Patrick TrautfieldThe three Associated Students Inc. presidential hopefuls participated in a debate on the stage in the University Union Plaza on Thursday.
The debate began with each candidate giving a two-minute speech.
First to speak was civil engineering junior Arvand Sabetian. His speech dealt with three issues that are key to his campaign for presidency. His first issue was working with the city to “iron out the things that haven’t been ironed out.” Sabetian then spoke on ASI-student relations and said, “A lot of students want to trust ASI but they haven’t gotten there yet.” The last issue he spoke on was the unfinished business of past presidents, which he said will be taken care of if he is elected.
Agribusiness senior Brandon Souza then explained that his platform will focus on student academic success. The second issue Souza discussed was student safety on and off campus. He said that along with members of his campaign staff, he will be offering free sober rides on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays for the duration of his campaign. Souza’s last issue was facility improvement. He said that he wanted to “make sure that the facilities are growing with the student population.”
In his speech, business senior Matt Taylor said that he would run his office with integrity and make sure that the issues he pursues will be ones that represent all 18,000 students. He also said that he chose a platform that’s reasonable and will benefit all students who pay dues to ASI. Another issue Taylor said he will tackle is student communication with ASI and that he will have an open-door policy if elected.
“I don’t care what your issue is; if a student is treated unjustly, I want to know about it,” he said.
After their speeches, the candidates fielded questions written by students.
One question asked the candidates to explain what makes them different than the other two running for president.
Souza responded to the question by addressing the people who think that his run for ASI president is to build a resume or have the title of president. He dismissed these claims and said, “I’m here because I believe I owe it to the students,” and later added, “this is a passion of mine; I’ve been in student government since the fourth grade.”
Taylor responded to the question when he said, “I will run my presidency how I run myself as a person. I try and be a very honest person, a good friend and a good communicator.” He added that he is concerned with what the students want and that he does not have an agenda that he is trying to push.
“When it comes down to it, my quality over them is connection to the students,” Sabetian said in response, mentioning that he has been involved in many diverse clubs and told the audience that someone to the left or right of them could get a hold of him in the next hour.
“You can be sure that if I’m elected, you can get a hold of me easily,” he said.
The presidential hopefuls also discussed how they will improve the campus bus system.
Sabetian said that improving the bus system is part of a larger problem of student transportation and that by improving bicycle issues as well as parking issues on campus, the bus system will improve. He also said that he will work to make sure that bus routes that haven’t been extended will be extended.
Souza responded to the question by saying, “Bottom line is that extending bus hours and extending bus transportation takes money. And how are we going to get that money?” He said that he wants to sit down with the university and the community next year and discuss options to get better and more effective transportation for students.
Taylor tackled the bus issue and said, “We should continue to work on the bus system for people who need to get to campus and feel that that is their only method of transportation.” He later added that it becomes a safety issue when the buses are not running late at night and students are unable to get a ride home.
“I want to make sure that every student is safe and every student has a ride home and a ride here,” he said.
The candidates were also asked what they thought the cause of high textbook prices was and how they would try and lower them.
Souza identified the main problem as professors turning in textbook requests late.
“I think that’s a key aspect that needs to take place and needs to be enforced if we’re going to expect to pass on these reduced prices to students,” he said.
Taylor echoed Souza’s reason for high textbook prices and said, “I’m sick of paying $400 a quarter for my textbooks and I think it’s something the students feel as well.”
Sabetian agreed with both Souza and Taylor’s reasons for the high prices but added that another issue is overhead costs.
“I’m going to work with El Corral (Bookstore) and make sure that a lot of the overhead is cut,” he said, adding, “When it comes down to it, we can cut 20 to 30 percent of textbook pricing.”
All three candidates were satisfied with the debate and were intrigued by the questions.
“I think we all answered the questions to the best of our ability,” Taylor said. “I thought the questions were very diverse,” Taylor said. “I was interested to see how many questions focused on the city, which is very important.”
Sabetian said that he felt some of the questions were too complicated and that some words used were probably not common knowledge to most students.
“I would have rather had more questions about clubs and how clubs can get what they want from us,” he said.
“I’m excited to see that the turnout this year was so good,” he said. “We have three very well-qualified candidates running and I’m glad that they both had the opportunity to share their platforms.”
After watching the debate, civil engineering junior Reed Calkins said, “It was obvious who was taking what stance on certain subjects. You could see the contrast between them more so than if you were just reading the paper.”
When asked if the debate affected his voting decision, he said, “It actually cemented my position more than before.”
Materials engineering junior Sean Quigley said that “it was a good chance for people to see the candidates and get a side-by-side comparison.” Although he still is unsure who he will be voting for, he said the he is now more informed in his opinion.