The election for the SGA President at Troy University is two days away and both SGA Vice President of Campus Activities Cody Farrill and SGA Vice President of Legislative Affairs Parker Smith have plans for change.
Candidates Farrill and Smith had a public debate at the Trojan Center ballroom tonight that was run by the Tropolitan for students to be informed about both of their platforms and plans if elected.
Farrill stressed unity as a student body and also that if elected he would be the voice for Troy students.
Smith stood along the same line as Farrill but his focus was on students being “citizens” of Troy and reaching out to Troy residents.
Farrill and Smith both say they intend to work for the students in an effort to lower tuition costs at Troy.
“The SGA must continue to fight,” Farrill said.
Another thing Farrill wants to implement if elected is an open book policy with the SGA so that they know where all the money is going.
Smith agreed with Farrill with giving students a greater voice along with the plans to create comment boxes all over campus for students to give input for more improvement.
Smith, being a journalism major, was quick to say that if elected the SGA would be active with Trojan Vision and the Tropolitan to communicate with students.
A hot button topic that has had many students concerned is the issue of on-campus safety.
Farrill discussed implementing a better lighting system in all the on-campus parking lots to ensure more safety for students.
Smith agreed with Farrill’s plan of adding lighting to a walk/ running track near Janice Hawkins Park that is currently under construction.
Both candidates were for the plan of adding more emergency poles to help deter criminal acts on-campus.
Farrill even went as far as to suggest a key fob system on the university academic buildings for more piece of mind citing that his number one goal is campus safety.
Smith stressed more safety measures around Alumni Hall and not just places like Trojan Village.
Both candidates were for improving the Trojan Go Card by adding my businesses to the card.
Farrill set a goal of moving from 57 businesses to 100 in the next year while Smith mentioned that he being from Troy would be able to reach 100 businesses with his city of Troy connections.
One of the questions posed to Smith was about his proposed “spirit swipe” program that will reward students that attend sporting events along with plays and dances on campus with prizes almost like travel miles.
Farrill was quick to say that a similar spirit swipe program was used at Auburn but it didn’t work saying that he would “start with athletic programs and build up”.
Smith also talked about a plan to hold a benefit concert that will raise money for the construction of a playground for the Miracle League.
Farrill referenced the SGA’s current involvement with the Troy for Troops program, the university’s existing philanthropy program that he felt should be supported before any new ones are started.
However neither candidate explained where the money for their similar spirit swipe or athletic affinity programs that reward students for attending mostly sporting events on campus would come from.
Another plan that Farrill had was converting Sartain Hall into a student fitness center. Farrill noted that despite the current student fitness center’s quality and cleanliness, it lacked in size for the volume of students on campus.
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