SGA Election 2026: Candidates Talk Safety, Transparency and the Future of UD
(Photo via University of Dayton)
TJ Thompson | Editor-in-Chief
Gabriel Ward | Sports Editor
DAYTON, Ohio – As the University of Dayton’s Student Government Association election prepares to finish, two different candidate tickets are vying for the roles of president and vice president. Each ticket has its own goals and visions for how they want to represent the student body next academic year.
In order to help students understand where the candidates stand when it comes to key issues, both pairings were interviewed about their goals, why they are qualified, and their main priorities if they are elected.
Their answers to these questions are presented below in a Q&A format.
Ticket 1: Alexa McDade (President) and Alexandra O’Rourke (Vice President)
Q: There is a disconnect between SGA and the student body, so how do you plan to improve communication between both parties?
A: With concerns about the gap between SGA and the student body, we plan to improve communication through dedicating time and resources to an “inbox” for student issues and making SGA officials more visible. I, Alexandra, have worked in political offices before, where my sole job was to read constituent mail and report to the elected officials the issues and opinions of constituents. What stops us from doing something like that for SGA? If there were a dedicated communication channel for the student body to reach SGA, communication would be smoother. On top of that, we want to make sure Alexa and I are known on campus, and not only known, but reachable. We want to make sure that every person on campus not only knows us but feels comfortable talking to us about their concerns and issues on campus.
Q: What do you think is the biggest safety issue facing campus now? How do you plan to fix it?
A: The biggest safety issue facing campus right now is the lack of trust between our community and community officials. You wouldn’t typically think of that as a safety issue, right? Think about it this way: the first time most students meet campus safety officials is during an emergency or times of crisis. That’s never a great time to get to know who is in charge of keeping you safe. Alexa and I believe that the safety crisis starts with the disconnect between students and public safety officials. When trust can be built beforehand, such as public safety visibility before times of crisis, the community can be safer than before.
Q: What is your main goal if you were to become president and vice president of SGA? What will be your top priorities?
A: Our main goals will be to address the safety and transparency crisis on campus. Our top priority is to ensure that every student, no matter who they are, feels safe and sees the transparency of SGA and administration. We hope that when we both leave office, students can say that they feel safer on campus and know their SGA officers better than before.
Q: How do you plan to improve all aspects of campus life? Whether that be housing, mental health, cost, etc?
A: The majority of the issues with campus life boil down to transparency and accountability. One of the major issues of campus life that we have not hit on yet is housing. The housing issue was the lack of transparency of the new process, as well as the lack of student involvement in creating the new system of housing. Alexa and I can address this problem by fostering more communication from officials about the changes in housing, from newsletters to social media posts, as well as hosting a town hall or even sending out an SGA survey regarding the students’ views of the housing process. Here, changes in housing become transparent and accountable, making the community better as a whole.
Q: What makes you two qualified to hold these positions on campus? What are your past leadership experiences?
A: Alexa was an SGA Sophomore representative and is the Director of Public Safety Outreach. Beyond that, she’s a desk attendant for the residence halls as well as a 2024-2025 Statehouse Civic Scholar and participates in so many clubs that I cannot name them all. I, Alexandra O’Rourke, am the founding member and academic chair for Future Women in Law and a pitcher for club softball. We know what it is like to lead, work hard, and make the community around us better.
Q: What pushed you to run for SGA positions now?
A: After seeing the need in our community this past year, we knew that we needed to lead a change. Simply put, we decided to take that leap forward. Alexa has always been passionate about SGA, and I have always been passionate about serving my community. Together, we were driven to serve.
Q: What is something I didn’t ask that you want students to know about you guys when they place their ballots?
A: I have a really cool pet fish, and Alexa has cool stickers on the back of her laptop. But on a more serious note, Alexa and I are here to serve you, the people of UD. We would be extremely humbled and grateful to get to serve you all!
Ticket 2: Gabrielle Davis (President) and Vivian Ahern (Vice President)
Because Davis’ and Ahern’s interviews were done separately, they each gave their own responses.
Davis:
Q: Why are you running now?
A: I have a hard time sometimes seeing myself in positions of leadership, just because I grew up not seeing a lot of people who look like me in leadership positions. When I joined SGA, I never saw myself doing more than what I’m currently doing now. I kind of got the push to do it last semester after seeing some of the misunderstanding and ignorance towards specific groups on campus. I decided that I love UD too much to not put my name in the hat for change that I see is possible. It feels like the next right step for me. I’m doing it afraid, regardless of the outcome.
Q: What do you see as the main issue plaguing certain groups on campus and the reaction towards them?
A: I would say that it’s more so a lack of understanding. People were really quick to make a lot of assumptions. I think sometimes the university has a previous history of just using disrespectful language towards Black people in general. I’ve never felt very comfortable with the word townie. I’ve never felt very comfortable with calling the neighborhood the ghetto. It became very obvious when people were on anonymous sites saying things that they’ve obviously felt this entire time. I’d love to make that less common with any organization that’s feeling overlooked or misunderstood. When groups start seeing one another more, they understand each other more. When they start to have more conversations, it becomes a lot more uncomfortable to be disrespectful.
Q: What do you see as a big issue facing campus right now and what is your plan to fix it?
