Vice President of the Student Body Courtney Cochran poses a question during Thursday night's ASG town hall-style debate.
Candidates took a final opportunity to state their platforms at the Associated Student Government (ASG) debates on Thursday night in Williams Hall.
Senior Tristan Chan moderated the televised event, while ASG members read questions previously e-mailed from the student body.
Juniors Robert Nussbaum and Cassidy Pazyniak, candidates for vice president for campus activities, each stated why they would be the best choice to head Campus Activities Council (CAC).
"We want to represent students' interests," Nussbaum said. "We want to see what they want changed and make that change happen. We need to spread our enthusiasm for campus activities to other organizations."
Pazyniak said she hopes to get more student involvement in CAC.
"It has to be directed by someone who shows enthusiasm and makes others want to be involved in it," Pazyniak said.
Both stressed the importance of cooperation between student organizations. Nussbaum said he advocates increasing work with the coalition of student organization heads that collaborate on campus activities.
He cited work between the CAC and the Miami University Student Foundation to plan this year's Senior Week as a prime example of cooperation between groups.
Pazyniak agreed and said if elected, she hopes to create an organized online calendar for use by all student organizations. She said such a tool would decrease "overprogramming"-overlapping of campus activities-and help groups with similar interests combine programs.
Junior Andrew Ferguson, the unopposed candidate for vice president of student organizations, now serves as chair of ASG's funding committee. Ferguson promised to improve communications between ASG and the organizations it funds.
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"We want every organization to be able to apply for funding, and we want every organization to receive funding," Ferguson said. "There needs to be no confusion."
As treasurer for ASG, Ferguson said he has been working closely with current president Mike Scott to create an integrated Web site for student activities so organization heads can easily apply for funding and communicate with ASG. Ferguson said he also plans to institute a mandatory training session for every organization's president or treasurer to clear up funding confusion.
Junior Adam Harris, the unopposed candidate for student body vice president, said he promised to "outperform VPs of years past."
Harris said he has experience working with the university to advance environmental health measures and said he plans to improve student legal services.
Harris said "the VP job isn't so good," but that he did not see a lack of interest in student government. As vice president, Harris said he will be responsible for elections next year, and hopes to create more interest in the program.
"It is my single biggest task to recruit more talent for this organization," Harris said.
Senior Jonathan McNabb and Junior Paul Struebing squared off in the presidential debate with arguments concerning the opponent's experience and platform.
Struebing stressed the importance of student involvement in student government. Struebing said he wrote a bill passed last week sponsoring the Walkabout Program, an initiative he said ensures students know their student body and off-campus senators.
"Today I feel that 98 percent of students don't know who represents them, and that is not a fault of theirs, it's a fault of ours," Struebing said.
When Struebing said McNabb opposed the bill, McNabb said he did not see the program as doing enough to improve student-ASG relations.
"I think what we need in a student body is a president that covers a wide range of issues, not just talking to students," McNabb said. "It's about working with a wide swath of people across the university."
On issues of diversity, McNabb said although he does not believe it is one of the top issues facing the student body, it is necessary to help Miami move forward and give students a liberal education.
"Diversity needs to start first in the classroom, and in admissions itself," McNabb said.
Struebing, however, disagreed.
"I think it's pretty ridiculous to say that diversity is not one of the main issues on this campus," Struebing said. "We need a student body president who believes that diversity is about more than soul food in the month of February."
Struebing emphasized his involvement with voter registration and his work in College Democrats in place of more ASG experience.
Both candidates, amid a few confessions of love for one another, agreed a division in the government post-election would not be an option.
"We need to keep our voice strong," Struebing said.
The final question came from current ASG President Mike Scott who asked the candidates how they would work with administration.
"The student body president's role is to stand up for all students, no matter what," Struebing said.
Due to the economic times, Struebing said hostility is bound to happen between the student government and administration.
"We can always disagree, but we don't need to be disagreeable," McNabb said. "No student body president should work for administration, but they should work with them and with the students."
ASG elections will take place Feb. 24 at polling stations across campus and votes may be cast on Blackboard.
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