Four Student Government Association presidential candidates sat on Sunday in front of a metaphorical firing squad: the staff of The Butler Collegian.

The presidential hopefuls gathered to debate their plans for the upcoming school year and answer a slew of questions by Collegian editors and reporters.

All four candidates offered interesting  proposals for 2013, but one took a decisive victory in the staff vote.

We at The Collegian believe sophomore Michael Keller fits the bill as the best option for next year’s president.

Keller, a member of Delta Tau Delta, offers the student body several valuable qualities. He is a relatively new member of Student Government Association, so he brings an outsider’s perspective.

But his experience as a member of Finance Board and as treasurer of his class means he is also familiar with the bureaucracy.

In the coming year, Butler University’s student body will need someone who can offer big changes to SGA.

That leader will also need to navigate meetings with President Jim Danko and other top administrators.

We believe Keller has the most potential as both a fresh pair of eyes and someone with the experience and charisma to manage SGA’s affairs.

SGA seems to find itself still adjusting to open meetings, which are new this year.

And only a small percentage of representatives  appear to vote on issues.

Keller seems most ready to combat these and other issues facing both student government and the Butler community as a whole.

For one, he offered the bold promise that he would make himself the most accessible, communicative president in the history of Butler’s student government.

The self-proclaimed student government nerd also brought specific ideas and solutions to some of the issues brought up by students.

Keller plans to better involve independents in student government by engaging them where they live.

His plan involves giving more responsibility and prominence to residence hall governments.

He points out that some students do not know if their dormitory even has a representative, much less who fills that role.

He mirrored this specific approach in his other responses.

Of all the candidates, when asked questions about complex issues, Keller identified what he thought was most at fault and vowed decisive action.

Keller wants to instate a conflict of interest policy for the grants committee while  clearing up some confusion over recent changes.

He also strives to improve the energy and talking points of SGA meetings, keeping the meetings interesting.

He also wants to work with Information Technology to create a smart-phone application with an interactive calendar of SGA events.

If students can have information pushed to their phones, Keller believes more will get involved.

The new president will not just affect this coming year but years to come.

Whoever wins needs to make sure to set a strong precedent of listening to students, addressing their concerns and improving transparency.

The Collegian staff feels Keller will do just that.

On Monday, Butler University students will hit the polls ready to vote for the next Student Government Association president.

For those reading this very editorial, they’re seeing the giant headline that shows that the staff of The Collegian approves of Mike Keller and found him to be the best-suited candidate in the election.

You’ll see that six staff members abstained. I am one of those six.

Abstinence is the way to go with endorsements, especially during a fragile time in media.

Throughout my time practicing journalism at this fine institution, I’ve been told countless times to never let the source or the reader know what I’m thinking unless I’m appearing on an opinion page, and even then, I should know when not to cross any lines.

News outlets seem to just ignore those lines and slap their stamp of approval on a candidate just because it’s election season or because it’s the tradition.

Regardless of the tradition of endorsing a candidate, there’s no place in the newspapers for special treatment of
anyone.

The most that a newspaper endorsement can do is to tell people which candidate they should vote for.

That’s why candidates have press secretaries.

If a candidate wants to get ahead in the race, stop talking to the newspaper and start showing why he or she will be the best SGA president ever.

Credibility with the press is at an all-time low with Americans, according to the annual Pew Research poll on the media. Only 38 percent of Americans view news media outlets as moral.

At this time where all media outlets—The Collegian included—are working to improve their reputation for balanced news coverage, it is a step in the wrong direction to back a candidate.

By putting our staff support toward a candidate, those at The Collegian may have damaged the ability to look fair, balanced and level-minded when covering the remainder of the election and next year’s SGA.

A candidate who didn’t receive The Collegian endorsement could say that any future coverage of him or her was not in a fair
light.

And if Keller wins, we run the risk of him thinking that we’re never going to question any of his
actions.

Endorsing a candidate jeopardizes the credibility and reputation of future coverage in The
Collegian.

My tenure as The Butler Collegian’s editor in chief has contained its fair share of nail-biters, challenges and joys.

