Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: News

Media Credit: File - The Battalion Dustin McKnight [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: File - The Battalion Ryan Rieger [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: File - The Battalion Jody Sanmuen [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: File - The Battalion Terry Dike [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: File - The Battalion Nick Adams [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: File - The Battalion Mark Gold [Click to enlarge]

Dustin McKnight

Student Body President candidate Dustin McKnight said that if elected, he will have an open-door policy so all students will have an opportunity to let him know their opinions on campus matters.

"Everyone deserves a voice," McKnight said. "Accountability's a big thing."

McKnight said that he wants everyone to be able to talk to him, not just typical students.

"I want to reach out to students who aren't the typical Aggie," McKnight said. "It's not just race - diversity is different backgrounds."

McKnight said that diversity is an important issue that the incoming SBP must deal with. He said that when he isn't able to attend meetings he thinks would help promote diversity, he would make sure someone in his office would and report back to him so he could stay informed.

McKnight said that passing an anti-discrimination bill is the first step in making sure people with all backgrounds are treated equally. He said that the bill will make everyone equal, but it won't change the culture of A&M.

"It's [discrimination] here. It's Aggieland and it's sad," McKnight said.

McKnight said he is qualified for the position of SBP because of his broad experience from inside and outside of Student Government Association. McKnight served as the assistant executive director of Student Service, a co-director of Leaders in Freshman Engineering and served on the executive council of the Student Engineering Council.

"Going into the next 365 days serving as SBP, you don't know what's going to come up," McKnight said, "and a lot of those things are things you need to act on, but you promise each day to give your best."

Ryan Rieger

In Rudder Plaza Thursday until midnight, Student Body President candidate Ryan Rieger was introducing himself and speaking one-on-one with students about his candidacy and the direction he sees for Texas A&M in the 2008-2009 school year.

Rieger is no stranger to long hours and hard work. As a member of the Corps of Cadets, he is enlisted as infantryman in the U.S. Army and serves as an assistant platoon leader in the Texas National Guard. Since beginning his studies in political science at A&M, he has been involved with Student Senate representing the college of liberal arts.

He said he has based his platform on what is seen as reasonable from his experience within Student Senate, especially on issues related to student fees.

"In my two years as a senator, I know what the issues are and what goals are reasonable. I am not promising anything that is not realistic and accomplishable," Rieger said. "I have relationships with many members of administration and have a very large knowledge about the ins and outs of student government."

Of his many platform issues, his stances on parking, campus safety and transportation have come directly from the work he has done as a senator in what he said he sees as an overall improvement for the student body.

He said another big focus is diversity. His travels to Kuwait, Egypt and China sparked within him the idea of I-camp, an orientation camp for international students to make them feel more at home in Aggieland. His diversity platform sticks to the idea that all people should be more readily informed of other cultures.

When people suggest that these issues surrounding diversity would disturb the long-standing tradition at the University, Rieger said, citing the example of the anti-discrimination bill within Senate, that the spirit, atmosphere, tradition at A&M will never change.

From his own experience in the Corps, he said he feels the sense of duty and tradition, but the shared compassion that Aggies possess that allows for all students to feel welcomed and at home.

Another large focus of Rieger's campaign deals with broadening communication with the students.

Through conversations and other examples of communication, Rieger spoke of the importance of being up-front and accessible to everyone, but would like to communicate through mass e-mails to students and through an improved SGA website that would be more conducive to student comments and input.

Jody Sanmuen

In Rudder Plaza Monday morning, as students were headed to their first class, Student Body President candidate senior Jody Sanmuen was handing out campaign stickers.

She has kept her staff small as opposed to other candidates' large volunteer base, and said, "If I only have 10, well then, they are the best 10 for the job."

Through the campaign, Sanmuen said she has found difficulty in being the only woman candidate. Sanmuen said that she does not want to use her position as the only woman as leverage in her candidacy.

She said that if she placed herself above the students in her campaign, she would have to wear that suit everyday as SBP. "I wouldn't be able to keep that up. I will be who I am everyday, campaigning or not," she said.

Sanmuen said that one of the main differences between she and the other candidates is that she did not do the deep research when developing her platform, but used what she has learned through her experiences at A&M.

Through her four years studying as a food and nutritional science major, Sanmuen has been actively involved within many facets of campus including the Residence Hall Association, TAMU Orchestra and the Dining Services Committee. Sanmuen is the only candidate that is an Aggie Ally.

For the past two years, Sanmuen has represented Northside as a student senator and has served on the student services committee in which she has been able to provide input for legislation dealing with the basketball ticket pull, dining services and parking concerns.

"I hope to develop discussions by creating monthly engagements to discuss University relations and interactions with the students and senators," Sanmuen said. "One way to do this would be to hold a Senate meeting in the MSC Flagroom and have students freely come and go as they please to listen to Senate."

She said she would like to establish increased dialogue between graduate students, Greek life, International Students, GLBT Aggies, Student Disabilities and any other group in which students need representation and need for their voices to be heard.

The issues Sanmuen said she sees as most pressing are that the Senate decides on student fees.

She suggested that making that information readily available to students in order to not only inform the students, but to keep the administration accountable to the students' needs at all times.

