Disclaimer: Camryn Wade is The Montclarion’s business manager, but she is not involved in editorial decisions.
The Student Government Association (SGA) at Montclair State University held a special election for a new treasurer earlier this week.
The former executive treasurer, Diana N. Anyansi, stepped down from the position due to personal reasons.
Only two candidates ran for the position, Jose Morales and Camryn Wade. Each one explained some of the strategies they used to earn people’s votes.
Morales, a junior business administration major, placed posters in many academic hall bulletin boards and spoke to students about what concerned them in regards to the distribution and management of finances. He also opened up an Instagram account, @jose4msu, that’s filled with information on his campaign and policies he will implement if elected.
“I see that the school needs to improve in many areas,” Morales said. “While good in many [areas], the need for improvement is clear. I want to cut any wasteful spending and put it into Wi-Fi. Commuter or not, the school’s Wi-Fi affects all students. I’d also like to fix some of the school buildings.”
Jose Morales, a junior business administration major, is one of the candidates running for SGA treasurer and he shares some of the areas he wants to improve if elected.
Kamil Santana | The Montclarion
Lately, students have been more vocal about certain issues at the university.
“The school has received backlash over its use of [27] million dollars to invest in an app,” Morales said. “At most, app development costs about $70,000.”
At the most recent university senate meeting, it was announced that $27 million dollars were to be invested in the Workday app to expand its accessibility campus-wide.
Morales said his past experience in sports management will be useful if he wins the election and he also wants to push for conscious spending of finances and transparency with the Montclair State student body.
“I will provide clear communication of where we’re putting money instead of wasting it,” Morales said. “On [voting day] you can choose if you want great Wi-Fi and to fix school buildings.”
Wade is a senior business administration major and is currently the Chief of Staff of the SGA.
She has held many leadership positions at Montclair State including organizations such as Greek Life, undergraduate admissions, The Montclarion and the Center for Student Involvement.
Camryn Wade, a junior business administration major, has been a a part of the financial departments of many organizations and is confident these roles will help her succeed if elected treasurer.
Photo courtesy of Camryn Wade
Wade explained how her experience will be beneficial if she wins the election.
“I also have been a part of the leadership for a while now, so I have seen the good and the bad of what’s been working well [and] what hasn’t,” Wade said. “And I feel like I’d be able to use that and help improve our financial policies, the way we go about our finances and really just creating a good support system for registered student organizations.”
Wade campaigned last week by talking to different student groups on campus about what they feel needs to improve.
“What I decided to do with campaigning is really just talking to students and seeing what they really need,” Wade said. “A big thing for me has also been trying to talk to different people and kind of see what we feel like is lacking so I can get a better view point on that.”
Hand-in-hand with the fulfillment of a treasurer role, Wade has handled the finances of many of the organizations she is a part of.
“I have a lot of background knowledge working with finances, which helps,” Wade said. “Within my sorority, we work with a budget and I help our treasurer do that. I’m the business manager for The Montclarion so I deal with all of our money and all of our budgets for the year; payroll and different things like that. This is not really something that is really new to me. It’s more of just a new perspective of it. I feel like the fact that I have extensive finance knowledge is going to help me out a lot.”
If elected as treasurer, Wade wants to fix financial woes at the root.
“Our policies were made a very long time ago and I think that they’re very much in need of an update,” Wade said. “So that’ll be one of the first things I would look into to, taking the next few weeks to sit down with our financial policies.”
The executive board did not comment on the special election, however Luisa Bicalho, the SGA attorney general and overseer of elections, explained her role in this special election.
“I will be overseeing the special election,” Bicalho said. “When looking for new candidates, I set up a meeting with the [SGA] president to review and run the application packet.”
Luisa Bicalho, SGA attorney general, is overseeing the special election.
Kamil Santana | The Montclarion
According to Bicalho, the entire undergraduate student body is allowed to vote. The voting window opens up on Nov. 14 at 12 a.m. and will close on Nov. 16 at 12 p.m.
After the votes are locked in and counted, the new SGA treasurer will be announced at 3 p.m. by the SGA legislative board.
