SG holds first presidential debate

During the first Student Government presidential debate held yesterday at Rocky's Lounge, the four SG presidential candidates were asked questions concerning what they propose to do about the issues of safety, parking and what they hope to accomplish at UT.

Presidential candidate Krystal Weaver, a junior majoring in pharmacy, proposed the implementation of a scholarship program that will award $250 to $500 to students who are willing to walk to campus from nearby areas such as University Hills and Campus Village in order to alleviate parking concerns.

"It would only be like a $500 down to $250 scholarship, but it would really help students out and also release some parking spaces," she said.

Weaver is not the only presidential candidate whose solution to parking is for students to travel on campus in ways other than driving.

Presidential candidate Brad Davy said he wants to start a program called Share-a-Bike, which he said has been instituted at Washington State University.

This program would create small bike garages around campus. Each bike would have a pod for students to swipe their Rocket Cards, allowing them to use the bike for about 20 minutes to get from one place to another and return the bike to a garage at any location, Davy said. These bike garages would be placed at various locations on campus and popular places off campus, such as Campus Village, he said.

"This would really ease congestion on campus, having less students on campus driving," he said.

Presidential candidate Mark Carter, a sophomore majoring in political science, said he thought UT should limit the amount of parking passes it gives out in order to solve the issue of the lack of space for every student to park.

"They pass out more parking passes than there are [parking] spots on this campus. People have to park an hour before their class starts, halfway across the campus," Carter said.

To deal with the issue of safety, presidential candidate Kristina Karbula, a senior majoring in political science, said she and her running mate Sam Harden, a senior majoring in political science, plan to have a monthly forum for students, absent of administrators, to get issues such as safety in the open and discuss solutions.

"Something they stopped doing four years ago was really talking to the freshman students about how to be good guests when they're going out on the weekends and how to stay safe in the process. We really want to pick that up next year again and continue the discussion," she said.

The key to safety is education, Davy said.

"To educate students well, you need good educators," he said.

Davy plans to work with resident advisers to strengthen their understanding of general safety so they can help students living in residence halls be safer.

Karbula said she thinks the most important goal is to finish unfinished business.

"For example, the library. The first floor looks amazing, but the other floors in the library are just as bad as they were before. We really want to help the university finish the projects they've started before we start new ones," she said.

Weaver said she would like to focus on reforming the ways students are charged for general fees.

"Right now, students are paying $555 a semester for general fees, and most students have no idea what it goes towards. I would like to split up the general fees into specific fees of what the money is going towards so that, first of all students, will know what their money is going towards, and they will know exactly how much they are paying for things such as the Rec Center, student organizations and student athletics," she said.

Carter said his top priority is being a representative for the students and listening to what they want.

"We want to be able to go to the administration and go to the politicians and say, ‘We are the representatives for The University of Toledo's students,'" Carter said.

"We are never going to accept the status quo. We will always listen to [a] student's input and opinion," he said.

One question asked during the debate was whether the candidates were making realistic proposals or if they were unachievable promises.

Weaver assured students any promise she has found to be unfeasible has been removed from her campaign.

"I was supporting opening up the lobby area of the library at least 24 hours so that students can meet there. I discussed this with the dean and others in the library just in the last couple of weeks, and they told me that it's not possible because of security issues, so we removed that from the platform," she said.

Karbula said it is most important to get to know the administration well so it is easier to work with administrators.

"I've already been through that process, so I have a pretty good understanding of what is feasible on this campus and what is not," she said. "There is nothing on our platform that couldn't be accomplished within the next year."

Karbula also said she would never propose something that just sounds good and wouldn't be able to actually be accomplished.

Since SG is prohibited from fundraising, the candidates must think of ways to fit their platform ideas within a fixed budget.

"We're trying to spend our money on things that really do promote things for the entire student body, not just student government and not just a certain group of student," Karbula said.

Carter said he disagrees with there only being a certain amount of money for funding.

"There are so many grants, and there is so much stimulus money out there," Carter said.