SBP final speeches address concerns, strengths

Financial District, NEW YORK--King's students gathered in the City Room Wednesday to hear the candidates for Student Body President, Maxine Fileta ('15), Jonathan Lile ('15) and Lucinda Sweazey ('15), deliver their final speeches. Current Student Body President Peter Flemming ('14) kicked off the event by praying for the candidates and introducing the first speaker, Jonathan Lile.

Lile began by addressing concerns raised by his platform, the first being that it's too vague. He noted that this is exactly what he hoped for, as he does not want to be elected for making "lofty promises," and he went on to offer three things that he hopes to accomplish during his time as president. First, he would encourage student participation in council meetings. Second, he would encourage house presidents to elect someone in their house specifically to cultivate alumni relations. Third, he would work with Student Development to elect students to represent various parts of the school to donors.

Lile also addressed the concern that, as current President of the House of Ronald Reagan, he only cares about the success of his house."I'm about the success of everyone at TKC," Lile said.

Finally, Lile claimed that the role of SBP is not to be an administrator, and that while the other candidates have proven themselves able administrators, if elected he would be a leader, which is the true calling of the SBP.

Lucinda Sweazey ('15) took the podium next and defined the role of SBP,  contrary to what Lile said, as a representative externally and a manager internally. She recounted her experience planning this year's Fall Retreat, overseeing and participating in spiritual life committees and explained that her various roles throughout her time at Kings mean that she knows "how things get done at this college."

Sweazey also mentioned building alumni relations, but unlike Lile's proposal to add an alumni ambassador to each specific house, she proposed appointing a director of alumni relations from the cabinet members, who would work with house presidents to cultivate alumni relationships. Sweazey concluded her remarks with the promise that "a campus puppy is in the works."

The final candidate to speak was Maxine Fileta ('15). Fileta began by saying that it is important for students to understand the visions that are cast by the candidates. She then walked over to the whiteboard and drew out what she called the three facets of The King's College: leadership, academia and student life.

She explained that the cabinet and house presidents make up leadership, the PPE, MCA and Business majors encapsulate academia and that solidarity is the integral feature of student life. She then went on to cite her contributions to student life which include planning events like New Student Orientations, Powderpuff Football and Valentine's Day on Ice. She closed with an appeal to the students in attendance, asking them to "join [her] in pursuing enrichment."

Following the speeches, Annette Turnbaugh ('17) said, "I came to the speeches to figure out who I wanted to vote for. People have different backgrounds…do you trust the background, or do you trust what they say that they're going to do? I think that's the big question."

Former SBP Samuel Tran ('14) who spent the Fall 2013 Semester studying at Oxford, said, " It's fun to be away from Kings and back to see the enthusiasm we have had this past year, and the direction that the students want to take us going into the future. I'm really excited to see how things turn out on Wednesday."

The candidates'  final speeches are now available via The King's College YouTube channel.  Voting for the '14-'15 SBP, which is now live on the student portal, closes at midnight on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The winner of the SBP election will be announced this coming Wednesday. If no candidate receives 50 percent of the votes plus one, the candidate with the fewest votes will be dropped from the race, and a runoff will take place between the top two candidates.