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The three slates running for executive board positions in the Boston University Student Government engaged in a debate Thursday night in the Jacob Sleeper Auditorium, focusing on student body collaboration an increased presence on campus.
True BU executive presidential candidate Andrew Cho said SG should initiate more collaboration with the variety of student groups on campus to achieve their initiatives.
“My slate really believes in meaningful partnerships to accomplish our goals,” said Cho, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. “We generally want to lift up and support student groups at BU that really would make our community so diverse.”
The slates were challenged to elaborate on how they were different from the current SG executive board. About 30 slate supporters and current SG members attended the debate.
Nicole Simons, who is running for executive president under the BUtiful Dreamers slate, emphasized the need to increase and better SG’s outreach to the student body.
“Although a lot of SG or all SG knows what’s going on, a lot of the student body doesn’t,” said Simons, a junior in CAS. “We want to have people in different social groups to represent a cause so it actually puts [the cause] into motion and people know what’s going on.”
The slates were also asked to point out a few of the concrete changes they would bring to campus if elected into office.
BUtiful Dreamers’ candidate for VP of Internal Affairs Noah McAskill, a junior in SMG, spoke about their proposal to donate leftover dining swipes at the end of the school year to a charitable cause, specifically the Greater Boston Food Bank.
Melesilika Finau, the executive vice president candidate for TrueBU, said the slate’s policy would provide grants to student groups in need of financial support.
“We want to give them the tools they need to make their passions come alive,” said Finau, a sophomore in CAS sophomore. “What we plan to do is create grant systems where it streamlines so it’s much easier to get grants, including art grants, innovation grants and sustainability grants.”
TeamBU supports initiatives and efforts to better involve off-campus students and women on campus, said Matt Sgrignari, the executive vice president candidate.
“We want to hopefully get off-campus swipe access,” said Sgrignari, a sophomore in SMG. “On a macro level, just creates more support for the off-campus students, being a part of the day-to-day student life and more protection from Student Government.”
Simons said BUtiful Dreamers hopes to increase SG’s presence and outreach if elected.
“We have vision and we are going to get things done,” she said in her closing speech. “And if we get elected, you’ll hear from us again and you’ll really see change.”
Cho said that the slate did a “really good” job and managed to convey its message well.
“I’m really proud of my slate members, we really pushed our message though,” he said after the debate. “We think in line with our vision building and empower; we also need to build up Student Government.”
Austin Kruger, who is running for executive president under TeamBU, said he is his hopeful about his slate’s initiatives and the diversity the slate brings.
“We have real policy changes, real ideas to fundamentally change student government,” he said. “Our diverse slate with diverse experiences who all earned a lot of different things, really represents that.”
Several students said the debate went positively and was informative.
Brittany Kinch, a sophomore in the College of General Studies, said that she missed the debate last year and did not want to miss the chance to listen to them this year.
“This year, I decided to really commit to coming and hearing what the slates are actually all about and know more about them,” she said. “The slates did really well in getting their points across.”
Amanda Gee, also a sophomore in CGS, said that the debate informed her what the slates focus on and their initiatives.
“Really the only slate I knew a lot about was True BU, but it was kind of cool because I got to know some of the ideas that TeamBU had and BUtiful Dreamers had,” she said. “What surprise me is that each of the slate has really good initiatives.”
Timothy McGuirk, a senior in the College of Communication, said the debate should have covered more subjects.
“The issues were relevant but one of the things we didn’t get a chance to address where the financials of Student Government,” he said. “Considering what we have and what we’re working with, I thought it was a great event.”
