The Triangle

Issue date: 5/11/07 Section: News
Originally published: 5/11/07 at 2:31 AM EST
Last update: 5/11/07 at 2:31 AM EST

Media Credit: Eric Larsen USGA presidental candidate Jeff Gardosh lays down his points while USGA presidential candidate Rainer Burrow looks on.

Undergraduate Student Government Association Presidential Candidates Rainer Burrow and Jeff Gardosh faced off as The Triangle hosted the first-ever USGA presidential debate May 8 in Matheson Hall.

Members of the The Triangle's Editorial Board served as panelists at the debate and asked questions of the candidates, along with the members of the audience.

One major theme of the debate was level of USGA's visibility. Both candidates agreed that USGA needs to increase its visibility among students. The candidates had different views on how to address this issue.

Burrow recommended a consolidation and revamp of the USGA website, and greater interaction between students and USGA representatives. He suggested representatives "going out to student organization meetings."

Gardosh suggested the USGA president having a column in The Triangle and presidential office hours. Gardosh also advocated posters of USGA representatives being displayed throughout campus to inform students of their current USGA representative.

Gardosh questioned Burrow's suggestion of an online forum for student debate.

"Although a great idea, [a forum] is very hard to implement," Gardosh said.

Gardosh believes that it would be difficult to have debates that could be critical on a University-sponsored forum.

Both candidates mentioned the USGA street team as a way to increase visibility among students.

Disagreement arose over who founded the street team.

Burrow said it was a joint effort by many members of USGA while Gardosh said he was the founder of the street team.

The issue of low retention at the University was also posed to the candidates. Both candidates felt that this was because students are not as involved as the University as they should be and therefore, there aren't enough reasons for them to stay.

"Most students go home on weekends," Burrow said.

Gardosh said that he wanted to implement something along the lines of making it a UNIV 101 requirement for students to attend at least one event organized by a student organization.

Changes to the Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee were also on the minds of the candidates.

Continued...

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