Collegiate Times

SGA Revolution Presidential Candidate: Ryan C. Smith
Alexandra Hemenway, CT News Reporter

SGA Revolution’s motto is “What has SGA done for you?” and SGA presidential candidate Ryan Smith insists that this question is pertinent and applies to all Virginia Tech students.

“The students need to feel like they have an SGA that cares about them and that can really do something for them,” Smith said. “We need to not just listen to students but to administer change, so when you ask students what SGA does for them they don’t quietly stare at you.”

Smith insists that a change in the structure of SGA is necessary and strongly believes that everyday students’ issues should be carefully considered and addressed by the student government, and believes that if the student body votes for SGA Revolution he will ensure that this change is made.

“The main reason I’m running is because I have talked to a lot of students and I have noticed that most students feel that SGA hasn’t addressed students’ needs,” Smith said. “I wanted to show the everyday student that they can have a connection to SGA.”

Smith’s ticket includes Graham Burkholder for vice president, Yusuf Abugideiri for treasurer and Hannah Minchew for secretary.

“We are representative of the students because we have not been in SGA since freshman year,” Ryan Smith said. “Our qualifications are more diverse, for example our vice president is an engineering student, and he has seen issues that have not yet been addressed. Our treasurer is an accounting and finance major, he has some great experiences with maintaining a budget and our secretary is a representative of Greek life here at Virginia Tech.

We all have unique experiences that I feel will benefit the students.”

SGA Revolution contends that since their ticket is compromised of such a diverse group of students, they can better represent the student body as whole.

“Our team stands out because we are cut from the everyday student cloth. We are not lifelong SGA members; we’re outsiders who want a change in SGA. We want to create a system that students care about,” Smith said.

SGA Revolution’s platform is based off several issues, including ensuring clean bathrooms seven days a week, reducing the number of pulled fire alarms and making the Virginia Tech parking service more accessible to students. Smith believes that changes in these areas could potentially have a great impact upon the quality of student life and should be seriously addressed and dealt with.

“These are realistic goals, I mean we need to have clean bathrooms seven days a week, we cannot continue having fire alarms pulled at 3 a.m.,” Smith said. “We’re everyday students with everyday resolutions, and we want people to know that these resolutions are possible.”

Smith’s plans to rally votes for the election yesterday and today include going out with his ticket around the campus to connect to and talk with students.

“We’re just trying to talk to classes and reach out to as many students as possible. We want to reach those everyday students who are frustrated by the current organization and who want to see change,” Smith said. “We want to show people that we know how they feel and that we are going to make change because we’re willing to go out there and fight for what they want.”

Smith maintains that his decision to run rested entirely upon his dedication to his fellow students. He stands firm that if elected he will ensure a change, which will include an increased roll of the everyday student. Smith hopes to create a student government that consists of a diverse group of students who can represent the entire community.

“Right now students can’t name anything SGA has done for them and we want to change that,” Smith said. “We want to create an SGA that students care about. We know that this change is possible and SGA Revolution is willing to demand this change.”

oneSGA Presidential Candidate: Adeel Khan
Meg Miller, CT News Reporter

Adeel Khan, a sophomore business major, is running for 2007-2008 SGA president on the oneSGA ticket under the slogan “oneSGA to represent EVERY student, oneSGA to work for REAL CHANGE, oneCHANCE to vote on March 27 and March 28.” Yesterday started off the first of two SGA election days, and Khan proved to be “one” busy candidate.

Beginning his day at 8:55 a.m., Khan, also the webmaster of the oneSGA website, had to wake up in time to put up a link to the SGA voting site to create easy access for students wishing to vote. The rest of the day was spent campaigning and interacting with students and organizations.

“A lot of supporters and the four members of the ticket were interacting with students in every way possible in order to gain support for the election,” Khan said.

He said he and the other members of the ticket tried to use every outlet they could to reach out to students and organizations, including Facebook, e-mail, friends’ away messages and going dorm to dorm to talk to students about SGA and the elections.

Ryan Gleeson, the vice president candidate, Zebib Bahta, the secretary candidate and Amanda Mitchell, running for Treasurer, are also on the oneSGA ticket along with Khan. The members of the ticket met as freshmen while participating in the Freshman Leadership Experience in SGA, and are now serving their second year in SGA.

“Having served on the SGA for two years, not only myself, but all four members of the ticket have met and interacted and formed relationships with the students and the administration,” Khan said. “These relationships will take us far in establishing legitimacy between the students and the administration.”

Khan said that one of the major issues he is most concerned with is the representation of the students.

“I believe in representation as a whole and reaching out and involving the communities that feel marginalized and making them feel more involved in the university,” Khan said.

He also said that of the 500 plus registered organizations at Tech, only a fraction is represented in the SGA House of Representatives. He wants to encourage organizations to have a seat in the House as well as encourage people to run for Senator of their respective colleges.
Khan also said the Corps of Cadets needs to be better represented in the SGA.

“Due to the fact that they are very busy and involved in a large portion of the school and intertwined with the history, they need to have their voice heard,” Khan said. “I am trying to create a specific position for Cadet members, only open to Cadets.”

Khan is not only reaching out to Cadets and organizations, he also wants to create a more involved Constituent Outreach Committee.

“(The committee) would be a more effective way to find out what the students want and need so that legislation can be passed through the House and Senate to address the needs of students,” Khan said.

Aside from involvement in the SGA, Khan also serves on the Commission of Student Affairs, is an office manager of the business department for the Collegiate Times, a member of the Student Alumni Associates and a Delta Sigma Phi brother. He also served as Class President for the class of 2009 last year.

“I understand what it takes to lead an entire organization through being class president,” he said. “I understand the responsibilities I will have to undertake.”

Khan also follows politics on a national and world scale and said that the issues that interest him the most are the issues that involve suffering people and finding ways to reduce and eventually cure the suffering.

On a more local level, representation of the students is what Khan is mostly concerned about. He said that the school issues that are most important are the ones that are most important to the majority of the student body.

“I make a promise that my ticket will do our very best to put every second of our time into making sure (the students’) views are heard, and active steps are being taken to working towards the change that they want to see in this great university,” Khan said.