The Ranger Online

Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: News

Ruth Cochran Mannick [Click to enlarge]

Julianne Cantu [Click to enlarge]

David Rodriguez [Click to enlarge]

Editor's note: Because of incorrect information provided to The Ranger by the office of student life, the candidates for president of the Student Government Association do not include Ruth Cochran Mannick. She will be running for vice president of SGA. There are only two students running for president - Julianne Cantu and David Rodriguez - in the election Monday-Wednesday.


Today is the last day of campaigning for officers or spots as commissioners on the Student Government Association.

The electronic election will be conducted Monday-Wednesday through PALS accounts.

The new officers will be posted Dec. 1, and they will take office in the spring semester.

Eleven candidates are running for seven spots - president, secretary, treasurer and four commissioners-at-large.

Three students are running for president: political science major Julianne Cantu, political science major David Rodriguez and dental laboratory technology freshmen Ruth Cochran Mannick.

The role of SGA is to be the voice of the students, to hear the concerns they might have, Cantu said in a phone interview.

"I have been in SGA for a year now. I know what it takes to get the job done in order to keep SGA progressing like it has been," she said.

SGA should also be a bridge between the students and the administrators, Cantu said.

She is a member of the district Student Leadership Institute and is a current member of SGA. She believes concerns of students are rising tuition, applying for financial aid and staying safe.

Offering active shooter training for students was a good idea and she hopes the college will sponsor more. "There is no one better than me for this job. I've been trained to be president," Cantu said.

Rodriguez said he has been in management so he knows what it takes to be a good leader and he is ready to lead, he said in a phone interview.

Students need someone with a voice who will speak up for them and someone who won't crack under pressure, Rodriguez said.

When there is a problem that needs to be addressed, he said that he'd take it to someone who knows something to get students answers.

"I'm educated, smart, and you learn a lot being a military brat," Rodriguez said.

"I have an coalition of 10 people ready to sign up to be part of SGA when I become president," Rodriguez said.

He said that there needs to be something done about the parking and how to make it better, Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez's car was damaged Wednesday by another car, the day of his interview, in the college parking garage while he was in class.

"They have the security guards out there, but they're only good for giving tickets, but when something serious occurs, where are they? I'm glad that the ACCD police is around," he said.

He said that students need someone with real leadership skills to be the SGA president and that's why he's the best man for the job.

SGA took the candidates on a trip to a student government conference Nov. 14-16 in Del Rio where he said he was the main person answering questions so others thought he was the president of SGA.

"I'm a people's person," Rodriguez said. "If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it right."

He said he wants to be the next Latino president of the United States.

Mannick said students' views are entirely different from those in administration.

"I understand the student point of view," she said.

She said that she is motivated to becoming SGA's newest president, and her motivation is fear.

In the past, she has missed out on great opportunities because she was too afraid to try and does not want to let those same opportunities go by, Mannick said.

She said she knows putting herself out there for people to critique is hard, but she knows she is capable of being a leader for SGA.

"I'm smart, nice, fair and opinionated; I have a lot to offer SGA and the students of SAC," Mannick said.

"I was in the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), I chaperone for schools, and I've been involved in clubs and church. I have a child and that's the biggest leadership skill ever of being a single mother."

She wants to allow student parking in faculty lots to alleviate the shortage.

There are just not enough parking spaces for the students and it seems as if the parking garage has taken up more space than actually helped, she said.

She said that she has issues with international students having to pay more tuition than the regular student.

"I plan to accomplish these things through a lot of hard work and letting people know that I'm passionate about being president, and I will address the issues of the campus," she said.

Only one candidate filed for vice president and he was disqualified. SGA will hold a special election in the spring for this slot, adviser Dawn Elmore-McCrary said.

Two students are running for treasurer, education major Arielle D. Heidbrink and marketing management major Claudia De Ugarte.

Heidbrink wrote in her application that she applied for treasurer because "I know and like money a lot."

She is a member of the Gay and Lesbian Association.

De Ugarte belongs to Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and the International Students Association.

She wants to be a mediator between the administration and students, she wrote in her application.

One student applied for secretary, psychology major Tammy Kothe-Ramsey.

Kothe-Ramsey has been secretary of the Psych Club. She wrote in her application that she is a single parent, business owner and older student returning to college.

Five students are seeking four positions as commissioners.

They are political science major Vanessa B. Salinas, business management major Lupita Rodriguez, accounting major Edward Rios, environmental science major Lacey Ke' Anne Cunningham-Martinez and political science major Effrain Perez.

Salinas wants to develop leadership skills and support students, she wrote. She works at two jobs and takes three classes.

Lupita Rodriguez wants to increase student involvement by working with various student organizations on campus and to help students get the most out of SAC, she wrote in her application. She is a member of Phi Theta Kappa.

Rio is serving as one of the commissioners-at-large for this semester and helped put together "Rock the Vote" that was sponsored by SGA. He said that the role of the SGA is to represent the students.

Martinez wrote, "My motivation to join Student Government started with the recent presidential election, which helped me to become interested in politics again." Martinez is a wife and mother of a 1-year-old son. She has served in the military, according to her application.

Perez wrote that he would like to work with SGA because it a great opportunity to work as a team and cooperate with other students, college associations, clubs and administration and learn from each other. Perez is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, and he is in the Presidential Honors Program, he said.

"Having good leadership, finding out the concerns of the students and taking an initiative to try and do something about it make up the basic elements of being a good officer," English Professor Dawn Elmore-McCrary, adviser, said.

For information on voting, call student life Director Jorge Posadas at 733-2680.

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