Candidates Take the Stage for First SBP Debate

From left to right, candidate Blake Ashley, Colin Phillips and Madelynn Kaufmann pose after the first SBP Debate of election season. I I Photo credit to Shannon Mason

Student Body President candidates, Blake Ashley, Madelynn Kaufmann and Colin Phillips took the stage for the first SBP Debate, discussing institutional unity issues, administration changes and questions about their individual platforms on Tuesday in the City Room.

The debate began with opening statements from each candidate’s campaign. 

Ashley, the current president for the House of C.S. Lewis, outlined the importance of the return of fall retreat for the King’s community and student spiritual formation in his platform. He explained that he seeks a plan of action for the return as the most important issue that he’s campaigning on.

“The Student Body President doesn’t have unilateral power to bring fall retreat back by any means,” Ashley said. “Creating a well-thought out, well presented plan, that has the support of the student body through the presidents and discussions with them, and take that to the administration in an open dialogue.”

Phillips, former Helmsman for the House of Churchill, emphasized the importance of the individual voice to his campaign. He argued that the student body thrives most when they feel heard.

“When it comes to my platform, I have a single word that I think matters more than administration and the system—the individual,” Phillips said. “I think we really need to reconsider where the locus of change is coming from.”

Kaufmann, current Director of Student Organizations on the Cabinet, argued that a focus on systemic changes with communication between the administration and the student body is the key to positive change in the King’s community. 

“We all take a chance on King’s—a small, generally unknown school in a big city where life is expensive and hard,” Kaufmann said. “While I do love King’s, I don’t always like it. We’ve chosen to make King’s our home. We need to start taking the things that we don’t like and the things that frustrate us and we need to act.”

In attempt to bridge the gap between the administration and the student body, Kaufmann advocated for forums where students could come and express the concerns they see in their day-to-day life as a King’s student.

“When administrative changes are being made, the administration does have a responsibility to let us know what’s going on and to provide reason for the change,” Kaufmann said. “We’ve talked a lot about systems versus relationships, and I think there needs to be a blend of both.”

Ashley acknowledged that he once thought of the relationship between the administration and the student body as a direct democracy, but now sees it as a more of a “family” dynamic.

“I think of it more as a family with parents and children,in a sense that we are being raised by this institution. We are being raised to think and articulate our opinions and have the right principles,” Ashley said. “At this institution, the administration has gone to great lengths to give us the tools we need to think well.” 

Phillips argued for more forms and surveys to collect data on student satisfaction to try to fully understand students’ needs and wants and present them to the administration. 

“No one is the enemy, the administration wants us to succeed,” Phillips said. “The SBP needs to be armed to the nail with all of the information they can have about what the needs of the student body are.” 

Kaufmann and Ashley agreed that there should be an effort to bring back fall retreat, and both argued for opportunities for other spiritual growth activities to replace it for the 2020-2021 school year. Phillips, on the other hand, believed that the dismissal of fall retreat was a good decision and allows for more opportunity for spiritual growth in the future. 

“If we’re talking about spiritual formation and community building, we can have smaller, house-led retreats that I think will carry more weight,” Phillips said. 

In response to the question of minority representation and recognition at King’s, all three candidates agreed that there needed to be more. 

Ashley proposed a program in which minority students could come and train for student leadership positions in order to allow for more diversity in statesmanship. Phillips suggested that the student body take three actions when attempting to solve the problem of minority under representation—supporting, advocating and listening. 

Kaufmann promptly responded by saying, “With all due respect to Colin, listening is cheap unless there is action attached to that.”

All three candidates agreed that the Student Body President needs to work to make constructive change that properly benefits the interests of the student body. 

“Our ideas matter. Your ideas matter. The person you elect will affect the path the student body takes next year and for the students that come in the following years,” Ashley said. “I encourage you, as you consider your vote, evaluate the three of us in three key areas—our competence, our ideas and our experience.”