Vying for votes in today’s election, candidates for president and student trustee of the Student Government Association debated last night in the Student Union Ballroom at the University of Massachusetts.

Only the candidates running on tickets, Pat Kenney and D’Alessandra Acosta together and Brandon Tower and Mike Fox together, were present at the debate. According to Chancellor of Elections Jitesh Khushalani, student trustee candidates Andrew Dawson and Benjamin Chase had “prior engagements.” Candidates were aware of the debate date less than a week ago.

The candidates were questioned by debate moderator and Collegian Editor-in-Chief William McGuinness, UVC-TV correspondent Nicole Sobel, Collegian reporters Alyssa Creamer and Hannah McGoldrick, and several members of the audience. The audience consisted primarily of current SGA members

The debate began with introductions and questions to the presidential candidates, Kenney and Tower.

Kenney addressed his interest in organizing students to lobby state legislators to make the University more “affordable and accessible” to students.

When asked by Sobel how Kenney planned to make his belief that students should be able to graduate from high-quality institutions without excessive debt a reality for UMass students, Kenney responded with “we’d like to continue the way we have been, and we rallied around the $1,500 fee increase.” Kenney stated that he feels it is important for students to rally around issues involving fee increases and to have students be involved in the decision-making process through helping to facilitate conversations with administrators. He also stated that he and Acosta would be working to fight the potential School of Management and flagship fees.

Both presidential candidates and both student trustee candidates expressed their discontent with the pending Commonwealth College, flagship and School of Management fees. However, both tickets explained they would be in support of the proposed “green fee” at the University, which will be a $5, non-waivable fee.

Tower’s response to a question about how he plans to promote campus safety was to say that given the recent reports of the University’s mishandling of an alleged sexual assault case he feels as though protecting women’s safety is a priority of his potential administration. He said that he plans to develop a ride program that takes victims of sexual assault from the University to Cooley-Dickinson Hospital and have a trained employee from the Every Woman’s Center accompany the victim on the way to the hospital. He also suggested developing a social norms campaign comparable to the alcohol campaign about sexual assault. Tower continued to say that he wanted to create an environment that “made women feel safe about coming forward” with their stories about sexual assault.

Both candidates identified concerns regarding “ambiguous” or “unclear” language within the current Code of Student Conduct (CSC).

Tower discussed that charges within the CSC are all encompassing and need to be changed because offenses that are not as serious as others can be grouped in the same kind of charge.

Kenney said that there is currently no mention of sanctions for hate crime offenders, and that as president he would work to change that.

“It’s not that I am unable to pass any legislation through the senate,” said Kenney in response to a question about why Kenney feels qualified to be president when, according to SGA records, he has not sponsored a “single piece of legislation this year” from SGA Senator Derek Khanna. “As chair of the Administrative Affairs Committee, when you sponsor a piece of legislation, which I have, when it goes through the Administrative Affairs Committee and hits the floor as being sponsored by the administrative affairs committee.”

SGA advisor Lydia Washington asked Kenney and Tower “what are your plans on changing the [SGA] Constitution and bylaws?”

Tower stated that Administrative Affairs Committee Chairperson Jerrad Rose “is the powerhouse on my team” that “knows the bylaws inside and out.” Tower said he wanted to have training for new SGA members and some sort of mitigated punishment short of expulsion for SGA members who do not fulfill their roles properly.

Kenney stated that when he was chair of Administrative Affairs, the committee had discussed that a third party consultant should come in and rework the bylaws so that anyone could understand it.

“If you go through the bylaws there are tons of contradictions in there,” said Kenney. He also said that reworking the bylaws would have to be the mainly the responsibility of the Administrative Affairs Committee and not the executive branch of the SGA, but that he would offer his suggestions.

Acosta explained her interest in establishing a Trio program at the University, as well as set up a pipeline program for local high school students.

“It’s very near and dear to my heart to work with trio programs because it has helped me get to where I am now and help my brother and sister get to college,” said Acosta.

As defined on the U.S. Department of Education’s website, “The Federal TRIO Programs (TRIO) are Federal outreach and student services programs designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. TRIO includes eight programs targeted to serve and assist low-income individuals, first-generation college students, and individuals with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to postbaccalaureate programs.”

Acosta has been working with OPSAS and other student agencies to create a posse program at UMass. “Founded in 1989, Posse identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes,” as stated on the Posse Foundation website. The program’s college partners provide four-year, free tuition scholarships to Posse Scholars.

Fox’s mission is to bring students who feel strongly about student issues to the board of trustees and foster better communication between students and himself as he represents the students.

“I don’t view myself as being the sole representative of the student body,” said Fox. “I want to be the conduit, the facilitator, I want to be the person that shows the trustees the faces of the students that are impacted by their decisions.”

Voting begins today. Elections are being held online on the University’s Campus Pulse site, and paper ballots are available at certain locations on campus.

Online voting through Campus Pulse runs from March 9th to 11th. Paper voting will be available in the Campus Center from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on all three days.

Editor’s Note: March 9, 2010. The original version of this article incorrectly identified Jitesh Khushalani. The article has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of his name.