A: A lot of the platform that me and Viv are running on revolves around transparency within SGA because I think people don’t know what SGA does. I think bringing more awareness to SGA and the advocacy projects that senators work so hard on will help with a lot of the issues that people are seeing on campus. Housing is a big thing. Parking is always a big thing. I want SGA to become more of a focal point and place people can go for information. I want people to actually know the student government can execute these things.
Q: Do you have other plans on how you’re going to try and close the gap between the student body and SGA?
A: I’d love to do SGA hours in student spaces where people can just come and literally talk to us. That’s a really important deal for me. Another plan is we want to be more consistent with our communication, weekly Senate updates that aren’t just pictures of us, but also how Senate works. Another big thing for me is empowering future leaders. If we can instill that inspiration in other people to continue on the path and the journey that we are setting, I think that’s super important.
Q: How will you ensure the next university president maintains a connection with SGA?
A: SGA has a really good connection with a lot of administration. I think the new president we just do it the exact same way. We build that relationship. We say, please come to Senate. Please talk to us. I will look for the qualities that I know students want in a leader. President Spina has set a really good example of how it looks to be involved with the student community and with SGA. We can look for those qualities in the next person.
Q: If you disagree with university leadership, how will you advocate for students during this time of change?
A: You shouldn’t agree with every single thing your leaders are doing. Part of being SGA president is sometimes being the only student voice in the room. I can’t advocate for students if I don’t know what they want. I feel fully prepared and equipped to take those concerns that students are having back to administration and saying, “This is what I’m hearing.” I can’t guarantee a result, but I can guarantee my promise to at least try.
Q: What has changed for you that makes you feel qualified to hold this position now?
A: I have spent since the summer before my freshman year working at City Hall. I’ve spent a lot of time learning from the Dayton community and learning how to hone my skills and be confident in my leadership abilities. Outside of SGA, I am one of two student liaisons for CoPilots, a mental health peer education organization. That has given me a lot of time to listen to students and advocate for students. I think one of the most humbling things you can do is serve in a leadership position.
Q: Is there anything else you want people to know about you or your goals?
A: I think people are ready for change in all aspects. I’m not a political science major. I’m not trying to work in Washington, DC, after I graduate. But I am very passionate about people and very passionate about the university. I think that’s really all it takes to begin to feel prepared for this position. I’m just hoping that people are excited for a fun year.
Ahern:
Q: When did you join SGA?
A: I joined SGA my freshman year. I was elected as a freshman representative about two weeks after school started. And then I was elected as a sophomore representative again this year.
Q: What made you want to join so quickly?
A: I was in leadership in high school. I love being the bridge between students and administration and faculty, making sure that everybody’s voices are heard, especially if they don’t feel comfortable doing it themselves.
Q: What is your plan to bridge the gap between students and SGA, and then from students through SGA to the administration?
A: The vice president kind of does the student body to SGA, and then the president does SGA to administration. My main concern is that a lot of people don’t know how SGA can best support them. I think being a part of SGA is more than just taking the ideas from someone else and implementing them. It’s also empowering people to lead themselves and become leaders for their communities who feel like they’re underrepresented.
Q: What is your plan to make those people feel more represented?
A: I believe that it would be more helpful to our larger school community to hold more town halls. So town halls are where administration comes in, and students are able to attend Senate and speak to them directly. I would also like to be more active in our student organizations, especially with special interest groups. Right now, as a senator, the biggest complaint I’ve gotten about feeling that disconnect is from students of color. And that’s extremely important to me that those voices are heard.
Q: What would your administration do to build understanding between students and special interest groups?
A: Safety is of utmost priority. There is a genuine issue with racism on this campus and it’s blatant and it’s outright. How we bridge that gap is through education, making sure people have the facts of an incident. When you’re giving students the information and the knowledge they need to feel safe. If we can apply the standards and civility UD guidelines to things like anonymous apps, we would have a concrete way to track these incidents and make sure they’re being dealt with.
Q: What are other issues on campus you want to tackle early on?
A: The number one thing I want to do is raise awareness about how people can get their concerns heard and make tangible change. My internal goal would be to track senators’ advocacy projects more rigorously. When people graduate from the University of Dayton, I want them to be proud of the place they came from and feel as if they had the resources to succeed.
Q: Could you summarize what those advocacy projects are?
A: Last year, the library hours were shortened. We brought the concern to the dean of the library and his staff. Eventually, we did get the hours extended. One I’m working on right now is ring doorbell cameras. Previously, UD had ring doorbell cameras on a list of banned devices for the Wi-Fi. We’re in the process of getting it taken off the banned list and actually having it be an encouraged item. Having those cameras would give students a lot of peace of mind.
Q: How do students get items on your radar for these advocacy projects?
A: Town hall is when a bunch of students are encouraged to talk to the administration. Every week during Senate on Sundays, those are all open to anyone who’s a UD affiliate.
Q: Why do you feel this is your next step in SGA?
A: The last two people who have held the office of vice president both served as senators before, so they saw both ends of it. I believe that perspective is crucial for the office. As somebody who has that relationship already with members of administration and a senator at this current point, I feel like I am able to take the jump while not sacrificing any of the advocacy work.
Q: Is there anything else you would like people to know?
A: I want to put an emphasis on creating leaders for the future. Step into that space that you’re uncomfortable in and take the opportunity to lead and create the change that you want to see. When you want to build your community to include everybody, there have to be leaders from everywhere.
Both tickets are offering their own vision for the future of student leadership at UD. Since the publishing of this article, voting has closed.