ASUI Presidential Policy Adviser Joe Black defended allegations that he had been biased during the March 28 presidential open forum at Wednesday’s senate meeting. Saying his intention was for the forum to challenge the candidates.
File Photo by Amrah Canul | Argonaut Andrew Blake, junior in international studies, addresses his concerns on getting all student niches involved with ASUI March 28 at the Idaho Commons food court during the ASUI Presidential and Vice Presidential Open Forum.
Black was accused of leaking the forum questions to candidates Hannah Davis and Nick Tunison, being biased in the questions he asked and unfair in the corrections he made to candidates’ statements during the forum. He was also accused of being seen at Delta Gamma sorority the night before the forum preparing Davis and Tunison.
After an investigation by ASUI President Samantha Perez, all of the allegations against Black were proven false. Perez and Black said the complaints came from the Miller and Jasper ticket.
“I thought the forum was a little bit heated and I think it’s because Joe’s perceptions of forums in the past have always been that they’re not very substantial and they don’t give very much information because a student could just say ‘I’m running on financial transparency’ but never say how or why,” Perez said.
Perez said Black wanted to question the candidates about what they stood for and why, what their ideas were and how they would serve the student body.
“I feel that too often these races are handed to people who don’t really take the time to research so I wanted to make sure that we had a challenging open forum because this is a challenging job,” Black said.
Black was only able to ask two of his prepared questions because audience questions took up the rest of the time in the forum. One of the questions Black asked was in regard to the procedure of passing a bill through the ASUI Senate.
“I think that he asked some really good questions about process, about how ASUI works and some really good questions about their campaign,” Perez said. “I think maybe if you can’t answer those types of questions about what ASUI does or how we operate — I think the students should know that.”
Perez said she did not think the forum was unfair, though it did take on the feel of a presidential debate rather than a forum. She said this may have been due to the fact that Black decided to ask follow-up questions of the candidates and was inclined to correct misinformation.
“I don’t think that it is biased to ask somebody to pass a bill on the ASUI Senate if their job is going to be to run the ASUI Senate,” Black said. “That information is fully available to everybody.”
Perez said that while anyone could learn the process, she thinks it shows that a candidate is committed to the position if they have researched, or come to a senate meeting, to learn more about the process.
“These two positions are so important for our campus and I think that anybody who wants to take on that commitment should really do their homework and they should really understand all functions of ASUI,” Perez said.
Black said he and Perez discussed the questions the day of the forum and decided to be aggressive in order to make sure the candidates are researching the responsibilities of the positions they are running for and know what they are getting into.
“It’s essentially a job interview,” Black said. “It wasn’t my job to read them a bedtime story and tuck them in. It was my job to make sure that every single student who was there had all of the information that they needed to carefully evaluate each candidate’s competency and qualifications for that position.”
Black said the topics and procedures he planned to discuss in his questions were available to any student who had taken the time to inquire about them.
“I wrote each question based on information, knowledge and skills that would be vital to the offices that those candidates would be executing,” Black said.
Black corrected statements made by the Goytowski-Lowe ticket and the Miller-Jasper ticket, but did not find any issues with statements made by Nick Tunison and Hannah Davis.
“This was not out of trying to make any certain candidate look foolish, this was more about making sure that no misinformation was sent out,” Black said. “I felt it was my responsibility as the ASUI Policy Adviser that the proper information was being distributed and that everybody was on the same page.”
Black said he and several others within ASUI have worked hard in the past four years to build student advocacy in the state legislature and create a strong working relationship with UI administration.
“I think that we didn’t want that to crumble by allowing someone who is perceived to be qualified but not really into the position,” Black said.
One audience member accused Black of being biased during the forum because of the procedural questions he asked and the corrections he made to candidate statements.
“The only candidate that I favor is the one that wins, that is qualified and that has taken the time to prove that they are dedicated enough to do this job because it’s a really difficult job,” Black said.
Black said his only goal in the open forum was to ask tough, specific questions about the procedure and specifics of the job candidates would be required to do.
The final candidate forum took place Wednesday in the Idaho Commons food court. Black did not return to moderate the event.
Sally Ames, ASUI chief of staff, stepped in to ask questions and lead the forum. Only two sets of presidential candidates and four senators were able to participate in the final open forum. The questions candidates faced included the qualities they felt were necessary to hold an elected position in ASUI, and their goals for bettering ASUI should they be elected.
Follow-up questions and corrections by the moderator were not allowed and a professional staff member was present to oversee the forum.
Perez said her recommendation for candidates in the remainder of the election process is to present correct information to the student body in order to avoid an “angry mass of students” once elected.
“For the voters I recommend that they do their homework as well and really look into what the candidates want to change, and really look into those platforms and that they’re factual, and that they’re really going to represent the students and follow through with their promises,” Perez said.
Voting for ASUI senate, president and vice president will take place Monday through Wednesday online at vote.uidaho.edu.
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected]