Current SGA Executive Assistant and unopposed candidate for marketing communication senator Paul Almeida said he is looking to have a vote at joint session meetings.
Presenting to an audience of about a dozen people, Student Government Association candidates lobbied to allow students of all majors to rent out gear from the Equipment Distribution Center and increase the amount of classes for marketing communication majors and minors during speech night Thursday.
The balloted positions for the special election are visual and media arts senator and marketing communication senator. The audience in Walker 210 consisted of a few SGA members and one other news organization.
Freshman Megan Kay and sophomore Benjamin Stoll, both visual and media arts majors are campaigning to be senator of the department. Current SGA Executive Assistant Paul Almeida is running unopposed for marketing communication senator.
Almeida said he wants to change his position on the SGA because as an assistant he is not permitted to have a vote at joint session meetings.
This is not the first time Almeida is running for a voting position on the SGA. In December 2011, the political communication and marketing communication double major ran against two other candidates in an attempt to become class of 2015 president.
Almeida said there have been appeals in the past that he has disagreed with and has not had the chance to vote on, including the latest Your Mag appeal. The SGA voted Tuesday to grant the lifestyle magazine $2,374.41— less than half of the $5,564.41 it asked for.
“If SGA could have helped [Your Mag] go above and beyond then we should have,” he said.
One major concern that Almeida said he has with the marketing communication department is a lack of class availability for students who wish to minor in the subject.
“We are discouraged even to minor in it,” Almeida said. “There should be enough marketing courses for all the marketing majors and minors to take comfortably.” He continued to say that students shouldn’t be offered a marketing communication minor when they are told not to take the classes because of space issues.
When asked by Zaman if he plans on taking different positions in the future, Almeida declined to comment.
Speeches from the visual and media arts senatorial candidates focused on the availability of cameras at the Equipment Distribution Center and communication between those in the department.
Kay said she has found that many of the non-film students feel left out of the visual and media arts department, and said she wants to further communication within the department through networking events.
Stoll also said he would like to create a better way of connecting with those in and outside of the visual and media arts major.
“I feel like communication majors and VMA majors don’t always come together,” he said.
Stoll, who hosts his own segment on Emerson Channel’s College Kitchen, described himself as personable and well-rounded.
“I’m good at being able to look at both sides and find an outcome,” the film production major said.
The sophomore said his main objective for the department would be to create a way for all majors to rent out equipment at the Emerson Distribution Center.
“My friend wants to rent out a camera for work, and he’s not allowed to. I don’t think that’s fair,” he said.
A part of senatorial privileges on the SGA is the right to vote on appeals. Stoll said he would look at the record of how an organization has utilized money given to them previously to see if they deserve more when deciding on a vote.
Voting begins Feb. 18 and runs until Feb. 20.