One thing is clear after Monday night’s presidential debate, which was also the first ever live production from the Mullican TV Studio: Jackson Sprayberry has set very high standards for both candidates.
This year’s presidential candidates are current SGA vice president Daniel Wakefield, a rising senior and Biology/Pre-Med major from Columbia, Tenn., as well as current SGA secretary Kirk Averitt, a rising Senior and Music Education major from Decatur, Ala.
Wakefield has been part of SGA for three years, working two as a senator and one as vice president.
During this time he has been able to learn more in-depth leadership skills. He has also had the opportunity to speak with people of influence and to have “conversations of weight” which encourage him to pursue active roles in SGA.
“There’s an element of pride and satisfaction in working with the administration to make changes happen,” Wakefield said. “There are a lot of things I’ve been able to accomplish in SGA.”
Averitt has been a part of SGA for two years, one year as a senator and one as secretary.
He has enjoyed seeing the progress made over the past year, particularly in events such as Paint the Herd and in policy changes such as more lenient open dorms hours.
“[Lipscomb] is a great school to be a student at and this is a great city to be a student in,” Averitt said. “We have a lot of outlets here.”
Wakefield’s approach to this position is centered on networking.
“[Sprayberry] has vision, focus and a unique ability to get people fired up,” Wakefield said. “I want to continue that.”
Wakefield plans to focus largely on making recycling a campus-wide effort. He also plans to continue working on the meal plan structure by working towards an off-campus system.
He also intends to encourage more open discussions regarding the alcohol policy and more innovative ideas such as key chain and Smartphone accessible student IDs.
Averitt also plans to “ride the wave” started by Sprayberry.
“We have resources available to push and lobby for things we want,” Averitt said. “It is our job to be the voice of the students.”
Averitt also plans to push for longer library hours and continuing leniency with open dorm hours. Basically the only disagreement between the candidates during the debate was over the plans for SGA’s budget.
Wakefield believes that the annual allotted budget given to the student government is excessive and that the money could be better spent elsewhere.
“I want to be fiscally efficient,” Wakefield said.
He also wants to work on the transparency of the budget so students know where their money is going.
Averitt, however, believes the budget does not need to be cut; SGA just needs to be held more responsible for the money they are spending and that any surplus could be used towards a scholarship fund.
Both candidates agree that this position is a big commitment of time and self but believe they have the passion and energy to do the job well.
“I have a passion to make the student who comes to Lipscomb in five years have a better experience than I did,” Wakefield said. “[This] is what I would consider the best outlet of my energy.”
Polls open Tuesday, April 19 at midnight and will be open for 24 hours.