Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Platforms discussed in Student Senate debate

Questions were submitted via YouTube, e-mail and from the audience

United Students, Connect KU and Students of Liberty debates issues such as student fees and the environment.

By Brenna Hawley (Contact)

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

Windmills, eliminating doors and the lifespan on swimming pools were discussed at last night’s University Daily Kansan Student Senate Debate at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.

Student Senate presidential and vice presidential candidates from coalitions United Students, Connect KU and Students of Liberty participated in the Kansan-sponsored debate. Candidates answered student questions submitted via YouTube, e-mail and from the audience.

One of the major issues of the debate was creating a more sustainable campus.

Eric Hyde, Lawrence sophomore and vice presidential candidate for Students of Liberty, said Pratt Community College built three windmills on its campus to help with a $200,000 deficit. He said the deficit was resolved in one year. He said the University of Kansas could be a more eco-friendly university but sometimes politics slow the process down.

“One of the worst things you can have for ‘greening’ is politics mixed in with it,” Hyde said.

Adam McGonigle, Wichita sophomore and presidential candidate for United Students, said one of its platforms would focus on making campus more energy-efficient and said the platform would be released in the next week.

Connect KU said it focused on a more sustainable campus by cleaning up Potter Lake. Jason Oruch, Plano, Tex., junior, and vice presidential candidate for Connect KU, said the lake was a staple of the University. He said years ago, Potter Lake was a gathering place for students, much like Wescoe Beach. He said there used to be entertainment shows at the lake as well.

“We want to make it more sustainable but also more of a hangout,” Oruch said.

Austin Kelly, Lawrence junior and presidential candidate for Connect KU, said there were many problems at the University and Connect KU was working right now to fix those. He said one way his coalition would solve problems would be to get input from all students. If elected, he would take all the doors off their hinges so everyone would be welcome all the time.

One of the YouTube questions asked United Students why students should pay for a pool that would not be finished until current students had graduated. Building a pool at the Student Recreation Fitness Center to replace the one at Robinson Gymnasium was the first platform of United Students.

McGonigle said that the average lifetime of a swimming pool is 25 years, according to the director of the Recreation Center. He said that by the time his proposed pool would be completed, the pool in Robinson Gymnasium would be twice that age.

McGonigle said that student athletes should be able to swim in a better pool and students working out shouldn’t have to work their schedule around the few hours that the current pool is open.

“If students want to run and swim they can do it at the same place,” McGonigle said.

The problem of higher student fees was another issue candidates discussed.

McGonigle said United Students was committed to keeping fees down. Kelly said that his freshman year, he paid $287 per semester in student fees. Now students pay almost $378.

Adam Wood, Lawrence junior and Students of Liberty presidential candidate, said fees were already too high and he didn’t support increases.

“The word that comes to mind is no,” he said.

Wood said that if he was elected, there would be no fee increases ever, and that fee increases were actually tuition increases.

Another question asked why students should think they were fairly represented by these candidates. All six candidates are white males.

Wood said that whether a candidate was a man or a woman was irrelevant, but what mattered was what their ideas were.

Kelly said Connect was running with senators from China, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and Austria, so the coalition was not all one kind of person. All three coalitions said they supported the Multicultural Education Fund, which gives money to increase multicultural events at the University.

“Does it really matter who the president and vice president are if it’s Student Senate who is spending our money?” asked a student on YouTube.

Candidates responded that the president and vice president hold leadership positions and also have more specific duties. The president has veto power and can say no to any legislation that passes through full Senate. Senate can overturn a veto with two-thirds support. The vice president runs Senate meetings and can make decisions on how legislation is heard. Both elected people also hire an executive staff that is paid with student fees and also appoint chairs for committees.

Look for future articles about platforms mentioned in Tuesday’s debate and other platforms of each coalition. More profiles of the students running for Student Senate will also be featured in the coming weeks.

— Edited by Matt Hirschfeld

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