Hackenson elected 119th Davidson SGA president

On Tuesday, it was announced that Billy Hackenson '13 will be the next Student Government Association President. The Category II elections, held Monday, were the culmination of a whirlwind week of campaigning and debate between Hackenson and his opponent, Elyas Munye '13.

Last Thursday's Presidential Debate gave the candidates the opportunity to present their platforms to a student audience for the first time.

"The SGA functions best when you understand it as your organization," said President Quillen, who opened the debate proceedings. "I hope that you'll take the opportunity to make the SGA your representative organization without the kind of cynicism that can accompany how many of us now think about politics."

Where Hackenson's platform included various practical applications of his policy ideas, Munye's rhetoric was more abstract.

"Unity," Munye said, "that's why I'm here. There's a gap between what people are passionate about and in what we debate in the SGA. My goal is to bring us all together. Unity, that's the most important thing."

Perhaps the most astonishing development of the debate was Hackenson's claim that, if elected, he would halve the SGA budget during his term.

"To my knowledge the SGA budget right now is $30-32,000, and I would attempt to cut that down almost to half," he said. "We're looking at $15-16,000. ZipCar would not be included in that [cut], because that's a new organization that I think would eventually pay for itself. In terms of where we're going to cut, I think we can move a lot of programming funding over to the Union Board activities, and really become more of a policy administration."

Later, The Davidsonian sat down with Hackenson to hear him expand on the ideas he had explored in the debate.

Despite the ambition of his budget-slashing promise, Hackenson's real passion is Davidson's social culture.

"Social culture is the real reason why I'm running," he said. "That's where we have a problem. Our academics are great. We have a great volunteer record. People are involved in activities. But where people really need to improve is in that social culture. I'm not going to get up there and say, ‘students, no more black-out drinking,' but we have to start engaging in the tough conversations."

Hackenson first became interested in policy surrounding social culture when he served on the Campus Committee on Religious Life.

"When I was on the CCRL, we talked about the alcohol policy," he said. "It made me think: A, about social culture here; B, how we can improve that and C, how it should really be the students who decide those issues. The CCRL is split between faculty, staff and students, and I felt that… professors were telling us how our social culture should be. For people who don't come down to the court, they didn't have a great perspective."

Rather than homogenizing Davidson's social culture, Hackenson is lobbying for a multi-perspective student discussion on social issues.

"We have to address whether there is or isn't an up the hill-down the hill divide," Hackenson said. "I think the way we're going to accomplish that is to pull students from every side of the spectrum. I need students who go out, [as well as students] who have never had alcohol in their lives."

"We need to understand each other's point of view," he said. "If there's not a problem, great. But if there is, we need to work on that. Whether it's having non-alcoholic drinks at Patterson court parties, I at least need to know the other perspectives."

Continuing to address the social problem, Hackenson also advocated for creation of more "alternative social spheres."

"We can bring together different outlets on this campus and look at something different," he said. "I think after a while the Union gets boring and you want something new. "

"When we move the bookstore out [of the Union] downstairs, that will afford us an opportunity to really look at that space in a creative way," Hackenson continued. "Somewhere in the Union we'll be able to open up space where we can try to pitch the idea of maybe a different eatery where there could be a bar component attached to it."

Beyond Davidson's social culture, Hackenson emphasizes the importance of a student government that, to borrow President Quillen's words at the debate, is truly an organization "of the student body it represents."

"I think where the SGA has hit a roadblock with the student body is in transparency," Hackenson said. "I think they've taken a lot of great steps, but I've never seen meeting minutes. I've sat in some contentious meetings where it would have been a good idea to have that [conflict] publicized. I think the SGA has to be more transparent in what it is they're trying to accomplish. "

"For me, communication is key," he said. "Maybe we'll institute class meetings once a quarter where class senators can come and talk to their peers. You have to go out and meet students and say, this is what we're working on."

Category II election results are listed above, with the exception of the results for student solicitors. There will be a run-off between the top two pairs of vote-getters for Student Solicitors. This run-off will be open via electronic ballot from 10 am to 10 pm Wednesday, Feb. 22nd.