Leading this influential student organization is a challenging job—much like the role of Student Government Association president.

Granted, holding government accountable and actually governing are two different things, but learning from this experience has taught me what it takes to be a good leader in any position.

Confidence, experience and enthusiasm are key traits to being successful in a top leadership position.

Kelsa Reynolds exemplifies these traits, which qualifies her as the best candidate in this year’s SGA presidential race.

The Butler Collegian endorsed her opponent, Mike Keller, largely because of Reynolds’ failure to provide specific plans in The Collegian’s debate on Sunday, but her track record speaks for itself.

Reynolds has the most experience and holds the highest leadership role of any of her opponents. She currently serves as the vice president of operations and oversees all the inner workings of SGA. She communicates well  and is a problem-solver.

She also was largely responsible for expanding SGA’s student shuttle program, something I’d consider to be SGA’s biggest recent triumph.

At first, Reynolds turned me off because I thought SGA would stay stagnant under her leadership, but saying whether that is a bad thing or not is impossible.

When I took the reigns of The Collegian in May, a part of me wanted to make big changes, but I realized that vastly improving the quality of the system that we already had in place would be the most effective way to create change.

Good leaders have to be Teflon-skinned, too—a skin I’ve grown into over the past year.

In his role as SGA president this year, Al Carroll had a voice in several  important conversations and experienced the joys of student leadership, but he also had the tough job of dealing with The Collegian each week.

The Collegian has rightly held Carroll accountable for some of this year’s flaws and hiccups, which can be  a tough pill to swallow.

In the end, criticism comes hand in hand with success. I’m a big believer that skeptical journalism is absolutely necessary for a democracy to function at its highest level, but it goes both ways.

I’m confident that Reynolds, given her experience working with Collegian reporters and editors, will be able to handle scrutiny with a thick skin, just like I am expected to do each week.

Reynolds would also break a streak of male SGA presidents at Butler. Of the past 21 SGA presidents, only five have been female, which is a heinous ratio.

Belonging to what some call the fairer sex does not play a role in the capacity to have great leadership skills, and after training under both male and female editors, I’ve learned that collaboration and competence make a great leader, not identifying as a certain gender.

But in a world dominated by men, female leaders get to be trailblazers for those who are disadvantaged because of their gender.

Reynolds can be that trailblazer for Butler’s SGA after years of male presidents.

When she speaks, she commands the attention of the audience and holds the ability to inspire other female leaders at Butler.

Because of the experience she brings to the table and her track record, I’ll be voting for Kelsa Reynolds on Election Day in the hopes that she will unite Butler’s campus and serve as a competent leader for next year’s student body.

Reynolds, regardless of the election’s outcome, I hope you continue to be as forthcoming as you have been this year to The Collegian when reporters come knocking on your door.

As an independent, I sometimes feel underrepresented in Student Government Association, since Greek students hold a lot of the organization’s leadership positions.

Of course, not being a member of any official groups outside of the newspaper probably contributes to this feeling.

If independents like myself want to see better representation in leadership positions, we have to better organize ourselves in this SGA election.

Some groups, like Greek houses, do have more natural organization, especially if the members are living together, but no one has reason to cry foul when Greek houses vote for their members.

Instead, independents need to get to know the candidates the old-fashioned way, like watching the Collegian’s debate online.

Some independents perceive discrimination against themselves.

It is beyond the scope of this column to argue either way on that issue.

But one way to improve the representation of independents on campus is for them to simply take part in the campaign and events in general.

Butler University is a small community, and non-Greek students make up a large majority of the student body—as much as 75 percent, according to Butler’s website.

Two of the four current candidates for SGA president specifically placed independent concerns in their platforms.

“As SGA president, I would work relentlessly toward increased communication and cooperation between Greek students and independent students,” sophomore Katie Palmer said.

Junior Kelsa Reynolds agreed.

“I will strongly support Greek philanthropy events and independent students’ sponsored programming,” Reynolds said.

Independents clearly have a stake in this election and candidates have taken notice.

Yet some independents still feel they are underrepresented.

Members of Greek houses hold a lot of leadership positions, but this is a consequence of their natural organization.

