Rich LombardSpeaking before a modest crowd, candidates for student trustee and SGA president squared off on issues of diversity, affordability of higher education, and their qualifications last night.
The three candidates for trustee – Libby Protzman, Lindsay McCluskey, and Augusta Mfuko – and the four candidates for president – Devin Ashe, Malcolm Chu, Derek Khanna, and Peter Kuusisto – held a steady banter with one another and the audience for nearly two hours in the Cape Cod Lounge of the Student Union.
The candidates for trustee focused on issues relating to college affordability and how their respective experiences would help them confront the challenges facing the University of Massachusetts.
Protzman touched on her involvement in numerous campus activities and her desire to lobby the state government for school support. McCluskey focused on her past experiences organizing as the Secretary of External Affairs and how the connections that she has built would help her in the future. Mfuko – the only graduate student running – touched on her experience in the Graduate Student Senate and her involvement with the strike to highlight her abilities in advocacy.
The three candidates all stated that the school needs to be more affordable to both in and out of state students and that holding the position of trustee would be the best way they could fix a broken system.
The four candidates for president participated in a heated session. While the candidates began by describing their respective experience with SGA, the debate soon turned to an argument over how to free up finances on campus and the involvement of diversity organizations, such as the ALANA caucus, in student government.
Several times Khanna expressed his displeasure with the past several SGA administrations and the ALANA caucus which supported them. He expressed a desire to change the “status quo” of the student government administration, citing fee increases and a need to work through or above the administration.
Chu – the ALANA endorsed candidate – often used his experience as an organizer of the student strike to demonstrate his qualifications for the presidency. His stances, closely identified with the strike, demonstrated a desire to continue negotiations with the administration. He reiterated the positions of his running mate, McCluskey, stressing a desire to focus on campus affordability.
Ashe stated his support of the strike and identified himself as a candidate based on action and not rhetoric. He spoke about his time in the Ways and Means Committee of the SGA Senate as a necessary experience to serve as president.
Kuusisto centered his statements on his familiarity with financial issues and his time serving as SGA auditor. He expressed a desire to run SGA with fiscal efficiency and more communication with the student body.
After the candidates made their opening statements and answered issue related questions from UVC-TV 19, WMUA, and The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, the floor was opened for members of the audience to question the candidates. Some of the questions asked during this session touched upon issues such as the SGA-endorsed fee increases and their stances on the upcoming referendum questions.
Khanna was questioned several times in relation to his statements on diversity and his personal comments directed at current SGA President Aaron Buford and Trustee Ruth Thompson.
Towards the end of the debate, Khanna and Thompson had an exchange in relation to the honesty of Khanna’s figures on diversity and his attacks on the past administration.
Other issues touched upon during the audience questioning period included the candidate’s stances on recent SGA events, such as last week’s minutes crisis, the candidate’s personal motivations to run, and how to get the student body more involved with student government.
The SGA elections will be held next week on March 5th and 6th.
Mike Fox can be reached at [email protected]
