The UA College Republicans hosted Republican candidates Matt Gentry and Emily Jones in North Lawn on Wednesday.
Gentry is running for the Public Service Commission, an office that regulates trucking companies, railroads and natural gas.
Gentry said he learned the importance of building trust as a Marine veteran with 10 years of experience as sheriff of Cullman County, especially in a time where he says there’s an anti-law enforcement trend.
“We go out into the community and cook hamburgers and hot dogs,” he said, referring to the sheriff’s office. “We have the command staff there, and the people get to meet their deputies.”
Jones is running for the State Board of Education. The board has eight elected seats, with the Governor as the ninth in the event of a tie. The board makes policies such as standards of curriculum, hiring superintendents and determining local budgets for the public schools within the state.
“The state should be establishing a framework for the local schools in terms of special education and other issues,” Jones said. “This will empower your local school district because they will have something to stand on legally.”
Jones also addressed the negative impact of technology in schools. In 2002, the fourth grade reading level was 211 in the National Assessment of Educational Progress metrics and in 2024 it was 213.
“It’s really sad to think that in 25 years, that’s the best that we can do,” she said.
Haden Foster, a freshman majoring in business cybersecurity, said Jones’ take on education resonated with him because of his experience in elementary schools in Alabama.
“When I was volunteering, I saw K-5 students not being able to answer basic math like four plus four, and that really needs improvement,” Foster said.
The FOCUS Act was passed in Alabama on July 1, 2025, to restrict the use of personal devices in schools.
“What we’ve got to do is start peeling back a lot of the ed tech stuff, but getting to that point in Alabama will be very difficult,” Jones said. “Our state superintendent has said he doesn’t think we’re ever getting rid of devices in classrooms. That’s a problem.”
Jones said that while she initially thought that she’d receive a lot of pushback from parents, she’s seen the opposite.
“I think parents recognize it and parents want it down, but you’ve got billion dollar industries and corporations behind it, so it’ll be a hard change to make,” she said. “Let’s just kind of go back to traditional education and start with some foundational understanding, and I think from there, we can start improving our scores.”
Gentry and Jones both emphasized the importance of creating change in flawed systems.
“How you make a change is by your voice, you getting out, voting your beliefs, meeting people that are willing to come here and speak to you to talk about whether it’s law enforcement, education or the public service,” Gentry said.
Grace McCarty, chairwoman of UACR, said that she thought the event achieved its goal to help students know what they believe in and have evidence to support it.
“We’re so lucky to have a state where candidates want to come and speak to campuses like ours,” McCarty said. “It’s really cool that students want to come out and hear from these campaigns because they want to learn. I think our generation is eager to learn new perspectives. They’re eager for a revival.”
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