The second student body presidential and vice presidential debate aired live on MUTV Thursday, providing candidates with another way to reach out to Miami University students.
The event, broadcasted from Williams Hall, was not your typical debate, but rather a series of extended campaign ads.
Each candidate had 90 seconds to answer each question asked by senior host Curtis Werner, but were informed they were not to refute and they should only promote their own platform, not argue against their opponents.'
The ten candidates filled the room with nervous energy as the broadcast crew attached their microphones and trained the candidates on which of the four cameras to look in to.
The debate's first question required each candidate to list their numerous qualifications for the job.
Junior presidential candidate Forrest McGuire began by citing his student government and leadership experience as qualities that made him the most desirable candidate.
Along with becoming pledge class and sophomore president of Chi Psi fraternity, McGuire's résumé boasted an appointment to chief of staff in Associated Student Government (ASG).
Junior presidential candidate Charlie Schreiber followed up McGuire and gently insinuated that McGuire's experience is too focused on one part of the school.
"Our connections with so many different people of campus is really what makes us most qualified for this position," Schreiber said. "Experience is great, but being so contained in one group is not what the student body president is all about."
The other three presidential candidates, juniors Calvin Davis and Max Swartz and first-year Anik Chaudhry, followed the same vein, though Chaudry announced March 24, that he and his running mate, first-year Ben Cederoth, were withdrawing from the race.
One topic, that the presidential candidates addressed specifically, was the inclusion of next year's J-Term and how the future president will ensure its success.
Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter
McGuire emphasized the importance of garnering student feedback for the new term.
"Because this is our first time doing the J-Term, we need to ask the students, 'Where did you go? What did you do? What could be improved? What do you see that you wish you could have had more of?'" McGuire said. "And so with the second J-Term coming in 2015, we really want to engage the students and make sure that we get as many opportunities as possible to them."
Following that, Schreiber expounded on the need for education.
"The students need to know what they can get out of their J-Term," he said. "The administration, along with the student government, needs to educate the students on the abilities of this J-Term."
Davis, agreeing with Schreiber, sees promotion of the J-Term essential to its success.
"We have to make sure that the average Miami student doesn't just view this as an extended winter break," Davis said.
On a different note, Swartz advocated the need for real conversations with students and professors, as opposed to just surveys.
"That's how we find out what students truly want," Swartz said.
Lastly, Chaudhry, like the candidates before him, said that feedback about the J-Term would be key and that he wants students to know they can contact ASG to give such feedback.
After each candidate gave their closing remarks, a summation of prior answers, they stepped down and the vice presidential debate immediately followed, following the same rules.
The vice presidental candidates are McGuire's running mate, junior Lot Kwarteng; Schreiber's running mate, Courtney Bernard; Davis' running mate, Brooke Shirley; Swartz' running mate, Alexander Nixon; and lastly, Chaudhry's running mate, Cederoth. All vice presidential candidates are juniors, except Cederoth, who is a first-year.
Vice presidential candidates addressed similar questions as the presidential candidates and responded in a similar fashion.
When asked what they would do to prevent Miami from falling in national scholastic rankings, many cited a need to improve academic advising and foster Miami's reputation among current students and in the eyes of national rankings.
After closing remarks, the vice presidential debate concluded.
Students will be able to vote for candidates from noon, March 27 to 7 p.m., March 28.
Read More
How one professor and her classes are preserving Oxford’s Black history
By Sean Scott | March 20, 2024Jazma Sutton, an assistant professor of history, teaches The Black Midwest (HST 350Q) and Black Women in America (HST 450D) classes. In both courses, she has students working with the Smith Library of Regional History and Miami’s archives to document and preserve Black history in Oxford.
Miami faculty members recount Freedom Summer in new documentary
By Luke Macy | February 25, 2022After seven years of work, “Training for Freedom,” a documentary highlighting Oxford’s involvement in the Freedom Summer of 1964, premiered on PBS Western Reserve on Valentine’s Day.
“Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic”: History in the making
By Alice Momany | August 29, 2021In March 2020, Miami University’s archives launched “Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic,” a collection focused on life during the COVID-19 pandemic.