student body tickets debate prior to election

By PETER BREEN news Writer

In a two-hour debate before a live audience in d uncan s tudent c enter s unday evening, the three tickets up for Wednesday’s student body president and vice president election fielded a catalog of questions from Judicial c ouncil president m adison n emeth and vice president for elections Koryn Isa, who served as moderators.

c ontenders were allowed four minutes to deliver opening and closing statements. d uring the debating portion, each ticket had two minutes to respond to 14 studentsubmitted general questions and one president-specific and vice president-specific question.

s tudent body president candidate d aniel Jung and his running mate, Aidan r ezner, got the ball rolling by supplying their campaign rationale.

“It really started this past fall when we decided kind of on a whim to apply for the communications department [of student government],” r ezner said. r ezner recalled the pair’s first assignment in the communications department: asking undergraduates what they knew about student government. r ezner said he was shocked about how little students actually knew. Jung then outlined their goal to bridge the information gap between student government and the student body.

“We want to listen to you,” Jung said. “We want to serve your needs. Your concerns are our concerns. That’s going to be something that’s going to be really important for us… if we are elected in our administration.” n ext, presidential candidate Pablo o ropeza, current vice president of s tanford h all, delivered his ticket’s opening statement next while drawing upon his own experience finding a home within s tanford’s community.

“What has driven me these last few years I’ve been here is a want to help all others find their place there at this university and find what makes this place home for them,” o ropeza said. “And that’s why we want to run.” d erick Williams, the last of the three presidential candidates to speak, rose to his feet to address the crowd in m idfield c ommons.

“We’re going to hear a lot of talking tonight, so I promise I’ll keep it brief, I’ll keep it fun and I’ll keep the light,” Williams said. “That’s kind of h unter [ b rooke] and I’s style up here.”

In the first general question of the evening, candidates were asked how they would ensure all n otre d ame students have a great college experience. o ropeza placed the emphasis on allocating more funding to dorms for amenities, while Williams mentioned finding ways to cut out waste within the executive cabinet and student government as a whole, which has an annual budget just shy of a million dollars. r ezner switched gears — proposing a fine arts week and leaning into the University’s service mission.

“I have never seen another university that has a mission statement that wants everyone and all people to be a force for good in the world,” r ezner said. “And I think that’s something that is really, really special to us, and we want to make sure that every student has every opportunity to make the most of their passions, their goals and their dreams.”

The next general question asked for the competitors’ two highest priorities. Jung stressed his campaign’s hope to increase transparency regarding University Title IX policies and procedures. Williams, calling upon the background of his vice presidential choice b rooke, who works for s outh d ining h all, accentuated his campaign promise to improve food quality. o ropeza clarified his plan to amend the University’s nondiscrimination clause.

“What is unique to our platform is the advocacy for the amendment of the University’s notice of nondiscrimination to include sexual orientation, gender identity and religious affiliation,” o ropeza said. “We feel like these groups should and need to be added in order to foster a community that is accessible and loving and accepting of all rights.”

Jung cited the “ s tuGov s coop” on Instagram, a creation of his and r ezner’s in the communications department, as evidence the Jung- r ezner ticket could effectively listen to constituent feedback. o ropeza’s running mate, Griffin m cAndrew, a senator from Knott h all, pointed to his platform’s broad leadership experience: both inside the student senate and out in residence halls. b rooke deferred to his ticket’s bilateral student senate experience, diving into how conversations with fellow students around campus help keep themselves as elected officials accountable.

Later in the questioning,