“I think between the work experience I have had outside of UT, balancing it all with my academics and UT involvement make me the perfect candidate for President of the Uni-uh, well, United States,” said Robyn Hurrell, sophomore, recovering from her mistake.
Laughter echoed through Sykes Chapel on Tuesday night during the Student Government Presidential Candidate Debate. After all candidates made speeches to the audience, Hurrell sat aside Kristin Anderson, junior, to field questions both about themselves and their goals for the University of Tampa.
The slip up came during Hurrell’s response to the moderators question about her qualifications for the position of SG President. She cited her passion for campus, as well as her numerous involvements in internships, greek life, and position as resident advisor. Once the laughter simmered, Anderson was given the opportunity to list her qualifications as well, calling upon her previous experience as SG Vice President last year, President of Honors Council and campus involvement.
“I think the most impressive qualification I have is the relationship I have already built with a lot of the senior staff and administration that you have to work with in order to create change,” said Anderson.
Both girls explained their goals to focus on students needs in order to reverse the dwindling retention rate and increase passion for the UT community. During campaign time, Hurrell and her running mate Kyle Benson, sophomore, asked students to create their own wish list for what changes they would like to see on campus.
“We are running on a platform called B.E.L.I.E.V.E,” said Hurrell. “Each letter in B.E.L.I.E.V.E stands for something different – a change we want to implement if voted in to office.”
B.E.L.I.E.V.E addresses some popular students concerns, such as better student parking and evaluating the student dining systems.
Taking on a different approach, Anderson and running mate Jacqueline French, junior, cited concerns that many needs are not being addressed due to a lack in communication between administration and students. Their platform is to approach institutional roadblocks in order to
“The Doing Work In Pencil Skirts campaign plans on doing more by fostering and building relationships with all on campus offices,” said Anderson. “To dream more by coming up with effective and innovative to student problems.”
Voting began at the end of the debate Tuesday night and runs through until Sunday evening. Students can vote by logging in to OrgSync.com with their Spartan Domain. Student Government has also made candidate profiles available on their website, utampasg.com. In-depth presidential campaign platforms can also be found on Facebook.