When the Slippery Rock Student Government Association holds their elections starting on Wednesday, OneSRU will be the only ticket running for positions on the executive board. Presidential candidate Dallas Kline, currently Vice President of Campus Outreach, has been a member of SGA for the past three years and is excited to be a strong advocate for the student body.
“I just love this organization and what it stands for,” Kline said. “I started out as a freshman senator, and now that I’ve grown along with my role in SGA, I really want to spend my last year making a difference. As president, I feel that I would be able to do that to the best of my abilities.”
Kline has said that she wants a more involved and transparent SGA. Some new innovations that she and her executive board candidates are considering implementing are more large-scale public service projects, live streaming formal meetings, and possibly restructuring the senate altogether.
“No other schools at the two student government conferences I went to had senators represented by where they live,” Kline said. “I’m going to do some research over the summer on how to better have senators represent students. One possibility would be by college, but issues such as equal representation still need to be sorted out before we commit to anything.”
Running on Kline’s ticket to fill her position of VP of Campus Outreach is Chadwick Burdick, a sophomore senator who has shown a lot of interest in holding an executive position in SGA. Last spring, Burdick ran on the losing ticket and later ran for the appointed position of parliamentarian. Burdick approached Kline about running on her ticket because he saw an opportunity to achieve his goals of student leadership
“Diversity and inclusion are really important to me, and with the VP position of that committee having already been filled, I saw campus outreach as a great way to spread that awareness that I’m so passionate about,” Burdick said. “By taking the position of outreach, and being heavy-hearted towards diversity and inclusion, I can specifically work with what I want to change about that position. This allows me to achieve my initial goals indirectly, but also capitalize on a new opportunity.”
Both Burdick and Kline are also eager to start building a relationship with incoming University President Dr. William Behre. Kline hopes to establish rapport with him and his administration early on in order to be the best advocate she can for the students she will represent.
“Slippery Rock is a special place,” Kline said. “We are an active student body who cares about what’s going on, and we’re here to be an advocate for students first and foremost. I intend to be an open and transparent president, and a large part of that is being the bridge that connects administration to the concerns of students.”
Student apathy outside of and within SGA are also top concerns for both Kline and Burdick. In addition to only one ticket running for executive board positions, there are numerous building and commuter senator positions that have no one running to fill the vacancy. For Burdick, it’s important that these seats be filled by people who are motivated and who are all in for SGA.
“We’re really looking for people who are motivated and passionate about helping their constituents,” Burdick said. “We people who are willing to understand that SGA really isn’t about them, but about the students who voted them into their position. It’s our job as an executive board to make sure we delegate responsibility in any given role to maximize the potential of each senator.”
OneSRU will hold an open question and answer session in the Smith Student Center Lobby on Tuesday during common hour. SGA elections will officially open up on April 11 and run through April 16.
