ASI
candidate debates wrongly staged in
Nugget
Richard
Haller (Associ ated Students Inc. Executive
Director), I do agree with you that holding
these elections this week would be a
travesty for the students of this fine
university. Not only am I referring to
the lack of posters, flyers and other
promotional tools for the candidates,
but also the most recent haphazard debates.
When these debates concluded, the only thing I walked away with was intense
embarrassment for witnessing the fiasco. The debates were held in the Nugget
for in a school that has an overwhelming 33,000 plus students. The audience
was comprised of ASI representatives, excluding myself and about nine
other unaffiliated ASI students.
The election committee mediated the debate, asking typical questions pertaining
to Beach Pride funds, the Puvungna land, a recreational center on campus, and
other restrictive topics. As I leered around at the empty seats scattered about
me, I wondered why the debate was even taking place in the Nugget. Didn’t
it make logical sense to have it where there is a lot of foot traffic? A
debate held on the grassy knoll between the Friendship Walk and the bookstore
would have been immersed in larger student participation.
The debates instead transpired in the diminutive dimly lit Nugget — a
reminder of the reoccurring theme of omnipresent isolation and barriers between
the students and ASI.
Instead of talking directly to the students, the ASI presidential candidates
were preaching once again to ASI senators. The ASI debates were an exact
replica of the Senate meetings, except they weren’t located in USU 217
(where ASI meetings are conducted) but in the Nugget, where more unaffiliated
ASI students were watching the basketball game on TV. This whole incident
must have been an intentional joke, but then I realized it wasn’t April
Fools’ Day.
-David Kirsten, senior marketing and psychology major
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