Q&A | Meet this year’s candidates for SGA president
The Panther sat down with the two candidates running for the 2024-25 school year. Photo collage by EMILY PARIS, Photo Editor
Election season for the new Student Government Association (SGA) president and vice president is now underway, until Feb. 28. This year, there are two candidates running for president and three candidates running for vice president. Presidential candidate Isaac Persky and vice presidential candidate Ryann Sax are running on a ticket together, while the remaining candidates are running independently.
Similar to last year, The Panther emailed the following questions to all five candidates.
To learn more about the candidates running for vice president, click here. To learn more about the proposed amendments for SGA’s Constitution, click here. Students interested in voting can do so here.
These interviews have been lightly edited for clarity and stylistic standards.
Photo courtesy of Eric Hall
Eric Hall
Year: Junior
Majors: Philosophy and economics
Pronouns: he/him
Current SGA Position: Academic Organizations Senator
Q: Why are you running for the position of president?
A: I am running to be your next SGA president because of my strong commitment to improving the college community. I firmly believe that significant change can be enacted via effective leadership, and I have a strong desire to address the needs and worries of our diverse student body. I’m in my second term as the senator for academic student organizations, and I love advocating for change on campus and standing up for my constituents. In my time in SGA, I have also served as the University and Academic Affairs chair, as well as sitting in as the student representative for the Undergraduate Academic Council. These jobs have taught me a lot, and as president, I can use that expertise to lead most effectively.
If I were elected president, I would be able to serve the entire student body more effectively. I have found a great sense of community here at Chapman through student organizations, and I think that prioritizing that sense of community is incredibly important. I would also like to be able to give back to this community. I’ve served in leadership positions in many of my clubs, but I could help the entire campus if I were elected president.
Q: What are some of the goals you would aim to achieve if elected?
A: As your SGA president, I am eager to support all Chapman students. In particular, I will do everything in my power to improve housing and parking, as those are two critical areas that students continuously need better support in. I also hope to make the funding process smoother for student organizations, as well as improving some of the policies regarding food for club events.
I also hope to facilitate the creation of more advisory councils on campus. In particular, I would love to see a student organizations advisory council where leaders from different student organizations could come together to provide direct feedback on potential changes. A residence life advisory council could also be effective in helping residents guide the conversations around their living spaces. More communication and transparency between students and administration always improves the campus experience, and advisory councils are a good way to ensure that communication is consistent.
I would also aim to improve sustainability efforts on campus. Many of the bottle filler stations on campus could be improved, and I would like to see better options for eco-friendly ways to get to campus. I know many students are frustrated with the current shuttle system, so I see room for improvement there. I would also continue to support the new bike replacement program, which could provide students with a clean transportation method.
Within SGA, I would like to see a greater amount of transparency with the student body. We have the potential to have a positive impact on every student, and I would like to best communicate our efforts to the student body.
Q: What initiatives are you planning to increase diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts on campus?
A: DEI is incredibly important, and I want to first establish that all campus initiatives should strive to support DEI. That being said, there are definitely some areas where DEI, in particular, could be improved on campus.
Our diversity and cultural student organizations are a cornerstone of DEI efforts on campus. Having served as a student organizations senator, I’ve worked on projects to help all student organizations, and I will be able to further support them as president. In particular, I plan to ensure that all campus policies are fully inclusive and functioning to best support our diverse student organizations. In particular, we could highlight clubs to help promote community-building organizations to the entire student body. I think that many students could greatly benefit from participating in these clubs and helping promote them would improve the student experience.
There should be a prioritization on the accessibility of campus resources to ensure an inclusive environment for our diverse student body. This year, we have had some challenges with accessibility, emphasizing the need to improve the availability of resources for everyone. As president, I will actively work to remove barriers hindering access to essential resources. A specific accessibility task force could be created to make sure that all resources are available to every student.
The proposed constitutional changes also allow every member of SGA to prioritize DEI. If elected, I will work to implement these changes, ensuring that each SGA member can contribute meaningfully to advancing DEI goals. This shift will reinforce the commitment to diversity and inclusivity at every level of student governance.
Q: What mental health initiatives would you want to pursue if elected into office?
A: Mental health is a top priority of mind, and I want to decrease the stigma attached to seeking help, increase knowledge of mental health options and improve the availability of counseling services. In my capacity as president, I want to look for ways to further student support offered by the present Student Psychological Counseling Services (SPCS). This could be accomplished through initiatives or direct funding. For example, I would like to expand telehealth services to make counseling more accessible to students, especially those who may face barriers to accessing campus services.
I also know that one of the most important facets of mental health outreach is accessibility. There are definitely some ways that our existing resources could be displayed more effectively to our student body to further eliminate barriers to getting people the help they need. Personally, it was hard for me to find many of Chapman’s mental health resources, and I am sure that information could be conveyed more effectively to our student body.
