Presidential Tickets Announced: What to Expect on the Ballot
Heidi Copple | hcopple@butler.edu
With election day quickly approaching, candidates are preparing their campaigns. The first official candidate meeting took place on Wednesday, February 9, with a meeting led by SGA Justice and Chairman of the Election Oversight Committee, Katie Stanley.
This year, Cade Chezem, current Speaker of the Senate and former LAS Senator, and Paul Ford, former Lacy School of Business Senator are running against each other for the presidential seat next school year.
Cade Chezem is a current junior at Butler, and he is planning to make many student life improvements if elected SGA President. He explained that his campaign is running on three specific pillars. The first pillar includes making improvements to DEI, mental health, and university facilities related to them. Chezem believes that Butler has made advances with DEI and mental health recently, but explained that more still needs to be done.
His second pillar is focused on revitalizing campus traditions and support for students. He expressed that Butler has many great academic resources and opportunities that students are not familiar with. He wants to work on making these more accessible, so students can make the most of their Butler experience. Chezem’s third pillar involves holding the university more accountable for its actions going forward.
“I want to be the voice of the student body and help make needed changes at Butler. Student government is the perfect opportunity to express our opinions to the university administration and be heard.” Chezem stated.
Paul Ford is a current sophomore at Butler. Ford explained that his platform is in the form of the acronym ACT, which stands for Achieve, Challenge, and Transform. He and his team decided on this because they think it best represents the push that campus needs to grow into what it can be. He believes that through their actions with SGA leadership, they can accelerate the growth of our governing body and challenge the administration to provide better campus-wide services for students.
“We want to transform the culture of our institution which will create new ways for students to interact with each other through SGA, and ultimately lead to a more inclusive environment,” Ford emphasized.
Ford mentioned that he is running for SGA President because he wants to uplift the Butler community and create more opportunities for students to make an impact and improve the culture of our campus. He described how he was very involved in many different areas of campus life as a first-year student, but felt that he was lacking guidance. He ended up finding his passion for DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) through the guidance of friends; though, as SGA president he would work to make Butler SGA the resource and support that so many other students still need to pursue their vision for themselves and Butler.
On Sunday, February 13, official campaigning for the SGA elections began. Candidates will be sharing what they have to offer, and spreading their campaign messages around campus. This is all in preparation for the official SGA elections on February 21.