SGA presidential candidate Maximiliano Carranza touted his determination to finish SGA projects started under his leadership while his opponent Haley Heath called for a change in leadership for the next semester during the SGA debates Friday.

The debates were produced by SGA and taped for airing on Channel 6. President, vice president of finance, executive vice president and vice president of operations candidates squared off during the debates.

Carranza is the current SGA president.

The SGA reserve account was a major issue for the presidential candidates.

“We don’t need to keep all this money,” Carranza said. “This is the students’ money we’re just saving. We’d be wise to use it on capital improvement projects – big projects.”

Heath agreed.

“The reserve account is too large,” Heath said. “We’re just keeping it and not giving it back. I’d like to see that money go back into Student Activity Fee Allocation funds.”

Carranza said moving the money back into SAFA was impossible because of the timing of the allocation, to which Heath said the money could go toward next year’s funding.

On current SGA projects, Carranza said he was the best candidate to continue the work.

“I think I’m the most knowledgeable person with all these projects,” Carranza said. “I don’t think someone can come in and just pick these up.”

Heath countered by using Carranza’s experience against him.

“My opponent likes to make it seems he’s been the only one fighting for students for the past two years,” Heath said. “I think it would be good for President [Lu] Hardin and the university to hear from a new person.

“Max is not the only one on campus willing to fight for students,” Heath said. “I am capable.”

Carranza said it would be foolish for him to say he’s been the only one fighting for students for two years.

“But the relationships I have with administration haven’t been easy to create,” Carranza said.

Vice president of finance

Senior Class Sen. Roby Butler and Junior Class Sen. Kyle Reynolds are running for vice president of finance, a position currently held by Matt Henry.

“It seems SGA spends a lot of money, but you have to understand it’s the students’ money,” Reynolds said.

Butler agreed it was the students’ money, but disagreed with how it should be spent.

“The problem is there are 12,000 students,” Butler said. “It’s not feasible to fund [the students]when they come and ask for large amounts.”

On the issue of the reserve account, Reynolds again spoke about the importance for SGA to keep in mind they were dealing with the students’ money.

“The students are paying money to SGA and it’s not being spent,” Reynolds said. “We don’t need to let the reserve account grow at the rate it’s grown in the past. It’s students money that isn’t being spent.”

Butler said he wanted to see the money spent on long-term projects.

“I don’t want SGA to spend the money, I want them to invest,” Butler said. “It’s a big difference. I want to see how it affects us in the long run.”

Butler concluded by saying he’d like to see the student fee decreased so it could be “given back to the students by not [being]taken from them in the first place.”

Executive vice president

Sophomore Class Vice President Drew Aylesworth and Junior Class Sen. Eduardo Aguilar are running for executive vice president, a position currently held by Haley Heath.

Both candidates agreed the move to Division I was a good step for UCA, but criticized the handling of the men’s soccer program.

“It’s hard for [the]soccer [team]to say we’re Division I when they don’t have their own soccer stadium,” Aguilar said.

Aylesworth agreed.

“It’s sad to see them play on the intramurals field,” Aylesworth said. “I heavily agree with getting the soccer team a stadium.”

However, the two disagreed on the role of senators in SGA when it comes to students.

“I’d like to put students on committees,” Aylesworth said. “We should put non-SGA members on there.”

Aguilar disagreed.

“Sometimes students don’t have time with academics and jobs,” Aguilar said. “All of us are students, regardless of what we do for SGA.”

Vice president of operations

Jeremiah McLaughlin and Lisa Porterfield are running for vice president of operations. McLaughlin is currently a primary senator at large.

Porterfield is the incumbent.

McLaughlin said he wants to put the student voice back in SGA while Porterfield said more communication is the real issue.

McLaughlin said it was important the students are well represented.

Channel 6 is broadcasting the debates starting this week. An official schedule was not available by press time.