SBO Inspiration from SMU-TV on Vimeo.
The candidate debates for the 100th Student Senate on April 1 in Hughes-Trigg were a prime example of the emphasis students are placing on the issues this election season.
Each candidate was given five minutes to discuss his or her platform and then had one minute to respond to a question from his or her opponent.
The Candidates for President
Presidential candidate and current Vice President Zane Cavender was randomly chosen to start the debate.
Cavender’s platform centered on parking, funding, and community. Cavender wants to open spots up to students in garages and the north lot behind Dallas Hall that are normally reserved for visitors or faculty. He said students should not be paying such a high parking fee for “spots that don’t exist.”
His second focus was on funding. As tuition continues to increase, Cavender wants to put more of that money towards programs for students.
Cavender’s last goal was to build community, saying, “Football is a large part of that.” He advocated for the sale of alcohol in Ford Stadium, citing West Virginia University’s successful football season after it allowed alcohol sales in its stadium.
Cavender, in true Texan flair, ending his portion of the debate by saying, “I’m not afraid to piss people off” to “make things that aren’t happening happen.”
Ramón Trespalacios, currently the international senator, was next in the category for presidential candidates.
He focused on citizenship, fostering community, and increasing communication.
“I came with an empty bucket and SMU filled it up with water,” said Trespalacios on the sense of citizenship and community SMU gave him as an international student.
Trespalacios wants to give back to the school, saying, “Before all, I am a Mustang.” He is currently a Resident Assistant and said that personal relationships, like the ones he has with his residents, are the key to bringing change and unity to the campus and are the best way to foster communication between groups on campus.
The final candidate for president was Anthony McAuliffe.
McAuliffe started off his speech by saying that he was different from the other candidates in his motivation for running for president and because he has specific ideas to fix problems. He said the hate crimes and rape incidents on campus showed him a lack of community that made him want to run for office.
“We don’t respect one another or value one another as Mustangs,” said McAuliffe.
He said he wasn’t just going to make friends but make change while in office. To promote community, he wants to give monetary incentives to groups in different Greek councils to work together.
“I am the only candidate that can actually build community at SMU,” said McAuliffe at the end of his platform speech.
The Candidates for Vice President
Current Senate Chief of Staff Savannah Stephens was the first to speak.
She cited specific things the Senate could do to improve communication between the organization and the school and said that she had just gotten the administration’s permission for a new Senate website.
Stephens wants to increase the amount of funding that is given back to students from their tuition in the form of programs, saying that the current percentage is a “joke.”
The question from her opponent, Jaywin Singh Malhi, suggested that she had her name on bills not because she worked on them but because she is on the executive board of the Senate. Stephens denied this, saying that although she did cosign some bills, ideas like the tent at the boulevard for non-greeks came to fruition because of the work that she did.
In his platform speech, Malhi focused on community, transparency, and responsibility.
He wants to live stream Senate meetings and make a committee of all of the student leaders to strategize what bills are worthy of enacting. Although he is currently calling this an implementation committee, he joked that it would eventually have a name that is “hot and sexy.”
Malhi’s question from Stephens was about a rally he attended that Stephens believed was anti-Greek, even though Malhi stated that he was an ally to Greeks. He denied this, saying that the rally was about abolishing hate and discrimination and that he admires Greeks because of the sense of identity and pride they have.
The Candidates for Secretary
Katherine Ladner, who is running for reelection, focused on her accomplishments in her term as secretary. Her main point was the efficiency she brought to the Senate, accomplished by stricter office hour rules and attendance policies for senators.
Lila Friedlander, currently a Dedman I senator, said she doesn’t want to make many “sweeping changes” but wants to add a transfer senator and focus on the student body’s similarities to create unity.