Terry Dike

Student Body President candidate Terry Dike, a senior mechanical engineering major, said he would forgo all the powers of a super hero in exchange for the power of discernment, the ability to understand any situation and, in effect, tell the future.

Dike's campaign has chosen four areas he wants to work with as a priority.

"I want to focus on student financial aid. I want to strengthen the Aggie family, making that family closer knit," Dike said. "I want students to recognize the power in their voice, and through a unity they can recognize that. Lastly, but not least, going green. I think the University should be more environmentally friendly."

Having worked on a student advisory board, Dike developed two plans that he said could help students financially. One plan involves getting the signatures of 25,000 to 35,000 Texas A&M students on a petition to the State Senate requesting more financial aid.

The other plan Dike has involves raising money from businesses and donors outside the University and using that money to endow scholarships. The scholarships would range from $500 to $1000, and would be rewarded to students regardless of academic standing.

Although he didn't mention it among his four platform points, Dike did say "Yes" when asked if he believed the University had a problem with sexual, religious, ethnic or racial discrimination. He briefly explained what he considered a possible solution.

"What I've done in my campaign [is bring together a group of people] who may not know each other. We get to working together into the night, and we get laughing together, poking fun at each other, knowing each other," Dike said. "It all involves going past your comfort level. Realizing people are 'struggling like me, and working like me.'?

"We have to look at the history of the institution. Once, no women were admitted, no non-Anglo Saxons were admitted, so there were those problems. While there are problems at our foundation, top to bottom we must get better."

A black candidate himself, Dike said he was unafraid of discrimination hurting his chances of being elected. Dike said he expected Aggies to look at his résumé instead of his skin; a résumé which, he said, will show his constituents that he is the most experienced of candidates to support.

"I'm more qualified than anyone else. That's why I'm not worried about a disadvantage due to discrimination."

Nick Adams

Late Sunday night, the "Click Nick" campaigners were dressed as life-sized iPods and ready to take on the final two days of campaigning. After outlining the week's tasks and previewing a yet-unreleased campaign video, Student Body President candidate junior Nick Adams stood to speak to the large group of volunteers.

Adams said that when he decided to run, he consciously took a step back in order to really talk to students and see what they wanted out of their student body president, and more importantly what they wanted to see happen within the next year.

In the second half of the summer, Adams was able to travel Europe with his brother, which was when he said he finally began to seriously consider running for SBP because Student Government Association was all he could think about.

"I was standing in the middle of the Coliseum in Rome and started talking to my brother about the MSC renovation," he said, smiling. He said that was when he mentally began preparing for the year ahead.

As a telecommunication media studies major, he said communication plays a big role in his academics as well as his platform issues. Adams plans on extending communication between the administration, student government and the students by developing stronger relationships with The Battalion, 90.9 KAMU-FM and developing the iTunes U program further.

"The most important way for a constant flow of information is through telecommunications," Adams said. "Our information needs to be easy, fast and on-the-go. This is why it is even more important for video messages and podcasts to be available for students on a regular basis."

Other important stances in Adams' platform include ideas to further diversity, campus conservation, overall student involvement and SGA relations.

What Adams said he has learned most from his executive position is the necessity to constantly evaluate what is going on and the need to check up with everyone to insure that they are not only fulfilling their own mission and goals but their responsibility to the student body.

"There is never going to be just one answer to solve a problem. There will never be just one solution for all 46,000 students," Adams said. "But with dedicated leaders, the best initiatives and alternatives will be found."

Mark Gold

Mark Gold, a senior biomedical engineering major from Palestine, Texas, said that he does not foresee a career in politics resulting from his campaign for Student Body President.

Instead, he explained his motivation to run for SBP as a passion to give back to a school and community that has given so much to him. Rather than politics, he said he tentatively wishes to pursue a field within medicine similar to that of his father's, ophthalmology. With ophthalmology, or the study of the eye, Gold said he hopes to become a surgeon.

Gold said he hopes to take his profession abroad, another idea garnered from family history. Gold has visited Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Northern Egypt while accompanying his father on his annual trip to the Middle East to perform cataract surgeries.

Gold said he would like to pursue a similar career, but called the chance to run for SBP "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give back."

Gold's platform includes seeing ideas that are on the table through completion. Such ideas include 24-hour dining services, more bus covers, more maps with bus routes and seeing that Evans Library is open around the clock.

Pivotal to his campaign is Gold's initiative to create an international career day. Such a program would be a two-way event, geared toward both domestic students as well as international students. Domestic students who have global interests could find the resources, education and connections necessary to pursue such markets. Similarly, international students could find equal resources, education and connections to better understand the domestic culture and nuisances of the American job market.

Growing up, Gold played football on the same high school team as the famous Adrian Peterson, who is the running back for the Minnesota Vikings. However, his passion was baseball and his initial interest in A&M originated with the sport.

He is the middle child of five siblings. In addition to his father being a doctor, his mother is a geometry teacher. He has two older sisters, Ruth and Liz, who are former A&M students. He has a younger brother, John, who is a punter for the University of Texas football team, as well as a younger sister, Bekah, who will be an allied health major and A&M Class of 2012.

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