Accusations flew as the candidates for president and vice president for Associated Students discussed issues such as campus security, school spirit and director stipends during Tuesdays debate.
It came as a surprise for the audience when Malik Basurto, who?is running for?president,?stated early in the debate he had to leave due to his conflicting class schedule, in which he blamed the elections committee for not inquiring about his schedule and working around it. ?
During Basurto’s short stay, his main statement was’ A.S. caters to few students and?doesn’t aim to provide awareness about all resources on campus. When asked about the current administrations plan goal for a five-year plan, Basurto knew ‘nothing about it,’ and didn’t know about issues facing senate compensation.
Basurto concluded his stay by stating that as A.S. president he would ‘fulfill all his obligations that he is required to’ and provide more awareness.
A.S. stipends for senators was the next highly disagreed subject. Currently A.S. senators are paid a weekly stipend of $50 dollars.
‘They should be able to keep their current stipend,’ said Andrew Collard who is running for president on the A-Team slate. ‘I am a student servant and this is not a form of payment, but more of compensation for their time spent.’
Carbajo proposed a 50 percent stipend increase, but with more accountability and transparency,?making?it clear that if a senator failed to meet their requirements for the week they would not get paid.
During this discussion,?Carbajo called out Abel Pacheco,’ running for president on the Students for Change slate, for lack of attendance in the senate, to which he replied that it was due to his car accident.
Carbajo also proposed to raise the amount of funding for clubs and organizations by $40,000 by reallocating money from A.S. event planning. Collard disagreed.
? ‘The money we use goes to get students involved. We are here to advocate fair funding; there are a lot of different ways on campus to get funding. A.S. is not the only one responsible to fund everyone. The campus needs to step up and start funding as well.’
While debating over campus safety, Pacheco offered a different idea to make campus more secure.
‘We need to work with administration and put more security cameras in the parking lot,’ said Pacheco.
When discussing what the hopeful vice-president will try to accomplish during their administration, there were many different view points about what was needed to be done, but the increase of school spirit was important.
‘I would make food and beverage changes, have more options that are not so expensive. People should have a choice to get food at a flat rate,’ said Connor Landsdale, a current A.S. senator, who is running along with Pacheco for vice president.
One subject that the presidential candidates did agree on was the need for more involvement with student athletics and the efforts that should be made to bring more support for those athletes.
