Benjamin Solis, a sophomore Albany, N.Y. native and political science and philosophy major, and junior Olin Grant Parker from Manhattan, Kan., a political science and viola performance major, emerged victorious from last week’s Student Government Association election. The two friends breathed a sigh of relief as staff writer Kaitlin Andorfer sat down with them to talk about their new positions, the current debates in SGA and an election that ensued much controversy. Andorfer got a glimpse into the goofier sides of Solis and Parker as she sat down for the interview among blow-up Halloween decorations, garden gnomes and turkey statues in Parker’s room to talk about what promises to be an exciting and fun-filled year ahead.
Chronicle: What was the campaign like? More work than you expected?
Olin Grant Parker: Ben and I decided to run together in January and it has been non-stop since then. We expected the work, but it was 100 percent bananas!
Ben Solis: Yeah a lot of hours! But the campaign helped us expand our knowledge of the students for next year.
Parker: We learned each individual group’s hopes and concerns. I enjoyed it. I met a lot of people I wouldn’t normally have met.
Chronicle: Why was there a revote in the first election?
Parker: SGA put in a rule this year because there were three tickets running that if you didn’t win 50 percent of the votes, you had to have a run-off. We actually won the first time, but we had to have a run-off because we missed the 50 percent mark by only 29 votes, which was very close. More people actually voted in the second election than voted all last year.
Solis: We had a record amount of voter turn out both times this year.
Chronicle: What do you think was the biggest problem in SGA last year and how do you plan to correct it?
Parker: The main problem last year was that people were getting too wrapped up in personal conflict. People stopped focusing on helping students and cared more about personal vendettas.Solis: Yeah, personal conflict was definitely getting in the way of our main goals.
Parker: The first thing we’re going to say at the first meeting is that everything is in the past and everything that happened last year is forgiven.
Solis: We’re also going to set up individual meetings with senators so we can find out what they want for SGA. We hope everyone is able to put all that happened in the past.
Chronicle: What are some of your goals as president and vice president?
Parker: Our main goals are to bring the campus together. We would really like to see SGA much more involved in the student body. We plan on setting up nine executive commissions that will specifically cater to the needs of areas like Greek life, minority representation, residential life, resident safety and commuter life. We are very excited about the potential tone of the school. A lot of students seem to express that they are unhappy here. While we agree that the Princeton Review wasn’t exactly a scientific pole, we want to reach out to those unhappy students and address the transfer rate. We plan to promote the overall quality of Hofstra life.
Solis: We also plan on bringing in non-SGA representatives to get fresh prospective.
Chronicle: How did you feel about the issues that the student body voted on such as religious holidays staying on the academic calendar and the exclusive contract with Coca-Cola?
Solis: Grant and I are of separate faith, I’m Jewish and he’s Lutheran, but we obviously feel that these holidays are important parts of students’ lives. We supported leaving them on the calendar.
Parker: We both voted against the exclusive Coca-cola contract. The students have said they do not want to be exclusive with Coca-Cola and obviously we will fight for what they want.
Chronicle: Do you both have interest in political careers in the future?
Solis: I would like to go to law school after this.
Parker: I’m 20 years old, I don’t know what I want to do in the future.