Seven of the eight GUSA presidential candidates discussed issues ranging from safety to the bias reporting system last night in a debate hosted by THE HOYA.
The candidates fielded questions from panelists representing both THE HOYA and The Voice, along with viewers and those following online through a live blog, in front of an audience of around 40.
ost candidates called for improving campus safety, with proposals ranging from enhanced equipment for Department of Public Safety officers to a reformed SafeRides system.
Kyle Williams (COL ’09) advocated for the installation of better lighting and cameras on Prospect Street. “People don’t even want to move into the backside of Prospect because of muggings,” he said.
Sean Hayes (MSB ’10) called for DPS to focus more on safety than enforcing the alcohol policy. “DPS focuses more on breaking up parties than on safety issues,” he said.
The bias reporting system came up repeatedly, with some candidates calling for greater use of it.
“Ten bias-related incidents reported in a semester is nothing. I see 10 bias-related incidents in one night,” Williams said.
The candidates agreed that GUSA should improve its relationship with the student body. D.W. Cartier (COL ’09) pledged to try to “end the disconnect between the student body and the student body president” through periodic written and video reports of GUSA’s activities.
Tim Brown (COL ’09) proposed putting major policy decisions to a student vote through referendums.
Patrick Dowd (SFS ’09) emphasized the need for alcohol policy reform, saying that GUSA needed to “show the administration that [students] are more than just partiers.”
Schuyler Hawkins (MSB ’10) said he would help LGBTQ students feel more comfortable on campus by “increasing contact between GUSA representatives and the groups they are representing,” stating that “people chant in Red Square because they feel the student body is not representing them” and that “they have no other outlet to lodge complaints.”
Other unique platforms included Dowd’s “Take Your Professor To Leo’s” program and Hayes’s proposal to adjust the point system for on-campus housing selection.
Tom Karwacki (MSB ’09) also participated in the event. David Dietz (COL ’10) was the only candidate not in attendance.
Earlier in the night, the Georgetown chapter of the NAACP and the Black Student Alliance hosted a discussion in McCarthy Hall, which drew fewer than 10 students. Brown, Cartier, Dowd, Hawkins and Williams attended.
The election period began this evening and will end tomorrow at midnight.
– Kayla Branson contributed to this report.
“
