Just a day before one of the closest presidential elections expected in U.S. history occurred, candidates seeking the top positions in Syracuse University’s student government faced off in an attempt to sway voters later next week.

The Student Association held two debate sessions Monday night for the candidates of comptroller and president. The debates were held as an open forum, in which any student could submit written questions to the candidates.

The nominees for SA president, junior Travis Mason, the current vice president of SA, and junior film major Jon Umansky, answered questions from audience members regarding the future of SA.

Umansky said he is running on a platform that incorporates each of the more than 300 student organizations into SA by giving them a seat on the assembly. He hopes by doing this student organizations will have a say in the assembly that regulates club funds.

‘Only 1 percent of the students on campus are making decisions affecting the whole,’ Umansky said.

Umansky also pointed out that very few students know what SA is, or who holds its presidency.

Instead of increasing the assembly size to more than 300, Mason said he would like to hold bimonthly meetings with representatives from student organizations to give the groups a chance to bring in their opinions without crowding the assembly.

After Mason’s opening remarks hinting at Umansky’s lack of experience with SA, questions from the audience arose about his ability to lead an organization of which he has never been a part.

‘I offer a unique outsider’s perspective,’ Umansky said.

In a rhetorical question to Umansky, Mason asked what he would do if he was elected, because several current SA assembly members have already said they would leave if Mason is not elected.

Umansky later countered by calling those members undedicated and fearful of change.

Questions from the audience also focused on the candidates’ views on diversity on the SU campus.

Umansky pointed out that although the university tries to promote diversity on campus, segregation is still seen all over.

‘There are enormous boundaries,’ Umansky said. ‘There’s still segregation on the Quad and in the dining halls.’

Mason did admit there was a diversity problem on campus, but it could not be fixed immediately.

‘You cannot force diversity programs on students,’ Mason said.

Umansky countered with the idea of increasing diversity awareness on campus.

‘We need to give people the opportunity to interact with people from different backgrounds,’ Umansky said.

On the topic of greek life, Mason said the biggest problem is that greeks and non-greeks do not understand each other. Both candidates agreed that steps needed to be taken to increase relations between the greek system and the university.

Darius Pakrooh, a sophomore management student, and Andrew Urankar, a junior marketing and retailing major, took part in the debate as the candidates for comptroller.

The bulk of the debate focused on the battles between large and small student organizations over funding for student events.

‘If large organizations such as UU are bringing in more people, then they deserve more funding,’ Pakrooh said.

Urankar said smaller organizations could get money as long as they were willing to talk to the finance board.

‘We need to keep those smaller groups alive and keep them funded,’ Urankar said.

Pakrooh pointed out that all groups, not just small ones, should market their events effectively in order to receive funding from the finance board.

The audience also asked the candidates whether or not the student fee needed to be raised. Neither candidate said it should, but Urankar was quick to point out that if the student fee was raised $20, that would give the finance board an extra $200,000 a year to work with.

‘We should not raise the student activity fee because we are already paying $40,000 a year in tuition,’ Pakrooh said.

Elections for SA president and comptroller will be held Nov. 8 through Nov. 11.

In other SA news:

SA submitted the final list of five potential names for the new student section at SU basketball games. Students participating in the SA elections will also be able to choose the student section name as a referendum. The choices are: ‘Otto’s Army,’ ‘The Juice Box,’ ‘Otto’s Orangemen,’ ‘The Juicer’ and ‘Orange County.’

Published on November 1, 2004 at 12:00 pm