Student Government debate for presidential roles

Savannah Joslin

Last week the IC hosted the student government debate between presidential candidate tickets.

Student Government presidential and vice presidential candidates outlined their platforms and answered students’ questions during a debate hosted by The Independent Collegian on Wednesday, April 6.

The two leadership tickets kicked things off by discussing the experience that qualifies them for the positions. Amal Mohamed, the current SG External Affairs chair and presidential candidate, said she and her running mate, Cameron Forsythe have more than enough experience both inside and outside SG to lead, referring to her membership in student groups and Forsythe’s experience with the Eagle Scouts.

Ian Michalak, current SG vice president, heavily emphasized the three years both he and his running mate, and current SG recording secretary, Dakota Ulrich, have served in student government. The bike share project and the book fee reduction petition are two project successes Michalak said he achieved during his year as vice president.

The candidates discussed campus safety, diversity, dining, administration and campus culture during the hour-long debate. Both platforms agreed on the necessity to make changes on campus; however, they disagreed on how to approach them.

The IC moderators asked the two tickets both what they felt the biggest problem is on UT’s campus. Ulrich said the biggest problem is needing to fix Student Union, which will in turn help improve campus culture and the student experience.

“I believe that the biggest problem that we have currently is our Student Union, and rolling along with that it has a lot to do with our campus culture … a place that everybody wants to be on campus would really bring our student body together,” Ulrich said.

Mohamed said that while she agrees the Student Union renovations are important, the biggest problem is the student experience itself, because she feels there is nothing for students to do or that they are not aware of events. Mohamed emphasized the need for connecting with campus groups to improve the student experience.

“Our vision of a new kind of campus is a campus where Rockets are proud to be Rockets,” Mohamed said.

As far as their focus as an organization, Mohamed said SG should focus on relating to students rather than on internal affairs and internal projects. Forsythe, current SG campus affairs chair, added on by saying they wanted to focus on using feedback gathered from students to steer SG’s agenda. Ulrich agreed, also saying students should be the focus for SG.

“If we gain more guidance from the students, we will be able to make positive changes for the students that they would like to see,” Forsythe said.

The role of SG was a regularly recurring topic, specifically in relation to the administration. Forsythe said since he felt administration’s voice is heard 100 percent of the time, that the student voice should be SG’s primary focus.

“We’re acting as an administrative branch, we’re sitting on the committees but we’re not relaying that back to students. We need to be more open and have more people in our organization that are going to sit on those committees and are actually passionate about relaying those messages back to the students,” Mohamed said.

Michalak said they aim to increase student representation on committees, giving examples of how his ticket has been present on committees and the changes that have resulted from their input.

“We have a proven record of fighting for students against parking increases, and also fighting for students in hiring UT administrators who have the students’ best interests at heart,” Michalak said.

Both tickets agreed on the need to improve campus safety, although they differed slightly on the best method to do so. Michalak said he wanted to add additional lighting after hearing from female students that they felt unsafe, as well finding safety innovations like the safety app (Rave) released by UTPD this year.

Mohamed agreed, although she also suggested utilizing already existing measures like the blue poles used to make emergency calls. Her opposing ticket said they disagreed with this point, and that emergency poles are rarely used by students as a safety measure.

Diversity was another hot topic addressed by both candidates. Michalak said he is happy to have contributed to several events this year, including helping to organize Diversity Week, and that he thinks events celebrating diversity are key.

“Many times we look at the negatives, things that happen about diversity, and that’s how we find learning experiences, but if we’re proactive in celebrating diversity, I think it’s a fun way we can all learn a little bit more about each other,” Michalak said.

Mohamed said she also appreciates the diversity on campus and events like Diversity Week, but thinks that the events are still under attended by students. In order to increase diversity, Mohamed said she thinks SG should be more active in promoting these events.

“The diversity on this campus is absolutely amazing and we need to celebrate it … I think we have the good ideas, we have the diversity on campus and everyone wants to celebrate it, but nobody knows how to, we’re not doing it well enough,” Mohamed said.

Voting for president and vice-president began on April 11 and will continue through April 15. Students can log onto their student portals to vote for their chosen candidate.