Brandon Clark, a senator for the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, is running for executive vice president of Academic Affairs alongside Aubrey Coleman.
Clark's main platform addresses the hot-button issue of print credits on campus. He said he recognizes that the credits allotted to students in some schools last semester were taken away because the system did not work.
Until this semester, the College of Arts and Sciences was the only college that still had the old print credit system in place, and because almost every student takes at least one class in A&S, the college was burdened with the print credit expenses of almost the entire student body.
Clark said he wants to create a universal printing system so that up to 500 print credits would be available to all students in every college to be used in any lab or library on campus.
The system would be institution-based instead of college-based.
"It would swipe to your ACTion card, like Dining Dollars," he said.
Clark said he is already addressing the issue in a committee that includes members of the UA administration.
Decreasing textbook prices is another platform Clark feels strongly about.
"I spent $785 on textbooks this semester," Clark said. "I want to make textbooks cheaper and I've talked to other students who feel the same way."
He plans on fighting for cheaper textbooks by enabling instructors to include access code prices within course fees, by the creation of an SGA textbook exchange that would function like Craigslist.com and by fighting for the abolishment of state tax on textbooks in Alabama.
Eight states have already eliminated the textbook state tax, but Clark said he knows the fight will be difficult.
"We're just going to keep chipping away at [legislators]," he said.
His other platforms include initiating a contract with Google to use Gmail as the University's e-mail server, posting of professor evaluations online and allowing for more time between classes.
Clark said his specific strategies for achieving his platform points gives him an edge over Coleman.
"I have strategic plans for improvement at the University that students care about," he said.
After serving in the SGA for two years, Clark said he knows how the system works and has the ability to get things done right away once in office.
"I already know the movers and shakers," he said. "When I walk into [administrator's] offices, they already know who I am."
A sophomore from Huntsville majoring in entrepreneurship and small company management, Clark said he has made connections not only through SGA, but through other organizations in which he is involved.
He is a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, the Order of Alpha honor society and has worked in the advertising department for The Crimson White.
On the event that Clark is not elected, he said he still plans on serving the student body in the C&BA student council.
"But the first thing I would do is take a nap," Clark said, referring to the week's non-stop campaigning.
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