The candidates for Student Body President, Carson Hollingsworth (left), Jennings Hardee (center) and Alex Pennycuff (right) during the SGA debate. Alex Phillips • The Daily Beacon
SGA campaigns debate night before election Alahnah Ligon Asst. News Editor Students filled the Toyota Auditorium above capacity and lined up outside the doors of the Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy last night to take part in the annual SGA debate. Those running for student body president and vice president were given the opportunity to debate each other over campaign points, campus issues and potential legislation for the upcoming year. The event was moderated by Mariah Beane, current SGA student services director and this year’s election commissioner. Vice presidential candidates McKinsey Patterson of the Hollingsworth Patterson campaign, Matthew Morris of the Hardee Morris McCandless campaign and Fuller Edwards of the “Challenge” campaign opened the event by debating questions on their experiences in SGA, senators within their campaigns, and platforms for student safety, diversity, tobacco and alcohol on campus. Each candidate was given one minute to respond to debate questions, 30 seconds to offer a rebuttal and one minute to offer a rebuttal if they were directly addressed by another
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candidate, an opportunity that the “Challenge” campaign was the first to take advantage of. When the issue of tobacco legislation was raised, Edwards confronted Morris about his lack of participation in a Senate meeting where the tobacco bill was passed. “Me and Alex Pennycuff, our presidential candidate, we spoke against it in the Senate,” Edwards said. “Matthew Morris, he honestly kind of just sat there, even though he said he was against it.” “I have my own way of debating and legislating,” Morris said in response to Edwards’ comments. “Being the loudest in the room does not always make you the best leader ... Sometimes the best answer is to listen.” The final question on alcohol platforms sponsored another rebuttal between Edwards and his other counterpart, Patterson. While the “Challenge” campaign and the Hollingsworth Patterson campaign both advocate for a wet campus, Edwards debated Patterson’s platform to provide wet campus opportunities only to dorm facilities housing students mostly 21 years of age or older. “Why shouldn’t students who live in Humes or (Presidential) Court who are a legal age be allowed to have the right to drink responsibly?” Edwards asked of Patterson.
Patterson cited conversations with resident assistants in the housing facilities in question who were against the wet campus applying to predominantly first year student dorms. “The reality of the situation is that when a first year student chooses a place to live, those are the places they are going,” Patterson said. “Making sure the campus is safe before we make sure everybody gets to drink their booze is more of an asset.” The Hardee Morris McCandless campaign had their opportunity to debate the “Challenge” campaign on alcohol policy in the second phase of the debate between the presidential nominees. Alex Pennycuff, presidential nominee for the “Challenge” campaign said his platform on alcohol policy is similar to platform of the Hardee Morris McCandless campus, but said his policies are geared toward student safety during the week as well as on weekends. “Our main agenda on making UT a wet campus is safety. Safety matters just as much on Tuesday as it does Sunday,” Pennycuff said. “You don’t make UT a wet campus to encourage an environment of drinking or wild weekends. You do it to move the traffic in the Fort back onto campus.” “I agree that safety is the most important thing,” Hardee said. “Currently it’s inconsistent,
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so whether it becomes less strict or more strict, something has to change.” The presidential nominees also debated their platforms on student and administration relationships, diversity, tobacco and sexual assaults on campus. Each campaign coined phrases that supported their platforms in closing. The “Challenge” campaign said they would like to improve SGA’s role in representing students on campus by being a voice “for the students” and not just “to the students.” Hardee Morris McCandless said they are looking to establish a “common ground” with students and provide an “equal opportunity” for all students on campus. The Hollingsworth Patterson campaign said they are working to “pursue” every group, minority and individual opinion within the student body. Voting opens Tuesday, April 5, and runs through 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 7. Results will be posted at approximately 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Students can vote at vote.sga.edu. See page 2 for the Daily Beacon’s official SGA candidate endorsement.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016