Julianne Olson

The Student Government Association (SGA) presidential and vice-presidential debate March 17 was filled with supporters of each of the three tickets.

Oddly enough, the majority of the people present were close friends of the candidates. Whether they were SGA members or Greek organization members, those attending the debate seemed to be a part of each candidate’s organization.

Cartoon by Kyle Commerford | Intern Editorial Cartoonist.

Why weren’t those students at the debate? It is because it was not advertised anywhere unless you were on any of the candidate’s Facebook groups.

I am not sure if I should be blaming SGA, the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership (CSIL), or the candidates, but regardless, if support is to be garnered by outside students, the debate would have been a great way for those students to know who the candidates are and what they want to do next year if elected.

In all honesty, I could have gone through and pinpointed who each person present at the debate will vote for, based on not only their sticker and/or button on their shirt, but also because of the connections I am aware of due to working for CSIL all year.

SGA, Greek Life, and The Appalachian newspaper are all under the CSIL umbrella. With five of the six candidates being Greek and four of the six involved in SGA, it does not take a college degree to figure out who the fraternity brothers, sorority sisters, and SGA members are going to vote for.

Essentially, these CSIL students do not need a debate to help them determine who the best candidate will be. They have already made their decision.

Students around campus still need to be aware of who the candidates are and what they stand for.

Maybe next year the debate room will not be filled with just the candidates’ peanut gallery.

Olson, a freshman journalism major from Winston-Salem, is an intern news reporter.