By Jacqueline Hlavenka
After a four hour Student Government Association senate meeting on Tuesday night, the first presidential debate of 2007 between the two tickets, took place yesterday with a low turnout of approximately 20 students, technical difficulties and a surprise protest.
The debate, originally scheduled to start at 6 p.m., was delayed due to poor sound quality in the multipurpose room of the Student Center-causing a near half-hour delay to obtain microphones for the presidential tickets from audio/visual services. Though the latest legislation has prompted a heated environment in student government, ruling that current SGA president Peter DiSilvio cannot run in the spring election, only eight SGA senators, including DiSilvio, attended the event.
“It is a very unfortunate situation that Pete can’t run, but I think the student body needs to realize that we are their option. There are two tickets to choose from, and if they want to make an educated and informed decision, they are going to want to come to the debates,” said vice presidential candidate Kate Legnetti, a sophomore at the University, who is running with presidential candidate Brent Weitzberg.
Despite the circumstances, secretary Laura Giunta and rules commissioner Lisa Giunta began the debate by inquiring about presidential tickets’ qualifications and what the individual candidates would do if elected. Presidential candidate Shaun Slight, a history major, and running mate, vice presidential candidate Ian Daly, stated that their goals would increase awareness about student club events by utilizing the Hofstra Portal, providing more funding for student clubs and increasing on-campus based security.
“This is not a typical college campus,” Slight said, defending the urban nature of the University’s location and proximity to New York City. “A sense of community needs to be strengthened. Dutch Debits and meal points should be applied off-campus. There’s been word about that, but I would like to make it happen. The Portal should also have a way about communicating information about clubs directly to the student.”
As the microphone was passed to Weitzberg and Legnetti, demonstrators from the “Stop the Vote” campaign stood in the back of the room and held up signs on the glass between the multipurpose room and the Student Center Theater lobby, expressing their dissatisfaction with the current state of the University’s student government. The campaign itself encourages students not to vote in this spring’s election in order to delay the vote until fall 2007 when more candidates can run, student government can reorganize and provide an opportunity for DiSilvio to increase his G.P.A. to the required 2.5. Each presidential ticket requires 350 votes, and if either ticket does not obtain the necessary amount of votes to run, the election will be postponed until the fall semester.
“I don’t think SGA takes the will of the people into account when they make their decision,” said Art Tebbel, editor-in-chief of Nonsense Magazine. “I feel there was an outpouring of support from the on-campus organizations on campus last night that were, at best, ignored.”
According to Tebbel, student organizations such as Entertainment Unlimited, Hofstra Concerts, Malik and members of the Hofstra Crew team made requests regarding their organizations and were questioned about their validity as student leaders.
“A large, large part of what SGA should do is take care of the clubs. If students are dissatisfied, in an abstract way, this has caused a lot of clubs to come together and unite based on a common cause,” said Nick Psillas, managing editor of Nonsense.
In response to the “Stop the Vote” campaign, DiSilvio did not want to discredit the movement, but wanted the members to show respect for the presidential tickets who were speaking.
“I didn’t tell them to stop. I wanted them to get down from the window so nobody fell and hurt themselves. I support their decision. I support the group they started and what they are doing, but when people are speaking, that’s a little much. If you’re sitting in the audience holding up signs, that’s cool, but once you start jumping around, you could get in trouble,” DiSilvio said.
As the debate continued amid the protest, Weitzberg and Legnetti, if elected, stated three goals: more commuter and residential unity on campus, integrating more Greek life within the University community and increasing more communication between SGA and the student body, mainly pertaining to student-based clubs.
“If there is one common thread between clubs, we can find trends in that and help everyone collectively on the way,” Weitzberg said.
Legnetti added that the University’s campus is often regarded as “segmented” and “disconnected” due to its divide between residential and commuter students.
“Mainly, we need to strengthen relationships and bridge the gap between clubs and the University,” Legnetti said.
Both tickets cited that their campaigns could be defined by words like “enthusiasm,” “passion” and “hunger” to initiate change. A town hall style debate will be held on May 2, during common hour, where students can ask candidates questions about what they plan to do in office.
“Both candidates said some great stuff,” DiSilvio said. “They said some smart things, but there are certain phrases, ideas that sent a shiver up my spine. There are things that I am doing that are being completed. I also hate abstract ideas, in both tickets, like, ‘we’re building a bridge!’ But how are you building that bridge, is the better question.”
Protestors encouraging undergraduates not to vote in the student government election created a skeptical at the presidential debate.