All three ASUI presidential candidates Justin Alder, Peyton Loffer and Martha Smith met on April 10 for the third and last open forum debate. Additionally, Jack Schneider, who is running as Loffer’s vice president, and senator candidates Kaylee McCulloch and Jalissa McDowell participated in the open forum.
During the open forum, the candidates introduced themselves, reaffirmed their positions on different stances and explained how they would approach being the ASUI president.
Smith began by explaining that the role of ASUI president spans further than the on-paper specifications. She also said the responsibility of ASUI president has to do with who you are as a student and not shying away from the hard parts of being in a leadership position.
Loffer said as ASUI president, she would be a leader who listens.
“I’ve been on ASUI for four years and what I’ve learned is the most important thing about leadership is being a leader who listens,” Loffer said. “I think it’s extremely important to collaborate with peers and hear from different living groups.”
To do this, Loffer wants to establish a new campus wide committee to ensure every student is being heard across campus.
Alder said he wants to be ASUI president to represent students and intends to be a voice for all students.
“In reality, the goal of being the president is not to lead as much as it is to represent and that is what I intend to do as ASUI president,” Alder said. “I want to represent students, their goals, and I want to do it as fairly and effectively as possible.”
All of the candidates in attendance said they wanted to publicize and make campus resources for mental health and wellbeing more accessible to all students. Schneider, Loffer’s vice president candidate, also mentioned a desire to partner with Griffith Medical Center to provide additional care for mental health.
The candidates also discussed how they would address tuition and financial aid concerns. All the candidates said they want to use the ASUI platform to communicate scholarships and financial aid information to students. Additionally, Smith mentioned wanting to ensure student tutors and work-study positions are being paid fairly and Alder mentioned wanting to streamline MyUI to make it easier to find information.
Schneider said Loffer and he want to make a new ASUI website where scholarship and financial information could be posted clearly and host scholarship info sessions and budgeting workshops for students through ASUI.
Another topic that was approached was how to bridge the gap between different student populations.
Smith said that ASUI has been instrumental in her meeting people and friends outside of her living groups and can continue being a resource in connecting different students. Smith also mentioned that letting individual groups flourish is important.
“RHA has a culture, Greek life has a culture, multicultural organizations have a culture, and allowing those to flourish and do well within their own rights while also being connected is the responsibility of ASUI and we are in a very unique position to be able to use that,” Smith said.
Loffer mentioned using the website she plans to create to connect students, but also the new committee she would like to form with different members from across campus. Hearing from the different members around campus would make it easier to promote their events and what they are passionate about, according to Loffer.
Alder said separation between groups is an inherent reality of living in different areas and spending different amounts of time socializing and studying.
“There is an inevitable amount of separation that you’re going to have between the communities on campus. The question is really, how are we going to connect these groups?” said Alder.
His solution was to promote events that bring students together, like football games, concerts or cultural events like Cruise the World.
Senator candidate McCulloch expressed an interest in creating more events or reasons to get more people in the ISUB after classes in the evening where they could socialize outside of their living areas.
The candidates were also asked what they intended to do as ASUI president.
Alder said his number one priority is making sure students know exactly what ASUI is and can do.
“I want to accomplish a lot of things, which I very much intend to do. These are including, but not limited to, representing all students equally, giving everyone a knowledge of the power in which they have. Students have a much stronger voice than most think they do,” Alder said. “Using my voice, connections and legislation, what I intend to advocate for are things like further communication, more affordable parking and more lenient enforcement of parking.”
Loffer said her main goals are to help students promote their events, make students feel like their voices are heard across campus and just better the student experience overall. Some of the ways she intends to do that is with a new ASUI website detailing ASUI meetings and different events, making it easier for students to get tickets to football games and being completely transparent with how ASUI uses ASUI student fees.
Smith said the biggest thing she would like to accomplish as ASUI president is being representation for first generation students like herself.
“In addition to that, when you look at our campaign [Smith is running with vice president candidate Emma Johnston], amplifying student voices is something that is not only important for here at the university, but is important at the local level, state level and national level,” Smith said. “Students have a voice and if we pursue that in a meaningful way, we can really make a difference in those three places [at a local, state and national level].”
Smith also said she wants to communicate what ASUI does better and enhance the student experience by implementing Vandal Card scanners as ticket entry into the P1FCU Kibbie Dome and ICCU Arena for sports games and other events.
The open forum ended with each candidate having time to share their final thoughts.
Alder said he and his vice-presidential candidate running mate Sawyer Hamm are outsiders to ASUI, which gives them a unique perspective. Alder said the other candidates who have been in ASUI for several years have had ample time to accomplish what they are promising, while he and Hamm want to focus on empowering students and providing students with knowledge of ASUI operations.
Loffer said she and Schneider want to uphold student voices and put that at the forefront of their campaign. Loffer says her four years of ASUI experience have given her the knowledge and understanding necessary for ASUI president, and she wants students to know they have a voice in student government.
Smith said she and her vice president candidate Johnston talked to a lot of different people and groups around campus and asked people what they wanted to see from ASUI leadership. She said her position as a first-generation college student will play a large role in helping and advocating for students in the same position.
Voting for the ASUI election takes place from April 15-17. An email with the link for voting will be sent to student email accounts or can be accessed online.
Georgia Swanson can be reached at [email protected]