The Student Government Association Election Commission will hold elections for SGA president and vice-president on April 4, 5 and 6. Three students are running for president, and two students are running for vice president. The SGA Election Commission will hold online elections as it did last year. Students can vote at any time during the election through the Nicholls website. Students will need their student identification number and PIN.

Campaigning will begin on March 17, and a forum will be held on March 20 for the candidates to announce their platforms to the students.

Candidates for president are Damian Breaux, athletic training junior from Lockport and current SGA president; Tristan Robert, biology sophomore from Utah; and Steve Escobar, business administration junior from Nicaragua.

Candidates for vice-president are Brittni Lipscomb, birth to 5/early interventionist education junior from Gonzales, and Tamara Caillouet, culinary sophomore from Oberlin.

This is the first time since the spring of 2002 that SGA presidential candidates will have to campaign. Previous presidents have run unopposed.

Breaux, who served as a senator before becoming president, said he decided to run again to finish what he has started as SGA president.

“There is always a transition period during the fall semester,” Damian said. “We have just started what I wanted to accomplish, which is getting out of the senate meetings and into the student body itself.”

Breaux is running on a platform of honesty.

“Most people are going to run with a platform of what they want to get done,” Breaux said. “I just want to continue with what we are doing. I am not going to make any promises that I cannot keep.”

Robert is a former senator, but resigned in Fall of 2004 because of a conflicting lab class. Robert said if elected he will focus on reorganizing the Senate.

“I have seen the SGA fall apart from the inside,” Robert said. “A large part of it is that we do not have a Senate, and the Senate is where all the power is. We need to increase the members in the Senate.”

Robert said his campaign strategy will focus on getting his name known.

“I realize I am a dark horse candidate,” Robert said. “A lot of people do not know me on campus, but I think I can do a better job as president.”

Escobar said he is running because change is needed.

“I want to see a radical change,” Escobar said. “I want to see the SGA, as it exists, to disappear.”

Escobar, who has been a senator for three years, said the problem with the current SGA is that the students do not have a voice.

“I want to give the government back to the students,” Escobar said. “I feel like the student government is just run by the senators, but the students are part of the SGA too.”

The race for vice-president is between candidates who have experience in the SGA Senate.

Caillouet said her experience in SGA will provide her with expertise needed to fill the role of vice-president.

“I have been a senator for several years, but I always wanted to do more,” Caillouet said. “Student government has been accused of serving itself so much, I would like to see more done for the students.”

Caillouet said she will decide on her platform and campaign strategy after the candidate meeting, which was held yesterday.

“Whenever I get in there I will get a feel for what I am looking at and decide on a platform from there,” Caillouet said.

Lipscomb, who has previously served as SGA vice-president, vice-president pro-tem and senator, said as vice-president she would work at making the SGA more proficient.

“My main focus is to give a backbone to the Senate,” Lipscomb said. “Right now, the systems of doing things are not efficient. We could make meetings go faster. We could have the students more informed.”

Lipscomb did not want to reveal her campaign strategy at press time.

“I don’t want to say too much before our candidate meeting,” Lipscomb said.