Student Government Association presidential candidate Jade Cooper and vice presidential candidate McLean Pillon are ready to restructure SGA through congressional reform and projecting the voices of the student body.
“Regardless if you are a nursing major, in greek life, on the HOPE Council, if you are not musically talented at all, you are in arts and sciences, no matter where you come from or what you seek to find at Belmont, it is yours to find,” said Cooper. “We want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to do that.”
As SGA’s current vice president, Cooper said she’s led a year of change, rebuilding a tarnished SGA reputation, fully maximizing the usage of SGA’s budget and improving the relationship with senior leadership.
Pillon currently serves as the director of the policy review committee after three years as a committee member. Having worked with senior administration on credit hours and space reallocation, Pillon said his goal is to make more progress.
The progress Pillon and Cooper aim to make comes with addressing the periods of strength and weakness. Pillon admitted he’s seen the system “work and not work,” creating a need for congressional restructuring.
With a stronger SGA and more effective leadership, student voices can truly be heard, Cooper said.
“I want to see students actually being heard. Not people with self serving needs or people just being benefitted within the organization, but recognizing that student government should be re-centered and refocused to the students,” said Cooper.
Cooper and Pillon said they are putting the students first by creating personalized events, meaningful conversations and stronger plans of action.
The ticket will host Cantina Kick-Off at Chago’s on Belmont Boulevard on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Cooper and Pillon will spend the night talking with the student body about their platform and listening to what the students have to say.
Similar events will become a regular priority if Cooper and Pillon are elected.
Coffee and Conversation, town hall meetings and meaningful relationships with the student body have proved helpful for SGA, but Pillon emphasized the need to foster a stronger and more effective relationship with senior administration.
“Relations between SGA and upper administration were skewed. We definitely need to strike a more cooperative tone. We need to make sure we are serving as this common ground, this farm of ideas, so we can present the best thing to senior leadership, and get real change,” said Pillon.
Pillon said real change does not come instantly, and emphasized that hard work and conversation need to continually happen. The change Pillon and Cooper see possible for SGA centers around communication.
“We are not going to be able to do this alone, we are going to have to cooperate and collaborate with senior administration and see what it is that we can do,” said Cooper.
Recognizing what is great about Belmont but what needs to be changed is what Cooper and Pillon believe sets them apart from the opposing campaign run by Chris Dickerson and Macy Thompson.
“It is very important, not only to have the student representation, but we also want to be in contact with the other student leaders on campus, because we are so much more powerful together, and we are going to be able to effect real change when we are a united student voice,” said Pillon.
Voting opened at 8 a.m. on Wednesday and closes on Friday. Students can vote using Bruinlink.