Wednesday, March 22, 2017 | Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com
IDS Debate raises questions on role of IUSA By Jesse Naranjo jlnaranj@indiana.edu | @jesselnaranjo
The remaining five tickets at the IU Student Association debate on Tuesday night had much to agree on and little disagreement. Candidates discussed wideranging issues in their opening and closing statements, but questions from professor Paul Helmke revolved around IUSA’s specific role on campus and the tickets’ plans to address the issues they discussed. “I’m proud of the things we did,” Helmke said of his time in student government “Why’d you
presidential candidate, junior Brandon Sakbun, said there was a middle ground between the two “polarizing” positions. Similar to his points during the rest of the debate, Psych Up’s presidential candidate, sophomore Jake McWilliams, said it might not be within IUSA’s capacity to pass this resolution and, in rebuttals, Empower’s presidential candidate, junior Dan Niersbach, said assessing the situation did not mean his ticket was against undocumented students. “IU is a sanctuary campus, basically, but not in name, and that’s the problem that I have with
get in this? What do you want folks to remember 30, 40 years from now, what you did when you were in student government?” Though undocumented students do not make up the majority of the population, positions on whether IU should be declared a sanctuary campus appeared to be the main source of disagreement among the tickets. Engage, IGNITE and Psych Up supported a resolution to make IU a sanctuary campus. Empower suggested waiting to assess the legislative environment on a national and state level before making any decisions, and Focus’
the administration to be honest with you all,” IGNITE’s presidential candidate, sophomore Will McKinney, said. He said the campus is also a wet campus in everything but name, and IU student government should be bold enough to be the first in the Big Ten Conference to take these steps. McKinney’s ticket was the only one at the debate to propose increasing the IUSA budget. He said this is achievable by selling alcohol at sports games and eliminating the dry-campus designation. Other tickets proposed policy to move funds from other
IDS Editorial Board endorses a candidate, page 5 After the debate, six opinion columnists met to endorse a ticket. IDSNEWS.COM FACEBOOK LIVE | Watch the full debate on the IDS Facebook page.
programs, and McWilliams said any budgetary items which solely benefit executives, like scholarships and “ludicrous banquets” should be eliminated. SEE DEBATE, PAGE 4
2017-2018
IUSA VOTER GUIDE establish concrete policy. The five IUSA tickets may agree that these issues exist, but their concrete plans for solving each problem either overlap or are entirely distinct. The Indiana Daily Student interviewed members of each ticket and broke down the specifics of the policy proposals into a voter guide for students.
Student government campaigns often throw around the same political jargon. In the 2017 IU Student Association election, campus “sustainability,” “safety” and “diversity and inclusion” initiatives reign. The challenge voters face is determining whether a campaign can progress beyond the buzzwords and
VOTER GUIDE BY JESSE NARANJO AND GRAPHICS BY EMILY ABSHIRE | IDS
IGNITE FOR IUSA
PSYCH UP FOR IUSA
Dan Niersbach, junior, is the presidential candidate for the Empower ticket, which also includes junior Grant Prather for vice president of congress, sophomore Molly Connor for vice president of administration, and sophomore Mona Sehgal for treasurer.
Michelle Long, junior, is the presidential candidate for Engage, which also includes sophomore Jack Robinson for vice president of congress, junior Jaeson Chang for vice president of administration, and junior Clara Chen for treasurer.
Brandon Sakbun, junior, is the presidential candidate for the Focus ticket, which is completed by junior Michael Schommer for vice president of congress, junior Elisa Krebs for vice president of administration and junior Ceci Jerry for treasurer.
Will McKinney, sophomore, is the presidential candidate for IGNITE, which includes sophomore Iman Mahoui for vice president of congress, sophomore Skyler Kolli for vice president of administration and freshman Lauren Bernas for treasurer.
Jake McWilliams, sophomore, is the presidential candidate for Psych Up, which is completed by junior Esme Rose Patterson for vice president of congress, freshman Ethan Yde for vice president of administration and sophomore Kyle Yohler for treasurer.
CAMPUS SAFETY & SEXUAL ASSAULT PREVENTION
FOCUS FOR IUSA
Empower expresses desire for a working relationship with both IU and Bloomington police departments to increase transparency between the departments and the student body. An additional proposal is to create a liaison between the greek community and IUPD, similar to a current Live-in Officer Program in residence halls, which excludes the “live-in” aspect. The ticket also proposes the extension of safe ride hours.
Engage’s website proposes an increase in bystander intervention training, starting with mandatory Welcome Week seminar for freshman. It also wants to require Title IX training for any organization seeking funding from the University.
Focus proposes a Walk with Cadets program where students would be able to walk home with IUPD cadets. Similar to the IU Safety Escort program, Focus said this would increase safety and improve communication between cadets and students. The ticket also proposes an increase in lighting for poorly-lit areas of campus and residential facilities. Sakbun said incentives for organizations that train members in bystander intervention are not off the table.
The ticket proposes eliminating IU’s “dry campus” policy and increasing alcohol education. IGNITE’s website also lists extending IU SafeRide to 3 a.m. and increasing the frequency of late-night campus activities, which act as alternatives for students who would like to stay sober.
Psych Up advocates for increased lighting in areas of campus that do not already have it. McWilliams said this is especially important in areas of campus deemed more dangerous or prone to assaults. Again, he said his ticket will assess what their authority is to orchestrate this initiative.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
ENGAGE EMPOWER IU WITH IUSA
VOTING OPENS TODAY Opens 10 a.m. Wednesday Closes 10 p.m. Thursday Voting link sent by email
Empower’s policy plan proposes a required social justice class for students, bias training for faculty and revisions to syllabi to add statements on diversity. The campaign also lists allowing students to designate its own gender pronouns on University records and websites and providing alternative meal options for students with religious dietary restrictions as priorities. Empower said it would work with Residential Programs and Services to integrate international students into more residence halls.
Engage has also proposed a social justice general education requirement, along with religious accommodations in dining halls and an incorporation of Electronic Benefit Transfer and other forms of food stamps into meal points. The ticket plans to create an interfaith prayer room on campus, provide free menstrual products in women and allgender bathrooms on campus and improve accessibility for people with physical, auditory and visual impairments.
Monthly town halls with campus leaders, IUSA representatives and members of the student body are central to Focus’ inclusion plan. Its website also lists minor redistricting of the IUSA Congress to include representatives from cultural centers and the off-campus greek community. The ticket also promoted a program where incoming freshman would take a survey which would assist in selection of a fitting peer adviser.
IGNITE proposes giving students more control of where they live and who they live with, and potentially removing the firstyear residence hall requirement. The website proposes having IUSA office hours in more accessible locations so students can feel comfortable coming to its representatives or administrative staff with their opinions.
McWilliams said diversity and inclusion initiatives are important to his ticket. He said they would like to make current diversity initiatives more mainstream and increase programming across campus, within their authority. The ticket prioritizes IUSA reform and mental health, hence the name.
PAGE 4 Stances on environmental sustainability, IUSA reform, mental health and student counseling, and undocumented students/sanctuary campus positions
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