Four
enter race for SGA president
Potential
candidates yet to be certified by Elections Board
By
Mike Faulks
Student Life Editor
Two
days after the deadline to apply for the preliminary campaigning period in
this year's SGA election, at least four students say they've applied to
run for SGA president.
They
are Justice Smyth, SGA vice president of student affairs; Adam Rankin, a
second-year SGA senator for the Culverhouse College of Commerce and
Business Administration; Michael Ingram, co-chairman of the SGA campus
safety committee; and Robert Steiner, the secretary of the Phi Alpha Theta
history honor society.
All
say they've filed a letter of intent to seek the SGA presidency with the
Office of the Dean of Students.
The
UA Student Elections Board has yet to release whether the four have been
certified to run. The preliminary campaigning period allows candidates to
speak at meetings of student organizations through Feb. 24.
Smyth
and Rankin ran against each other last year for vice president of student
affairs, while Ingram and Steiner will be seeking an elected SGA office
for the first time.
Smyth,
a junior majoring in journalism and a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity, served on the SGA Senate assistance committee his freshman
year and was an SGA senator for the College of Communication and
Information Sciences his sophomore year.
Rankin,
a junior majoring in management, has made two unsuccessful bids at SGA
executive office, in addition to his years in the Senate. He ran for vice
president of external affairs in 2004 and for vice president of student
affairs in 2005. Rankin was vice chairman of the 2005 Homecoming committee
and is a member of the SGA president's committee on the restoration of
Foster Auditorium.
Ingram,
a junior majoring in operations management, was vice president of Freshman
Forum and served on the SGA governmental affairs committee during the
2003-04 school year. He was a member of the Capstone Men and Women student
ambassador program for two years and was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon
fraternity during his freshman and sophomore years. He is also a national
merit scholar.
Steiner,
a junior majoring in psychology, history and political science, is the
only one of the four without prior SGA experience. He is a mentor with Big
Brothers/Big Sisters of America, a Relay for Life team captain and a
student adviser for curriculum development in the UA psychology
department.
The
official campaign period will begin Feb. 26 until the polls close on the
final day of the election, March 8. Students will be able to vote around
campus on March 4, March 7 and March 8.
Students
interested in applying for executive or senatorial candidacy may still do
so. All statements of candidacy and letters of intent must be turned in to
the Office of the Dean of Students by Feb. 15 at
4:45
pm.
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