Student Government Association Presidential Election: Meet your canidates

Riley O’Rourke, current Cook Commons Senator, has built a specific platform on increasing access to transportation for the student body.

“The idea of better transportation is the focus of my campaign,” said O’Rourke. “If I am elected I am going to set up free shuttles from Middlebury to the Burlington airport before breaks and extend the Midd Rides hours.”

O’Rourke explains these goals in greater detail on his Facebook profile.

“The free shuttle service to Burlington airport will most likely consist of paid student drivers using Middlebury College 15 passenger vans to take classmates to the airport. They would run multiple times a day for the days before breaks. Under the program the SGA would pay the student driver and for transport costs. Students would have to make a reservation so we have a headcount, but there would be no cost.”

O’Rourke’s platform, although ambitious, seems promising considering his past experience working with transportation.

“One of the bills I wrote and passed [this year] was to lower the rates of SGA sponsored buses to New York City and Boston so that now SGA only breaks even if the buses sell out. Before I arrived and changed this the system was set up so the school could make a profit off of the busses. “

“I felt that the SGA should do as much as possible to lower the non-academic costs of going here,” added O’Rourke.

In addition to transportation, O’Rourke also hopes to expand midnight breakfast, simplify party regulations and relax Finance Committee rules in order to streamline the process for student organizations and social groups to request, access and spend money.

Junior Sabrina Bektesevic, who served as class senator last year, is currently abroad in Paris and is using a Facebook group profile to launch her candidacy.

In addition to her experience as senator, Bektesevic cites her deep connections to the Middlebury community as qualifications for her presidency. Bektesevic is an International    Studies major with a discipline in Political Science and a language focus in French. She is also a member of Model United Nations, the Parliamentary Debate Team, Delta Social House and a member of Middlebury POSSE ’10. Like Schmertzler, Bektesevic believes that her heavy involvement on campus allows her to connect with     students at Middlebury who “touch every range on the spectrum.”

“I believe that one of the most important qualities a representative should have is an understanding of their constituents,” said Bektesevic.

In terms of specific goals for next year, Bektesevic only lightly touches on budget cuts, which have made it “more important than ever that the student voice be heard and accurately represented.”

Although Bektesevic’s extra-curricular involvement is strong, she lacks the current experience of the other candidates. Bektesevic’s also fights an uphill battle by having an unspecific platform coupled with the disadvantage of being abroad during the campaign.

Sophomore Ethan Schmertzler, Atwater Commons senator for the past two years and current Speaker of the Senate, brings more experience than the other candidates but merely hopes to continue the past work of the SGA.

Schmertzler cites his wide involvement on campus as his best assets. Schmertzler is a rower for the crew team, first chair in the orchestra, major in Psychology and double minor in Japanese and European History as giving him “strong and open working relationships with a wide range of key administrators, Deans, and faculty.”

Schmertzler outlined his goals to preserve and protect Middlebury’s traditions, safeguarding student rights through judicial processes and “modernize” college alcohol policies, specifically keg rules.

Mostly, Schmertzler’s platform focuses on continuing the actions of the SGA over the past two years, which Schmertzler summarizes as improving “methods of understanding student needs and desires.”

Although Schmertzler’s leadership would not bring drastic change to the SGA, if voters have confidence in the past work of the SGA, then his platform hopes to continue to engage in “thoughtful questions of college policies and invervention when necessary.”