The student government election is off to a heated start.
The three parties competing to run the next Associated Students of the University of Utah administration pulled no punches as they argued student fees and sustainability during the first ASUU debate Wednesday night.
“They definitely made known what they stand for,” said Ryan Glende, a junior in English who is not affiliated with any party. He said he came to the debate with no solid knowledge of what the parties want, but left the debate confident that he could decide to support one party over another.
During the debate, hosted by the Residence Hall Association and held at the Heritage Center, the GO, Synergy and Revolution parties were quick to divulge their positions on student fees.
GO stressed communication with student groups so they could claim every dollar of what they’re allocated, similar to Synergy’s goal of educating the ASUU General Assembly during the summer so that it fairly distributes existing fees.
However, Revolution candidates said they want to go beyond fair allocation, which would be handled by their newly created Student Fees Committee, by cutting stipends and combining boards to redistribute up to $22,800 back to student groups.
The Synergy Party also put to bed the accusation that its 24-hour student center would not be financially feasible and have to be unfairly paid for by student fees. Clint Hugie, Synergy’s presidential candidate, said that keeping the center open would be paid for by profits generated by the center’s late-night coffee bar, which he said students would flock to from the off-campus coffee houses they already occupy.
The Synergy Party and GO Party, want to focus on education about sustainability to get students involved in making campus greener. The Revolution Party, however, thinks that its administrative ambition to potentially reduce and reschedule Friday classes solely into sustainable buildings is the better choice.
Revolution had to go on the defense, however, when its four-day school week was accused of endangering 45-minute classes and their availability by creating potential restrictions on some students who have heavy work schedules.
“Friday classes would only be dropped if that was the most sustainable choice,” said Tayler Clough, Revolution’s presidential candidate.
Two things all parties could agree on was to keep the proposed sustainability fee and back out of the student service initiative, a controversial attempt by current Student Body President Patrick Reimherr’s administration to add a volunteer or civic engagement requirement for graduation.
“Requirement is a scary word, and students don’t want more piled on top of them,” said Pace Johnson, the GO Party’s presidential candidate.