Last Friday marked the end of 2025 elections for the Student Government Association (SGA), as well as the beginning of a scrutiny race for its winners.
At 10pm on Feb. 7, four names were called victorious at the pinnacle of Cater Hall: Riley Parman for Miss Auburn, Hailey Bergenthal for SGA Treasurer, Buckley Nettles for SGA Vice President and lastly, Owen Beaverstock for SGA President.
“I am so thankful that the Auburn student body has chosen to love me back,” said Parman after being named Miss Auburn.
Parman steps in during a turbulent time for the incoming adult generation. Those who grew up during the 2010s are now becoming adults, entering the workforce and graduating college; all while having a split attention on social justice, political chaos, environmental disaster, you name it. Adequately, Parman’s campaign focuses on challenging the “disbelief in our ability to solve big problems,” as stated in her submitted platform.
“I will create opportunities for students to identify and root themselves in their passions,” she continues.
“I would love to work with administrators to find a way to […] try to make [Miss Auburn] more accessible but also make her someone who is highlighting what students are already doing to cater to their passions, […] when they see their peers do it they know that they can too,” she answers, when asked about how exactly she will be creating these opportunities.
Look out for Riley Parman and her plans to create passion-finding opportunities for you.
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Hailey Bergenthal will be serving as the new SGA Treasurer, running unopposed.
“Being unopposed is a really weird situation,” said Bergenthal, “but I have spent this past week wanting to show the student body that the way I’ve campaigned is the way that I want to serve them, I tried to give it my all.”
Bergenthal served as the Assistant Vice President (AVP) of finance in the past year. When asked about specifics on how she’ll make the student body believe she is well suited for the SGA Treasurer position, she said she’ll “serve to [her] full capacity with this.”
In her platform, Bergenthal talks about investing in the Auburn students. Her proposal involves plan to “create a centralized website that houses all financial materials in a way that is easy for Auburn Students to navigate,” as stated in the document.
There is already a financial aid website provided by the university called AUSOM, yet it is mainly focused on scholarships. While other “financial materials” remained unspecified, the creation of this proposed website will be something to keep accountable.
Continuing to advocate for financial education, Bergenthal mentions in her platform she will “begin a speaker series,” informing students on the “wealth of alumni” being presumably poured onto current students.
Look out for Hailey Bergenthal and what “serving to full capacity” means for Auburn students.
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Buckley Nettles will be serving as the new SGA Vice President, taking a 59.79% of votes.
“The general student body doesn't know what SGA is actually here to accomplish,” Buckley states off-the-bat in her platform.
“I want to make sure every student is able to know who their senators are,” said Buckley when asked about her platform, “Every college has senators, and then we have five at large senators that represent the whole student body. I want to make sure that every student on this campus knows who their prospective senator is so they can voice their concerns for them.”
Her proposals focus on involvement and senate accessibility, her platform mentions a want to “increase education across campus on all branches, outreach and campus initiatives, and legislation.” A plan or policy to achieve a more accessible student government remains unspecified.
Look out for Buckley Nettles, and her promise of “promoting these pillars of communication, education, and participation.”
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Owen Beaverstock will serve as the new SGA President, taking 62.06% of votes.
“We made a lot of promises for how we were going to serve all of y’all, so now it's time for us to follow through on it,” said Beaverstock.
The promises mentioned on Beaverstock’s platform include “[create] an advising hotline for students to quickly find answers to questions, specifically tailored to registration and Tiger Scheduler,” “create an AVP of Health and Wellness within SGA to strengthen existing mental health programs on campus,” and “expand Blue Light systems and increase sidewalk lighting in areas surrounding the campus,” among others.
In addition to these proposals, a weight on the admissions process was mentioned.
“Propose a weight implementation or recommendation system on incoming applicants with in-state or generational ties to Auburn,” the platform reads.
When asked how Beaverstock will also advocate for out-of-state and foreign students, should his proposal be implemented, he replied: “We’re all about making Auburn a better institution, a more competitive institution by staying true to the values that are, and the traditions that we are, while also recruiting students from all over the place. We want this place to be an institution with the best students that want to be there and keep these traditions what they are because that’s what makes Auburn so special.”
Beaverstock’s proposal raises concern for the voice of out-of-state or foreign exchange students. How will this policy affect the ability of out of state students to join the Auburn family? Will the focus on “tradition” promote single-mindedness amongst the Auburn family?
Beaverstock’s platform also turns focus onto SGA visibility.
While he is looking to dismantle the stigma SGA holds of being invisible to the rest of the university, the Auburn student body has seen this promise remain unfulfilled in previous terms, like Jack Hilton’s in 2024 and Rett Waggoner’s in 2021.
Congrats to last Friday’s winners. As the term unfolds, the student body will look out for their elected SGA officials and decide at the end of the year if the platforms proposed held true.
