As current senator of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and President of the Stony Brook Ice Hockey Team, junior business major Wes Hawkins is running for the position of treasurer in the upcoming USG elections.
“I am currently a senator for the student government and through being a senator and part of the budget committee, I feel that there are some changes that need to be made and the treasurer position is one way that those changes can be made,” Hawkins said.
Specifically, Hawkins hopes to make changes to the USG financial bylaws. He feels that these bylaws need to be rewritten so clubs can better understand the rules.
An example of one rule that Hawkins wants to change has to do with the amount of time the treasurer is given to tell a club that their budget has been frozen or changed. He feels that clubs should be notified immediately if this were to happen.
Hawkins’ experience on the budget committee for USG is one of the main reasons why he is running for treasurer.
“Within the budget committee, I haven’t necessarily agreed with the direction the committee is going this year in the aspect of cutting clubs and with regards to certain bylaws and how they are written,” Hawkins said.
In his freshman and sophomore years, Hawkins participated in an internship with College Works Painting. He feels the tasks that he performed in this internship qualify him for the position of treasurer. Hawkins was responsible for a budget over $200,000.
As the president of the Ice Hockey Team, Hawkins oversees the team’s budget. He has also been speaking to students about whether having an ice rink on campus would be beneficial to student life.
“If there was an ice rink on campus, our team would not have to pay about 30 or 40 grand for ice time that we have to pay for because we play off-campus,” Hawkins said. “That would in turn help USG as a whole because that would be more money that could be given back into USG and spent on other clubs that need the funding.”
The Stony Brook Ice Hockey Team receives money from USG to support their team. Even though his role as president of the ice hockey team will conflict with his role as treasurer if he is elected, Hawkins says there is no bias in favor of his team over other clubs.
“My sole purpose of becoming the treasurer really has nothing to do with being current president of ice hockey,” Hawkins explained.
Being the president of the ice hockey team, Hawkins feels he has an advantage over the other candidates he is running against because he understands how a club functions and what their needs are.
As senator and vice-president of the sports club council, Hawkins meets with a variety of clubs to hear their problems. If he is elected treasurer, he wants to work to improve funding of all clubs.
“Being a treasurer, I would be able to help out all clubs as a whole with the certain issues that they have,” Hawkins said.
