Presidential candidate Asher Griffin and vice presidential candidate Kyle Andrews debated with presidentail candidate Emilee Lehenbauer and vice presidential hopeful Dylan Wilcox.
A presidential debate Tuesday brought out campaign differences between SGA candidates with one group stating the biggest issue on campus is strengthening the community among students and the other asserting safety needs to be addressed.
Asher Griffin, one of the presidential candidates, said he and his running mate, Kyle Andrews, believe one of the most pressing issues on campus is safety.
“It’s [the biggest issue on campus] safety and nothing else,” Griffin said. “When you walk home and you don’t feel safe, that’s the university’s problem. When you feel unsafe when you are walking around campus, it’s the university’s problem. No one needs to be raped again, no one needs to be attacked again; safety is the biggest issue.”
Griffin said possible solutions for students, staff and faculty to feel safer on campus are to provide more blue-light stations and to light parking lots that are dark.
Emilee Lehenbauer, a presidential candidate running with Dillon Wilcox, said they believe strengthening the connections between students is the most important campus issue.
“OSU has a unique atmosphere and very friendly people,” Lehenbauer said. “We want to strengthen the community among students, especially freshman and new students, so positive relationships can be built.” Lehenbauer said this could be made possible by expanding resources on campus, starting a campus wide peer mentoring program, developing the Cowboy Cousins program further and solving issues on a person-to-person basis.
A panel of moderators asked 12 total questions to each of the groups, with candidates having time for a three-minute response or a one and a half minute rebuttal.
Six were directed to the presidential candidates, while moderators asked six others to the vice-presidential candidates.
A “curveball” question was asked to each of the presidential candidates, with each needing to use quick wit to answer
The question: “What car do you drive, and how is it a reflection of your personality?”
Griffin said he drives a Ford F-150, and that it represents him well.
“It can tow everything. It gets stuff done and is big enough to get everyone involved,” Griffin said.
Lehenbauer said even though her Volkswagen Passat was currently being worked on, the 1992 Lincoln Towncar she is driving represents her because it is a “party vehicle.”
“I’m all about having fun,” Lehenbauer said. “We need to make SGA more fun to create an atmosphere that is more welcoming to students. I want people to look at SGA from the outside and say ‘that looks like a good time.’”
The vice-presidential candidates gave closing statements.
Andrews said he and Griffin believe students should get involved with SGA no matter what college they may be in or what constituency they are from. Students should voice concerns to SGA and get them resolved, he said.
“You deserve the right to have good leaders, and I think Asher and I are those leaders,” Andrews said.
Wilcox said he and Lehenbauer want to unite the student voice. This should be done from the bottom up and as well from the top down, Willcox said. He also said the efforts of students to make change would not be in vain.
“You [students] pay into SGA; it should pay out and make things happen for you,” Wilcox said.
J.C. Crum, a university studies sophomore, said he enjoyed the debate and noticed differences between the two candidate groups.
“I feel that Dillon and Emilee stuck more along the lines of their direct experiences in SGA on how to move the organization forward, while Asher and Kyle based their answers on their character and vision for what SGA needs to be,” Crum said.
Polling starts at 8 a.m. March 4 and ends March 5 at 5 p.m. To vote, go to http://elections.okstate.edu.
For more information on Griffin and Andrews’ campaign, visit http://www.osyou.org/. Lehenbauer and Wilcox’s campaign information can be found at http://osumomentum.com/.
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I think, in the interest of National Security, it would be wise to choose the candidate who, like Champ from the film “Anchorman”, is all about having fun. I think there’s going to be a lot of really important, substantive changes being made at OSU regardless of who wins though–this is truly an important election and a riveting debate.
On a side note: I was a little disappointed in the vagueness of Griffin’s answer regarding his F-150. He claims it can tow “anything.” Is this true? Can it tow absolutely anything? I think he should be more specific and tell us what it’s maximum towing capacity is. He also says it “gets stuff done.” What stuff? What does it get done? I’d like to know if the vehicle is simply for show or if he actually spends a lot of time getting things done with it. Finally, he says the vehicle is “big enough to get everyone involved.” Involved in what? And is it truly big enough to get everyone involved, or does it have a maximum human storage capacity that it would be dangerous to breach?
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Personally, I’d choose a candidate any day that supported safety on campus as his or her number one priority. That said, Asher and Kyle are relevant to the needs of this University. Emilee and Dillon want to “strengthen connections among students”. To me, this is vague. Does this mean they’d like to increase friendships or promote involvement? If so, that is much more of a minor issue. Asher and Kyle are running to elevate the students’ voice and give a sense of importance to our OSU family.
To clarify Asher’s statement about the F-150 he was talking about synergy and involvement of all. He was talking about how he is competent to be the OSU SBP and capable to make this next year a success. He was talking about what OSU should be: A place where students feel important (involved) and those at the head of operation have the character necessary to lead (Tow). Asher & Kyle are the vehicle desperately needed to make OSU even more great!
Check out Asher and Kyle at osYOU.org and vote @ http://elections.okstate.edu !