn said during the town hall.
Jones also said he disliked fixed tuition. He said the University should educate students about the financial aid options already available to them.
“There are hundreds upon hundreds of AU donor-funded scholarships that this University offers,” Jones said.
At the town hall, students questioned the candidates about the Student Activity fee, the role of the SG president in the University budget and the availability of on-campus jobs.
Finn argued that the SG president must maintain a good relationship with the SG comptroller to advocate for the students in regards to the University budget.
Jones stressed the importance of the relationship between the vice president of finance and the SG president.
Candidates were also questioned about SG’s portion of Student Activity fees.
Yu said the SG allocated funds efficiently, citing Founder’s Day as an example of SG’s success.
But Merrick and Jones disagreed on the success of Founder’s Day, citing the lack of tickets as a problem.
“People who went to Founder’s Day, yes they liked it,” Jones said. “They were there.”
However, Jones previously said during the SG debate that only SG members who attended Founder’s Day enjoyed themselves.
Voting begins March 29 at 9 a.m. and ends March 30 at 5 p.m.
hmongilio@theeagleonline.com
