“*I have a fundamental disappointment with the direction that we are headed. I just feel like I can do better, I know I can do better.*”
ASAP presidential candidate Scott Dettman

In the first and perhaps only Student Association (SA) presidential debate last Wednesday night, candidates from Achieving Student Access through Progress (ASAP) and the Students United for Change (SUFC) party attempted to distinguish themselves on a variety of key campus issues.

Sponsored by the Broadcast Club, ASAP presidential candidate Scott Dettman and vice presidential hopeful Julio Guerrero focused on making the SA more open and visible on campus, while also looking to inject some new life into the office. SUFC presidential candidate Tyler Draheim and his running mate Tommy Hughes instead focused on their edge in experience pertaining to student government, feeling as though they have an opportunity to hit the ground running in expanding the work of the current administration.

Early on, Dettman explained that he felt obligated to run for president out of displeasure with the current administration, as well as on the thoughts of fellow students.

“I have a fundamental disappointment with the direction that we are headed,” said Dettman. “I just feel like I can do better, I know I can do better.”

Draheim looks upon the office as a natural step in his work in student government, having served in the SA senate and on the Senate Finance Committee for the past two years.

“I feel as though I have been an effective leader as part of an organization that’s helped start programs like COAST and events like Pantherfest,” said Draheim. “I want to continue with a lot of the positives that the SA has created.”

The debate grew more contentious as the subject shifted to the issue of potential cuts to resource centers on campus. The current administration has voted to make funding cuts to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) and Women’s Resource centers, as well as the LINKS mentoring center, a group that ASAP candidate Guerrero served in.

Draheim and Hughes contest that the centers must be responsible for raising additional money, and that the cuts ultimately save students money.

“We challenge the administration as well as individual groups to fund themselves,” said Draheim, adding that the SA provides funds for groups to engage in things like grant writing training to help raise money.

Dettman responded by challenging leadership to foot the bill for centers, and to first tighten up their own spending.

“We can’t call ourselves leaders if we cut services that are critical to students,” said Dettman.

In identifying the most critical issue to campus, the SUFC emphasized both student safety, and school affordability, two issues they feel they can positively influence.

“We have students working in the EMS building until 2 or 3 a.m. that have to walk home and worry about their safety. We need to make sure people feel safe whether it is 2 p.m. or 2 a.m.,” said Draheim, adding that the new S.A.F.E. program, that has student volunteers walking the streets at night is a good start. Draheim works as an officer in the program.

SUFC also spoke of working with state and local policy makers to help lower tuition.

“We need to lobby the right people and make sure our voice is heard,” said Draheim.

ASAP focused instead on implementing a greater sense of pride in the university.

“We have a lack of pride in our institution, in ourselves and in our university,” said Dettman. “We need to make sure people feel proud to be here because we have great students, great teachers and excellent facilities.”

Transparency was the final item of critical debate, with SUFC promising to be more open with meeting agendas and items of legislation. According to Draheim, all of those items were intended to be available online, but an issue with a lack of bandwidth has made that transparency difficult to achieve.

VP candidate Guerrero challenged the transparency of the current administration, stating that he has requested meeting agendas and minutes from past meetings both online and in person, and has not received them.

Dettman added that there are too many channels for students to go through in order to obtain such documents, and proposes simplifying the process.

“We need to make everything more accessible,” said Dettman, adding that he would like to run agendas in the school newspapers in advance of meetings so that students can be more engaged in the policy-making process. He also proposes having meetings when more students are on campus and available to attend.

Student elections will be held on April 17 and 18.

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