Government of the Student Body presidential candidate Jason Boggess, senior in mechanical engineering, and his running mate Derek Haskin, junior in pre-business, believe they have what it takes to serve the student body.

Boggess said his slate would bring new ideas and offer a fresh perspective to GSB. He said he has heard GSB senators become frustrated with the rules of GSB, but they have the power to rewrite the bylaws and change things and that is what he and Haskin intend on doing.

The first issue the Boggess-Haskin campaign plans to focus on is “developing student leaders.”

“If you don’t have student leaders you don’t have ideas or brainstorming,” he said.

Boggess said he would like to develop a program that would encourage students’s involvement on and off of campus.

The duo mentioned they are a diverse campaign that can relate to the entire student body.

“I’m an engineer, Derek is majoring in business, so we represent two of the largest majors on campus,” Boggess said. “We’ve also spent a lot of time in the residence halls and the majority of students live in the residence halls at some point.”

Boggess is not a member of the greek community, but Haskin is a member of Theta Delta Chi. However, he does not live in his chapter house. Boggess said that both slates address similar issues, but he and Haskin will bring new ideas, and “we have our hearts, morals and ethics all in the right place.”

Boggess said one of the most significant differences between the two campaigns is that the Turk-Peterson campaign “has a lot they want to do but no real way to get there.”

“They’re working from the branches of the tree down to the trunk,” Haskin said. “We’re working from the trunk to the branches. You can’t build a house without a foundation.”

Haskin said if elected, he and Boggess would immediately begin to raise awareness of safety issues on campus. He said he doesn’t believe the statistics released on the Department of Public Safety Web site accurately represent the university, so people feel safer than they should.

“But we’re not trying to scare anyone,” Boggess said.

“We don’t think anything bad is going to happen here. Ames is a very safe community, but we want to be prepared in case something does happen.”

Boggess mentioned adding blue-light phones on campus, “for mental security more than anything else,” he said.

In regard to student debt, Boggess and Haskin plan to pick up where the current administration left off.

“We want to raise awareness about debt management and scholarship programs available to students,” Boggess said.

Haskin added they would lobby for better student jobs and better hours.

“We will make sure student jobs aren’t cut,” Boggess said.

Haskin said his strongest trait is his passion.

“All of our platforms affect students,” he said. “I have a passion to follow through.”

Boggess said he has a good heart and is willing to change his mind if necessary. He said his biggest goal in life is to help others.

“I guess my greatest weakness is spelling,” he said.

When asked their opponent’s greatest strength, the pair agreed the Turk-Peterson slate has a great public speaking ability.

They agreed that the greatest weakness for Turk-Peterson is their inability to connect with students.

“I’ve never even seen their campaign materials,” Boggess said. “I mean, I’m a student, too.”

He said that although Turk and Peterson have been a part of GSB, they’ve missed the point.

Boggess said that if elected, he would use Facebook to inform students of what is going on with GSB. He said he has used a penguin on their campaign materials because he has heard that GSB is very formal.

“We don’t want to talk away from the formality of it, but we want to make GSB fun and we want to make everyone feel welcome,” he said.

“Technology is great but it can’t solve everything,” Haskin said.

He said more interaction with student organizations and talking with groups will make relationships stronger.

Boggess said the Turk-Peterson campaign tends to focus on the aesthetics of the university.

“We are focusing on things that actually affect [students’] lives,” he said.

Boggess said that improving Campustown “is not a bad idea, but the feasibility of eliminating bars, changing parking, bringing in someone who wanted to tell them what to eliminate, I mean there are businesses that have been there for a long time.”

Haskin said GSB has had the wrong approach regarding Campustown.

“They are taking it into their hands to restructure Campustown and it is well out of their reach,” Haskin said.

If only given $1,000 for GSB to use, Boggess and Haskin agreed they would use the money to develop student leadership.

They agreed that without student leaders nothing can be accomplished. Boggess and Haskin also agreed that GSB has done many things well this year.

“They’ve done a good job of combating student debt issues and bringing it to students’s attention,” Boggess said.

Haskin gave credit to current GSB Vice President Maggie Luttrell, senior in history, for the spearheading the Financial Literacy Campaign.

“Ms. Luttrell got the ball rolling, which I admire,” he said.

Boggess said one thing he would have liked to see this year was “a full-blown recycling campaign.”

He said he thought it would have been nice in conjunction with Iowa State’s 150-year anniversary celebration. Boggess and Haskin expressed frustration with the Daily’s endorsement for the Turk-Peterson slate.

Haskin said they are frustrated, not because the Daily chose to endorse Turk-Peterson, but because they “trivialized our experience.”

“Inter-Residence Hall Association is the second-largest student organization on campus,” Haskin said.

“And safety affects every student. If other people want to place other issues ahead of safety, they can go ahead.”

Boggess took issue with how the Daily characterized their goals.

“The Daily said most of our goals are not long-term,” Boggess said. “Student-teacher relationships could last and we hope our recycling initiative will never stop.”

Platform

Student safety

Recycling

Sustainability

Student debt and money management

Teacher accountability

Outlet for smokers on campus