Student Association presidential candidates Taylor Carr and Dylan Lustig discussed stances on community service and outreach at Sunday’s SA debate.

CitrusTV news anchor Andrew Chernoff moderated the debate and presented several questions students submitted via Twitter during the 7 p.m. debate in Grant Auditorium. Stephen DeSalvo, lone SA comptroller candidate, also stated his platform and answered questions during the event.

‘Whenever I run for something or whenever I get involved in something, I always do it with one goal in mind, and that is always to help other people,’ DeSalvo said at the start of the debates.

DeSalvo said he plans to bring greater transparency by updating the Your Student Fee website (yourstudentfee.syr.edu), helping organizations to better understand the budget process and taking an unbiased approach should he be elected.

To open the presidential part of the debate, Carr, a junior public relations major and chair of the Student Life Committee in SA, discussed his successes, including his involvement with the cyberbullying initiative and free buses to Wegmans and Target. Carr said he has the leadership, resources and experience to make change and bring SA to the next level.

Lustig, a sophomore international relations and economics major and vice chair of the Student Engagement Committee, argued he was the best candidate because he has the passion to be the representative of the student body.

A heavily debated topic between the presidential candidates was how to implement more student community service, which both agreed was necessary.

Lustig said he would like to create a day of campus-wide collaboration and would include other organizations that will influence the community. He said he hopes a day like this would inspire students to do their own community service and help on that day.

The creation of this day is worrisome to Carr, who said it would look like competition to organizations like OrangeSeeds, which holds a similar event. Carr suggested mandating all SA members complete five hours of community service per session. This would put SA members at more than 700 collective hours and give members opportunities to collaborate with the community, he said.

‘I think a day of community service does a lot more to impact the community that we live in,’ Lustig said. ‘If we make it mandated, I think that people are going to, not necessarily dread community service, but they are certainly not going to be doing it for the same reasons that if it wasn’t mandated.’

Carr said the mandate would not be making community service a chore and that it doesn’t make a difference if it was mandated to beneficiaries in the community.

The candidates agreed a leader must be approachable and that SA needs to work on outreach and public relations initiatives, but they were split on how to close the gap between SA and students. Carr cited issues with the current town hall meetings in residence halls, as only a small demographic of students can be reached. If elected president, Lustig said he wants to change the name of SA back to Student Government Association to make a strong connection.

The candidates were also asked what they would begin doing on their first day. Carr said he would begin a grassroots approach within the assembly by holding an open forum to gather suggestions to unite the assembly and move forward.

Lustig said he would begin by posting office hours and encouraging organizations to speak with him on the financial vision because many organizations think SA is racist. Although Lustig himself said he did not think that was the case, he said organizations should have a say in SA’s financial vision.

‘When other people around campus have a say in our financial vision, there is going to be a heck of a lot less controversy when budget season comes around,’ he said.

SA President Neal Casey refuted that point in an interview after the debate and said during the 55th session there have been no complaints regarding SA funding in regards to race or cultural organizations.

After the debate, Lustig said people need to realize they need to make an important decision about who is going to follow through with what they say.

Carr said he thought he showcased his strengths, abilities and experience with his answers.

‘I am confident in all of my answers,’ Carr said. ‘I am the kind of person that when I put something out there, I am going to mean it.’

Voting for SA candidates began Monday at midnight and continues until Thursday. Students must log on to their MySlice accounts to vote.

 

TECHNICAL ISSUES

Student Association experienced issues with the MySlice voting system during the first hour of voting.

The page was loading from the bottom, showing the referendum questions and requiring students to scroll up to see the candidates for president, comptroller and assembly members.

PJ Alampi, the Board of Elections and Membership chair, said he contacted Information Technology and Services and a temporary fix has been implemented.

At 1:15 a.m., Alampi said 15 of the 320 voters did not choose a candidate.

He said he could not confirm a recount would happen because he must meet with the entire committee to make that decision.

—Compiled by Rachael Barillari, staff writer, rebarill@syr.edu 

 

rebarill@syr.edu

Published on November 13, 2011 at 12:00 pm