The four candidates vying for Student Council president squared off in a debate last night in Wilson Hall. Candidates Elliot Haspel, Noah Sullivan, Curtis Ofori and Greg Scanlon described their campaign platforms and were given the opportunity to directly question each other.
The roundtable debate, moderated by University Board of Elections Chair Brian Cook, opened with remarks from each candidate, followed by a period of questioning.
Haspel, who served this past year as Council Chair for religious affairs, focused on reforming Council.
"Student Council does not have the ability to get student initiatives to go from inception to completion," Haspel said.
He said he wants to see Council support the idea of a new pedestrian bridge linking Memorial Gym and the International Residence College.
"I'd rather see a new bridge now than a 'Joe Student' memorial bridge after a student gets killed," Haspel said.
Sullivan, current Council chief of staff, focused much of the debate on touting recent Council initiatives, the need for a student liaison to Charlottesville City Council and supporting increased University autonomy from the General Assembly. He criticized Haspel's reform platform.
"People come on and they have this internal organizational attitude," Sullivan said. "I think it takes someone that's willing to think about the bigger picture, the issues at large and not just Student Council."
Ofori stressed the need to gauge student opinion in creating council initiatives.
"You've got to be one-on-one," Ofori said. "You've got to get out to Rick in your accounting class, Sarah in your economics class."
Ofori, a former Council College representative, said Council representatives need to travel to student "hotspots" to better understand the overall student prospective.
Scanlon, a former Cavalier Daily cartoonist, presented himself as a Council outsider, stressing that the group is out-of-touch with the general student populace.
"I'm a cartoonist -- all I do is doodle and make fun of people," he said. "Go ahead and vote for me because I'm one of you guys."
Scanlon said he supports the creation of a liaison committee to the student body. He also criticized the administration's treatment of the Pep Band as "fascist, trampling student self-governance" and described renditions of the "Good Ole Song" at sports events as "awful."
The candidates then discussed divisive issues among the student population, including awarding benefits to domestic partners -- a measure supported by each candidate -- mandatory diversity training and off-Grounds housing.
Candidates then directly questioned each other.
Sullivan inquired how effective Scanlon would be as a president given that he has little Council experience.
"People respond to what works," Scanlon replied. "I think a hell of a lot of leadership has to do with being open, easy to work with, accepting of new ideas."
Ofori also stressed the importance of experience.
"You need somebody who's been there, somebody who sat in that seat to lead," Ofori said. "You can't have somebody who hasn't been there trying to lead because nobody is going to respect him."
In addition to the presidential candidates, students vying for executive board and College representative positions also faced off in earlier debates.
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