Q: What initiatives are you planning to improve a positive campus atmosphere?
A: In my time at Chapman, I have found my greatest sense of community through involvement in clubs and student organizations. As president, I hope to ensure that SGA continues to support our student leaders in any way possible, be it through direct funding or other supportive long-term initiatives.
In particular, I want to work with Chapman administration and Sodexo to ensure that our policies are best meeting the needs of our clubs. Many student organizations have been frustrated by some of these policies, and I want to help alleviate those frustrations wherever I can. I would also work to improve transparency with our funding process and ensure a sustainable future!
Many concerns with physical accessibility have also come to light this year. As president, I would work to make sure that our entire campus is accessible to all students, and I will do everything in my power to implement more accessibility features. Students also have expressed frustration with housing and parking on campus. In conversations with administration, I will always work to elevate student voices and advocate for the entire student body.
Q: What is one thing you would want to change about Chapman and how SGA is running currently? How would you go about this?
A: I think that the current internal committee system holds us back and could be improved. With the new constitution, the entire system would be revamped so that every senator could make real change, as well as greatly improving turnaround time for club funding requests. That all depends on the Constitution getting passed, though, so I would heavily encourage everyone to vote in that constitutional election.
On a personal level, I think that many of the newer senators that come into SGA don’t necessarily have a lot of clear communication with the entire executive council. As president, I would try to create an atmosphere where senators can reach out and get personal help with their initiatives. This would be especially important if the constitution were to be passed because every senator could be working on projects. I would also like to see SGA utilize subcommittees. These can be created as needed to solve particular issues, and I think that they are a great way to encourage collaboration!
I also think that there is occasionally a disconnect between SGA and the student body we represent. Although many senators spend a lot of time working with administration, I think there is more we could do to make students feel personally represented. In particular, we have a section of every meeting dedicated to a forum open to the public, which we have only seen utilized once or twice this entire semester. I would love to see more outreach efforts and work to create a Senate that students feel excited to connect with.
Photo courtesy of Isaac Persky
Isaac Persky
Year: Sophomore
Majors: Economics and Public Relations/Advertising
Pronouns: he/him
Current SGA Position: N/A; Vice President of Programming for Chapman’s Interfraternity Council
Note: Running on a ticket with Ryann Sax
Q: Why are you running for the position of president?
A: I am running for the position of president because I am motivated to create top-down change within our student government. SGA is the organization that is meant to be the voice for all students at Chapman and I want to ensure that the student body feels as though that is the cause. I consider myself an easy position to communicate with and a very accessible person as I am very involved on campus. I want to use those skills to effectively communicate concerns of the student body to administration and give SGA a bigger presence on campus!
Q: What are some of the goals you would aim to achieve if elected?
A: One of my main goals is more effective communication between SGA and the student body. This can be achieved through SGA having a more active presence on campus by being more involved with student organizations, holding on-campus events and creating more simple communication channels. I also want to improve SGA’s social media presence. Social media plays a big role in the way most students consume content, and SGA is currently missing out by not being as active as they should on Instagram and other platforms. Said simpler - as SGA president, one of my goals is first to ensure that students know what SGA is and does. As of right now, many students do not, which is reflected in the low voter turnout rates of the last several years’ elections.
Q: What initiatives are you planning to increase diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts on campus?
A: DEI is a very important issue to me because everyone at Chapman should feel as though they are welcome, have access to an organization with people of the same identity group and have a voice within Chapman’s administration. I want to achieve this by helping identity-based student organizations through active SGA support, funding and fiercely voicing concerns to the administration. As an active member of Chabad, a Jewish student organization, I understand how important it is to have an active group on campus that supports your identity. I want to make sure students of minority race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation and gender feel this support for their identity.
Q: What mental health initiatives would you want to pursue if elected into office?
A: I would love to further initiatives by SGA to improve student mental health, specifically during high-stress times such as midterms and finals week. There should be more ways that students feel supported during these times, whether that’s something simple like having cookies in the Piazza or being a student advocate to administration with disputes over course expectations from professors.
Q: What initiatives are you planning to improve a positive campus atmosphere?
A: Having a more active presence on campus by hosting more events and being involved with student organizations will help create a more positive campus atmosphere. When SGA becomes more involved with student life, everyone wins. SGA is the voice of the students, and any effort to bridge the current gap between student government and the student body will create endless benefits.
Q: What is one thing you would want to change about Chapman and how SGA is running currently? How would you go about this?
A: One change I would like to see, especially as a current outsider, is how SGA runs its social media. I would like to see SGA have a more active social media presence that communicates what SGA does in a more exciting, student-friendly way. Currently, SGA is very transparent on their social media, but they do not present the information in a way that is exciting for students. If we want students to care about SGA, they should be excited about the initiatives that SGA is carrying out. As president, I will work with SGA’s director of public relations to change SGA’s social media landscape and break onto new platforms such as TikTok.
