Kristine YoungNews Editor

Mark York and Anthony Sutton plan to address meal plan prices and SA unity.

Mark York and Anthony Sutton hope to use their previous experiences on the Students’ Association to start the year strong as president and vice president.

York is a junior agronomy and math major and Sutton is a junior history and political science major.

“We decided to run around Christmas break,” Sutton said. “We had a lot of conversations about it for a long time, and we really wanted to make sure we were the right fit for SDSU. We compliment each other well and think we are the best answer for students.”

York and Sutton have three main platforms they are running on.

Sutton said their first platform is to expand the Wellness Center and the Performing Arts Center.

“We’ve looked at this year in and year out, and students are losing opportunities because we don’t have these facilities in place,” Sutton said. “If we get the PAC done we can bring in major concerts to campus rather than the Swiftel Center.”

York said the Wellness Center is in need of more space and services.

“Unless you go early it’s pretty crowded,” he said. “We also want to make sure we expand funding for student health so students don’t have to wait so long for a doctor appointment.”

Sutton said their second platform is to provide cheaper meal plans for students who live on campus, as well as expand dining hours. York said currently the cheapest meal plan available to freshman is $1,330, while the cheapest meal plan available to sophomores is $915.

“There aren’t always convenient food service hours available to service all of our students, and there are limited choices,” Sutton said. “Students want options, so let’s work with Aramark and student affairs to give them more options.”

York said they would also like to see an increase in the amount of flex dollars students can spend at the meat lab and dairy bar.

“We want students be able to spend more money at these places,” York said. “Right now you can only spend $50 per semester; we would like to see it raised to $300.”

Their last platform is for students to be able to use the Wellness Center for free during the summer.

“Currently, the Wellness Center can’t be used for free in the summer unless you are taking summer classes,” he said. “Right now it’s either $8 a day or $70 for a summer pass … Students are paying fees to support the Wellness Center, so they should be able to use it in the summer.”

Sutton said faster Internet, parking and snow removal are also issues they want to address.

“They are always concerns, but they aren’t our main platforms because there are so many individual senators who work for these issues,” he said.

York said talking to the students and hearing their opinions is a huge priority.

“We’ve been talking to students for a couple of months now and have met with 40 student organizations,” he said. “I have pages full of things students would like to see done. This is the road map and this is what we will get done because we are here to represent the students.”

York said if Sutton and he aren’t elected, they will pass on the list of student requests to the president and vice president to make sure the students’ voices are heard.

York said that if elected, Sutton and he will work to make SA a more cohesive unit.

“In the past you’ve had the executive board and then you [had] the individual senators who all run around working on their own projects and they don’t necessarily work together as much as they could,” York said. “We want to make sure that everyone is working together and making the most of the year.”

Sutton said he and York will be able to hit the ground running considering they both have senate experience. He said that no matter the outcome of the race, students will be in good hands.

“We want to work with students to be their friends, colleagues and their voice,” Sutton said. “By hearing them it allows us to be their vision. We can get started on day one because we have a lot of know how and connections. As soon as we have the opportunity, we are 110 percent the whole way.”