Especially for Greek houses, the chapter members frequently live with one another.

That spells out more exposure to potential Greek candidates.

This cuts both ways, of course.

Anyone who knows a candidate outside of his or her political aspirations is just as guilty as any fraternity or sorority member.

To be perfectly honest, I voted for Al Carroll last year because I know him personally.

That is not to say that anyone, Greek or not, picks their candidate based on friendship alone.

But knowing the presidential hopeful personally gives the voter insight into which candidate he or she is choosing.

Attend the SGA meeting on Wednesday, go to the debate and read up on the platforms of the candidates.

The campaign is only just getting started, so we have plenty of opportunities.

In elections today, the politicians running want to create distance from Washington and convince the electorate they are the ‘outsider’ that will change government.

But when it comes to our Student Government Association elections, it is better for a candidate to have as much experience than the other candidates and be considered the ‘insider’ in the race.

The student body runs the risk of voting in someone unaware of what needs to be fixed inside SGA, while the person with little experience might also slow down any momentum with projects that were headed into the finals stages of completion during the previous administration.

The SGA presidential race is set for Feb. 27.  James Schubert, chairman of the Elections Oversight Committee, announced the SGA president candidates this past weekend.

Josh Grant, former co-chair of R.E.A.C.H. and former representative for College Republicans; Mike Keller, a member of the SGA Finance Board; Katie Palmer, chair of the Academic Affairs Committee in the Council on Presidential Affairs; and Kelsa Reynolds, SGA Vice President of Operations are the four candidates.

All four candidates are bringing distinct perspectives and experiences into the presidential race.

Reynolds provides an analysis of SGA through her time serving on the executive committee while Palmer and Keller currently each serve on branches of SGA.

Grant, though not holding a position currently, offers opinions from the time served in R.E.A.C.H.

Students on campus should elect someone who has more experience than the other contenders.  It is very important, especially when dealing with projects that take time to organize and implement by the SGA executive committee that the student body votes for someone that understands and knows what is going on.

Former president Christopher Ring said, “I believe SGA board experience is most important going into being SGA President.

“I think you have a better understanding of the organization’s infrastructure, the way in which money is handled, and the time required of the position.”

The president and the vice presidents have maybe six months to implement their ideas on campus. Ring makes a great point referencing the large budget SGA is responsible for. And, we would not want to see large portions of the SGA budget spent on a decision that was quickly made without sufficient experience and prior knowledge.

But I know there are others who do not share my outlook. Students want to see SGA go in a completely different direction, and would enjoy supporting a candidate that aligns with those views.

There is nothing wrong with a student that has never been to SGA assembly or served on a committee to quickly learn the procedures and then outline his or her vision for the next year.

While Kyle Inskeep, former vice president of R.E.A.C.H., said it is important for candidates to have prior experience, he said, “I think it is very possible that someone with little or no experience in SGA could do a great job as SGA President, but they would need to surround themselves with a great executive team and be prepared to overcome various obstacles and challenges that they could not have foreseen.”

I ultimately believe that it is better for SGA to have a president that knows what is going on and can continue the dialogue with administrators and faculty rather than having to start anew.

Kasper is the former chair of the Council on Presidential Affairs.

Butler University Student Government Association and Channel 13 WTHR teamedup on Sept. 22 to encourage students to vote and get involved in their community.

SGA held a voter registration drive and helped WTHR gain access to college students to get them to register to vote.

“SGA simply provided the man power that Channel 13 needed to make the event successful,” SGA President Chris Ring said.

Dean of Student Life Irene Stevens received the first contact from WTHR and forwarded the messages to SGA.

She said she thought it would be a great opportunity for SGA and Butler University to get involved in the community.

SGA is the governing student body on campus and found it important to get students interested in becoming part of the governing process on a higher level.

WTHR and SGA worked together and registered students who will hopefully vote in the upcoming election. Elections in November will determine one-third of the seats in the Senate and all of the seats in the House of Representatives.

Election day is Nov. 2. SGA does not have plans to hold another voter registration drive at the time, but Ring said he would be open to the idea.