AJ Abell and Tatiana Cadet were the only Student Association presidential candidates present at the National Pan-Hellenic Council sponsored debate Monday night in Stolkin Auditorium.

Official SA candidates, Aysha Seedat and Jane Hong, as well as write-in candidate pair Jesse Nichols and Moke Hien were unable to attend the debate. Safet Mesanovic and his running mate, Gener Romeu Oliva, were at the debate, but declined to participate and left before it even started.

Both Abell and Cadet answered seven questions from a moderator and then took questions from the audience of about 45 students.

The first question posed to the candidates asked each to craft their own vision and mission statement for SU.

“In one word, inclusiveness,” Abell said. “All of the groups on campus are not unified at all.”

Cadet agreed with Abell, but added a diversity component to her ideal vision and mission statements.

“If I were to draft a mission statement for Syracuse University, I would not only include inclusiveness, but I would want a campus that is diverse and respects students no matter what,” Cadet said.

Throughout the debate, both candidates said they would work to make SA more representative of marginalized groups on campus and to decrease campus segregation, by race, by college or by campus organization.

“I don’t think there is a culture in SA that supports openness and supports active representatives,” said Jon Dawson, Abell’s running mate.

Some current SA representatives who attended the debate were quick to critique both of the candidates’ lack of understanding of how SA works and what SA can accomplish during the question-and-answer session.

Kamaria View, an SA assembly member, said it sounded like neither of the candidates were familiar with the “internal operating structure” of SA.

“You guys keep talking about how you’ll make all of these sweeping changes to Student Association,” said Jack Harding, an SA assembly representative for the College of Arts and Sciences. “But as president you are limited in what you can actually accomplish on your own.”

In response, Abell said good ideas would gain the support of the assembly and therefore things will get done. He added that, as president, he would reach out directly to students.

Cadet said she would try to build to good relationships with assembly members and to actually listen to what issues concern students.

After the debate, Danielle Reed, a member of Cadet’s campaign, confronted the group of SA assembly members and accused them of being disrespectful toward the candidates during the Q-and-A.

Many of the members agreed and apologized, but also said they were just as critical of Seedat and Hong.

Published on April 14, 2015 at 12:36 am

Contact Rachel: rsandler@syr.edu