The Student Government Association (SGA) held a debate featuring candidates hoping to secure the presidential and vice presidential roles for next semester’s administration.  

Christian Rangel, who is running for president, has been an SGA senator for two years, serves as the president and founder of Pioneer Tech Innovators. He is also an economic coach.

Rangel said he decided to run for president because he has witnessed two different administrations and finds the campaign process exciting. Additionally, he said he wants to make SGA the best organization on campus.

 His general platform is to run on what he calls inside-out initiatives. 

“Inside, I want to better communicate with SGA and the students and through administration,” Rangel said. “I want to hold town meetings every week alongside SGA meetings. I want our meetings out in the open, and I just want better visibility within the community.”

On the outward side of things, Rangel said he wants to enhance Point Park’s visibility. 

“[I want to] get our school community involved in initiatives outside campus, including Downtown,” Rangel said, “and I want to enhance public awareness of public safety and maintenance of facility infrastructure.”

Rangel mentioned the Ohio Student Government Summit (OSGS) in Akron, Ohio, a convention where several student government branches from nearby universities meet. Rangel said he would like to host one in Pittsburgh. 

“I would like to invite all the schools in the area and SGA organizations to Point Park for visibility,” Rangel said, “and just to collaborate and see how we can make each other’s schools better.” 

Elliot Geary, the current SGA treasurer and executive director for the campus activity board, is also running for president. They have held various officer positions in several campus organizations, such as the Honors Program and the Taylor Swift Society.

 “I was really inspired by the current administration and all of the work that they did, as well as my own time in SGA,” Geary said. “Working with student concerns and advocating for students with administration was really beneficial for me and felt like something I could continue to do very well.”

Their general platform is creating a better pathway of communication between students and administration.

“I think a lot of things get lost in translation whenever they’re put in place at the university,” Geary said. “I want to serve as a doorway between these two groups of people because understanding each other is very important. And open communication is something that I really strongly encourage.” 

In order to have better communication, Geary said they want to prioritize face-to-face communication with administration, which they said will be the key to making sure students feel heard and can give feedback.

Additionally, Geary wants to focus on ensuring that Point Park protects diversity initiatives as well as ensuring the university is a great space for anyone who attends it. 

Riley Mahon, also running for president, has held a senator position in SGA for two terms and is the co-president and founder of Young Eco-Socialists Club.

“I decided to run for president because I have been involved in the student government since I first got to Point Park, and I’ve seen what a great organization it is,” Mahon said. “Other students have been asking me to run for president since last year, and I think that my work in politics outside of school gives me a unique perspective and understanding that I could use to be effective in this role.”

Mahon’s campaign platform focuses on pushing university facilities to use more renewable energy as well as reducing the use of single-use plastics on campus. 

“In terms of what green energy initiatives I want to implement, this is something I will have to talk about more with the administration before I can give any details, because I’m not entirely sure what the available options are,” Mahon said. “Anything that we can do to reduce our carbon footprint, especially in a way that aligns with the strategic plan, is something that I think would be worth pursuing.”

Another big focus of Mahon’s is to see how much SGA as an organization can fight back against the Trump administration policies that affect DEI and the price of student loans. He said it’s unclear how much power SGA has to affect such decisions, but notes that it must not be impossible, since the school is a private institution.

Additionally, Mahon would like to see SGA get more proactive with receiving feedback from students.

“It is important that we are seen out there more often actively soliciting feedback because that’s a much better way to get an idea of what is actually representative of the student body’s opinion,” Mahon said.

Madigan Balfe, who is running for vice president, has been an SGA senator for almost a year. Her senatorship was a departure from her previous leadership positions, as those were primarily involved in theater. However, due to her past experience, Balfe says her strengths in time management, confidence and organizational skills will be beneficial for SGA. 

Additionally, she decided to run for vice president because she hadn’t heard many people talking about running for the position. However, after talking to others, including many of the candidates running, she decided the vice president would be the role that fit best.

She said she believes outreach is incredibly important for SGA. 

“We’re all senators, we’re all [the executive] board or president or vice president, but none of those people are just students,” Balfe said. “And so, if you don’t have the outreach, how can you really know what every single student wants to see done?”

When talking about their role as vice president, Balfe said it’s all about supporting and upholding the current administration to get student initiatives done first.

Sienna Wraith, another vice presidential candidate, has also been involved in SGA for almost a year. They are the current president of the Point Park Tabletop Roleplaying Club and ran a club of their own in high school. They have held several leadership positions throughout their life. 

“I was honestly inspired to run because [there] was a distinct lack of lower classmen actually running for positions,” Wraith said. “After talking it out with current people on [the executive cabinet] in SGA, they really inspired me to believe that I had the confidence and the ability to be a competent vice president.”

Wraith said they believe the biggest strengths they bring to the table are communication, leadership and a new perspective. 

“Not only am I very new to Point Park, I am also very new to the city of Pittsburgh itself, considering I come from very far out of the state of Pennsylvania,” Wraith said.“Bringing a new perspective on Point Park from a new generation of students just starting to come into being adults and being out on their own for the first time is very valuable and would shine a light on new issues,” Wraith said. 

Voting for the candidates opened March 31 and will close April 4 at 11:59 p.m. SGA will be posting a QR code on Instagram as well as hanging flyers with the QR code that will lead to the voting form.