Just as the Democratic candidates for the United States presidency debated in Las Vegas, the SGA freshman candidates are vying for eight senator positions in front of their freshman peers this past Tuesday evening in the Edwin A. Stevens building’s lecture hall (EAS 222). Although the audience size in EAS 222 was significantly less than the 15 million drawn to CNN for the Democratic debate, the discussion among the freshman candidates held much importance, as they had the chance to reveal their intentions and values to approximately 150 potential voters.
SGA President Matthew Hunt served as the moderator, and after Hunt officially opened the debate, the candidates introduced themselves. The students running for senator positions represent a wide assortment of majors—engineering and quantitative finance to business and technology and computer science.
Hunt’s first question to the candidates focused on which responsibility of the senator position is most important to the candidates. Namankita Rana was the first to answer and argued that governing the use of the student activity fund was the most important role. “Money is the lifeblood of everything that we do at Stevens,” said Rana. Abha Jhaveri argued that a senator’s role of representing the population is paramount to funding. “Regardless of what money we have, if the money […] doesn’t go to where the students want it to go, it won’t be successful either way.”
The next question posed to the candidates regarded Stevens’ expansion in population, academic and residential buildings, and overall academia. Candidates were asked to share if they agreed with President Farvardin’s vision for the university. Lucas Gallo believed that diversifying the institution is important and should be implemented. “Most of us are engineers. I think that having different schools in our university would bring different types of students […] and expand our horizons.” Ann Collins, sitting to Gallo’s left, was inclined to agree with him, but argued that an increase in student population would not be advantageous for Stevens. “I’ve always gone to small, private schools for my […] whole academic career,” said Collins. “One of the things that brought me to Stevens was having such a tight-knit community of just a couple thousand kids.” Mia Hildebrandt contended that increasing population size would not impede on the strong, communal bonds that Stevens has worked so hard to forge in the past years.
Hunt continued to pose open-ended questions that allowed the potential senators to express their opinions regarding Stevens, their ideas for effectively engaging with constituents, and their visions for future changes within the SGA or the campus as a whole. Sam Sherman believes that “school unity” is an important aspect to focus on. “If we expand more and have more students coming into the school, this will be something that we’ve never dealt with before. We’ll need to focus on more events that bring everyone together.” J.C. Borman feels that “communication is a huge issue on campus.” Borman proposed a centralized communication system that would enable students to be more informed regarding the myriad of athletic, school-sponsored, and RSO events that occur on a daily basis.
Before Hunt invited the audience to ask the candidates questions, he posed one final question: “Why do you feel you are more qualified than the rest of the candidates up here today?” Each candidate was allowed to answer, but was limited to a 30-second response. Many of the candidates were uncomfortable arguing that they were more qualified than each other, but clarified as to why they would be capable of upholding an important position such as SGA senator. Cat Oesterle said, “I want to improve Stevens so you guys enjoy it here. It’s not about me anymore if I get this position.” The candidates touched upon their successes in high school leadership positions, in areas both academic and extracurricular.
Hunt asked any audience members to the front of the room to ask the candidates questions. One student inquired about the candidates’ abilities to manage their time if elected as a senator. Rana and Borman both answered, agreeing that putting others before themselves is an inherent aspect of the position and will take precedence over other activities or personal interests.
The debate serves to present the candidates to the freshman class so potential voters can make a more informed decision as to whom they want their representatives to be. Students can still cast votes for their grades’ open senator positions by visiting stevens.edu/vote. Voting will close at 11:59 p.m. on October 17.
