At a candidate forum in the shadow of the pandemic, goals are similar but the paths vary
February 19, 2021
From left to right: Declan Jones '21, Ashton Aveling '22, Destiny Magnett '22, Loyal Terry '22, Andy Kenley '22, Fernando Villatoro '22, Makaela Burch '22, and Lana Katai '21.
By Eva Hill
hilleva@grinnell.edu
It wasn’t the first SGA event to be held over WebEx, not by a long shot, but Thursday night marked the first time a new slate of presidential and vice-presidential candidates has been introduced entirely virtually to the Grinnell student body.
For over an hour, candidates Fernando Villatoro (running for president, unopposed), Andy Kenley and Loyal Terry (for vice president of student affairs), and Ashton Aveling and Makaela Burch (for vice president of academic affairs), all `22, outlined their platforms and answered questions sent in by students. Minus any pandemic-specific items, the objectives described would be familiar to anyone who’s attended an SGA candidate forum in the past: improving transparency, bolstering anti-racism efforts, amplifying the voices of students from marginalized groups and fostering accountability. But each candidate had different plans for how exactly they’d be the ones to achieve these goals that have for so long remained unsolved issues in the eyes of students.