SGA presidential, vice presidential candidates engage in first debate

NEWS – The Parthenon

Filed under NEWS, ShowcaseAdvertisement
Close Modal Window




Close Modal Window


Student body presidential and vice presidential candidates debated the budget, relationships with international students, and community involvement during the first debate of the SGA election cycle Tuesday in Drinko Library’s atrium.
Incumbent student body president and vice president, Matt Jarvis and Emily Kinner, will face Alex Parlock, who is running for president, and his brother Daniel Parlock, who is running for vice presdient, in the upcoming election.
In a series of questions posed by election commissioner Sophia Mills, the candidates discussed topics ranging from Gov. Jim Justice’s proposed budget cuts to President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban, an executive order that barred immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, which has since been overturned by a federal court.
Jarvis said after the ban was announced he and a team, including Marshall University President Jerry Gilbert, constructed a message in support of the university’s international students.
Jarvis and Kinner’s platform emphasized promoting diversity.
“We can’t be ignorant to the world around us,” Jarvis said. “This travel ban affected students.”
The Parlock brothers, however, said Jarvis’ administration has neglected international students, citing sources they spoke to from Marshall’s INTO program.
“Some of our supporters went to INTO today, and INTO feels like they have been pushed to the side by the current administration,” Daniel Parlock said. “They feel like they have been forgotten.”
Jarvis held that he has kept in contact at least weekly with international students, claiming that he meets with students personally as well as with the presidents of their organizations.
“I have been meeting personally with these students and with the presidents of their organizations almost weekly, and I have been doing stuff intentionally,” Jarvis said. “We have Unity Month coming up in April.”
While relationships with international students was an important topic in ...

Read more