The presidential and vice presidential candidates for Undergraduate Student Government debated yesterday for the final time before voting began today. The debate will be aired on BuckiTV throughout the end of this week.
The tuition initiative on the ballot was addressed. The student-proposed initiative opposes tuition increases without significant evidence of improvements to the undergraduate experience, such as smaller class sizes, more classes taught by tenured professors and more faculty and student interaction. Aftab Pureval and Deb Mason support the initiative and Elizabeth Ghandakly and Geoffrey Moes do not.
“The fact is that this initiative is just not possible,” Ghandakly said. “Tuition is increasing because the government is giving this institution less money.”
Pureval said the initiative could make a difference.
“Being content with higher tuition is just the wrong way to go. (Students) need a leader to say ‘tuition is too high,'” Pureval said.
The honors program was another issue discussed.
“We feel that it’s no longer an actual honor to be in the honors (program),” said Kara Silverman, vice presidential candidate on the Jolley/Silverman ticket.
Ryan Jolley said that every college needs specific standards in place for honors enrollment.
“Roughly only half of the students who are in the honors program actually graduate with honors. The rest of the students who are in the system are just using it to get priority scheduling,” Jolley said.
The candidates also debated the university’s emphasis on undergraduate research.
“Research does bring in lots of money. It gives us lots of resources and lots of avenues for education that we never had before. But students who are not here to do research should not have to do research,” said Jarrod Weiss, presidential candidate.
Deb Mason, vice presidential candidate on the Pureval/Mason ticket, said research shouldn’t be limited to science-based material.
“Research, from the university’s standpoint, is usually focused towards the sciences. What we want to do is expand the opportunities so they can hit other majors – so they can hit humanities. So in 20 years, we aren’t only a science and agricultural-based university – so we have a wonderful arts program as well.”
Mason referred to herself, as an English major, as not having a need to conduct research.
“(English majors) don’t do a lot of research – developing new words, new dictionaries – anything like that,” Mason said.
The debate will air today and tomorrow at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on UNITS channel 19. On Friday, it will be shown at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Students can vote online today through Friday at www.usgonline.net/elections.
