ASUO presidential and vice presidential candidates gathered to debate important student issues and discussed with each other at Tuesday’s candidate debate in the EMU Walnut Room.
The night began with questions directed to presidential candidates, and ranged from questions about sustainability to athletic tickets. When approached with the subject of sustainability, candidates agreed that something needs to be changed, but disagreed on the way to do that.
ASUO Sen. and presidential candidate Laura Hinman mentioned that one big step toward improving sustainability on campus would be renovating the EMU and Student Recreation Center.
“I think we all agree on sustainability,” she said. “Our solution is to focus on the EMU and SRC renovation in order to make them both more efficient.”
University senior and presidential candidate Cimmeron Gillespie had an alternate viewpoint. @@http://www.uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Cimmeron*Gillespie@@
“Sustainability is a farce,” Gillespie said. “I would be more in favor of a stewardship.”
Another question addressed how the candidates would work with other entities of campus governance. ASUO Vice President and presidential candidate Katie Taylor stressed the importance of a student voice on campus. @@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/executive.php?a=12@@
“Students can and should be taking the lead on all campus projects,” Taylor said. “We need to build our campus community and respect each other to make sure student voices are heard.”
Although ASUO Senator and presidential candidate Ben Bowman agreed, he was reticent about losing touch with the administration. @@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/senate.php?a=30@@
“I don’t believe we have to destroy our relationship with other stakeholders,” he said.
The second part of the debate was directed toward the vice presidential candidates. One issue addressed dealt with the inclusion of freshmen, graduate students and nontraditional students in the campus community. Each candidate discussed ways to include these groups.
Alex Sylvester, Taylor’s vice presidential candidate and Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans Queer Alliance (LGBTQA) educational director, explained that he has already been working on including these groups by asking them to join their campaign.  @@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/senate.php?a=30@@
“We have a ton of first-years and a GTF,” Sylvester said. “Not every slate has that.”
The candidates then discussed issues such as tuition increases and campus safety.
“Affordability of higher education is something that is very important to me,” said ASUO Sen. and Bowman’s vice presidential candidate Lamar Wise. “Right now, it is ridiculous.” @@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/senate.php?a=30@@
Nick McCain, president of the Residence Hall Association and Hinman’s vice presidential candidate, addressed the issue of student safety. @@http://rha.uoregon.edu/committees/executive-board/nick-mccain/@@
“We truly believe in the power of students and want to keep the focus on campus,” McCain said. “If we were doing more on campus, it would help keep students safer.”
The evening came to a close with questions from the audience and from Twitter. One question, which was presented by Department Finance Committee member Matthew Miyamoto, dealt with problems within the ASUO. @@http://www.uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/matthew*Miyamoto@@
All candidates agreed there are some problems with the ASUO such as polarization and lack of communication, but all are willing to work on fixing those problems.