The vice president of financial affairs is a difficult position for any person to fill, as they control very limited means to satiate the always-expanding wants of student organizations and the SGA. Clay Gaddis has few ideas to actually expand the funds available to the SGA, but is committed to ensuring that all funds are allocated properly to programs with the most benefit for students. 

Gaddis’ platform is based around four core ideas: fundraising for programs fighting to end sexual assault like the WGRC and the SAFE program, expand the number and locations of restaurants that take Bama Cash and Dining Dollars, allocating funds to First Year Council and increasing the funds available for needs-based emergency scholarships through the SGA. Most of his ideas for gaining funds come from traditional fundraisers, like percentage nights, and moving money around in the SGA budget so that it is allocated to FYC and needs-based scholarships. The Editorial Board hopes that he is successful in these endeavors, though their impact may be limited given the small amount of money to work with there in the first place. 

One idea that this Editorial Board hopes Gaddis will greatly improve his plan for is his desire to expand restaurants taking Dining Dollars and Bama Cash. Gaddis had no specifics on how he would implement this plan, and when asked what he would do about the roadblocks that faced Jared Hunter in this same mission, he had no answer. If Gaddis truly wants to make this plan a reality, he will have to do much more in-depth researching and planning. 

Gaddis will be a perfectly acceptable VPFA, if a slightly mediocre one. He seems to truly care about serving students, and we hope to see him increase the needs-based scholarships available through SGA, which he said he was most passionate about. Hopefully he will create more specific and detailed plans regarding Dining Dollars/Bama Cash, and will work towards ideas to actually expand the amount of funds future VPFA’s can work with.