The two remaining campaign tickets sweated through the second student body presidential debate on Harborwalk yesterday. Armed with energy drinks and notepads, candidates Steven Bird and Cody Boyer answered students’ questions, vying for votes in the runoff election.
Students had the opportunity pose more than 10 questions to the presidential and vice presidential candidates. Topics ranging from Sodexo to Student Government transparency bounced through thick crowd.
“We are not going to rule out any questions, so keep in mind that these are your peers sitting behind you,” Andrew Hart, Election Rules Commissioner, told the crowd, explaining that even questions like “what’s you favorite color?” would pass.
But questions kept to campus issues, namely student accessibility to SG and growth in services and size of the university.
Senior Bill Milazzo questioned presidential goals for campus expansion. Candidate Boyer discussed funding to the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and music festivals with an amphitheater pavilion at Poynter Park.
“It would be a campus environment sort of thing, a play off of the Dali art,” he said. “It give an opportunity for open mic nights, music festivals, that kind of thing.”
Candidate Bird turned to Harbor Hall as the new arts building on campus.
“It would be making it the building it can be, making it a house of graphic design and the arts,” he said. His response was not limited to physical expansion of USFSP, but academic growth. “Not only do you need to have spaces for students, but skills too.”
For candidates, the re-passing of Student Green Energy Fund was not the final say on green growth. Bird envisioned a partnership between SGEF and Sodexo for a fresh market and more green projects. Boyer mentioned measuring the campus carbon footprint, a project already in progress by the Clean Energy and Resource Conservation Commission.
Students requested more community projects, student connection to SG and commitment from student leaders.
Vice presidential candidates were asked to define their roles in SG and how they would potentially fill the role of president.
“I’ve dealt with how to talk to students, how to plan fundraising, how to reach out to others and how to deal with financial aid,” said Monica Gonzalez, Bird’s running mate. “It’s what the president and vice president can do together to put the student back in Student Government.”
Vice presidential candidate for the Boyer campaign, Jordan Iuliucci, felt confident in her ability to step in as a leader for SG and the student body.
“I never like to put limits on myself, so it’s basically what I can’t do,” she said. “You’re basically there wholeheartedly for students, for the clubs and orgs, for the service projects, for any type of projects that you can imagine.”
Voting begins on Tuesday, March 4 at 8 a.m. and continues until 5 p.m. on Wednesday online through OrgSync and in person with the ERC in the University Student Center entrance.
