Campaigns for Student Government Association president and vice president are in full-swing this week and will culminate with a debate hosted by The Northerner Monday and the elections on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Northerner Debate will take place on March 24 at 4:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the Student Union.

The debate is open to all students and audience members will have the opportunity to question the candidates.

Voting for the election begins just two days after the debate on March 26. The election will officially close March 27.  Students can cast their vote by visiting elections.nku.edu/sga.

So after all is said and done, who will you choose?

Jose & Hahnel

Presidential Candidate:

John Jose- Junior Organizational Leadership major and political science minor

Vice Presidential Candidate:

Kat Hahnel- Sophomore vocal performance and accounting major

Jose and Hahnel describe their differing majors and experiences at NKU as an important component of their campaign that allows them to represent a variety of students.

“I think we’re a pretty diverse kind of team,” Jose said. “We cover a lot of different things around campus, where different perspectives come from. I’m Greek, she’s non-Greek. She’s in a music major, I’m in political science. She’s in a business major and I help out with athletics and I’m a community ambassador. I think we have a lot more reach than our current people in student government. So that’s something that we’re really, really proud of and I think that really differentiates us completely from the other candidates.”

Jose and Hahnel plan to involve more students in SGA by attending the meetings of other organizations to discover their needs as well as forming a more diverse student government.

“I feel like a lot of times we just focus on undergraduate students, but we’re not the only students here at NKU, we’re not the only ones who make up the population,” Hahnel said.  “One of my goals as vice president would be to get a graduate student on student government as well as a Chase Law School student so we can represent them, and then we wouldn’t just reach out to undergrad students, we’d reach graduate programs and Chase Law.  We need their input because our decisions affect them as well.”

Student Objectives

• Reach out to student organizations by initiating a listening tour for input on SGA goals for next year.
• Establish and maintain active relationships with different student organizations to support their endeavors and promote student involvement.
• Implement Creative Branding Plan to reach out, report and get more feedback from the Student Body.
• NorseBoards.
• Invite different organizations to attend SGA meetings and listen to their concerns and feedback.
• Use different university media outlets such as The Northerner, WNKU, etc. to report back and inform the student body of current events of SGA.
• Spotlight different student projects and achievements.
• Maximize Social Media Appearance.
• Sponsor more student events.
• Create more scholarships and grants through SGA to help students.
• Collaborate with Chase Law and grad students to hear their concerns and ideas.
• Advocate for more student organization funding, dining options and upper division housing.
• Promote a positive, unified student body.

University Initiatives

• Advocate for our university’s funding and the Health Innovations Center in Frankfort.
• Support and involve students on NKU’s implementation of the new Strategic Plan.
• “Norsify” the Campus.
• Emphasize and Promote Student Wellness.

View Jose and Hahnel’s full running platform at their Facebook page here.

Trump & Wynne 

Presidential Candidate:

David Trump- Junior theatre major

Vice Presidential Candidate:

Justin Wynne- Sophomore international studies and journalism major

Trump and Wynne have their sights set on impacting NKU’s future by inspiring prospective leaders of SGA as well as supporting upcoming NKU projects, such as the Health Innovations Center and Rec Center.

“The reason why I want to be student government president is to impact not only the current [students] through orientation, but the future students of NKU, because a lot of things we do we’re not going to see until we’re already gone,” said Trump, who is head orientation leader for next summer. “What matters is making a difference and making the future students of NKU’s lives at least, if not easier, a little better.”

The two also plan to bring more diversity into SGA as well as support and endorse more public relations efforts at NKU.

“Having a little more campus-wide PR showing the nice things, highlighting the nice things about NKU and just instilling that love for NKU among other students is important because once people get excited about it, they’re more willing to come forward with problems, they’re more willing to share good experiences, bad experiences and that’s how you grow,” Wynne said.

Student Objectives

• Achieve Academic Review Week, a week of study before finals week where professors cannot teach anything new or give any new projects- strictly for preparation for finals week.
• Continue striving for an A+ grade possibility so that students can achieve the grade they deserve and help improve their GPA for the better.
• Continue to provide student support during midterms and finals week.
• Support the ideals presented by President Geoffrey Mearns in NKU’s Strategic Plan.
• Form the “Best NKU Experience” scholarship.

University Initiatives

• Showcase and encourage the efforts of campus beautification and campus branding.
• Ensure that the big named restaurant going into the SU is one that the Student Body wants.
• Create a RideShare program to decrease NKU’s carbon footprint and ease student transportation costs.
• Work alongside faculty, including the Provost, VP of Student Affairs and the President in all endeavors, securing a relationship of cooperation and action.
• Advocate for the Health Innovations Center.
• Encourage the continuation toward the completion of the Student Recreation Center.
• Set “in stone” a Norse Path, putting Viking helmets across campus in public areas the way UK has the wildcat paw prints.
• Support the business program, the arts, sports, technology, health, media and the other focus areas that make NKU the exemplary university it is.
• Exemplify the opportunities available for current students, reminding everyone why NKU matters.

View Trump and Wynne’s full running platform at their Facebook page here.