By Benjamin Strawbridge
Staff Writer
March 29, 2018
_________________________________________________________________________
In the biggest night of the 2018 Student Body Presidential Election, the McClanahan/Adams and Ramirez/Libby campaigns both strove on Monday, March 26 to offer helping hands in the forms of stability and transparency to their peers following a tumultuous 2017-2018 academic year for University of New Hampshire (UNH) students and faculty alike.
Student Senate Speaker Douglas Marino, who also aided in moderating the event with Director of Public Relations Nicholas LaCourse and Executive Officer Chelsea Evankow, kicked off the event with introductory remarks, thanking the Student Senate’s Election Committee for their involvement in making the debate possible.
“Regardless of the outcome of this race, I’m hopeful that all of you have found this to be a rewarding experience,” Speaker Marino said, “and that all of you, regardless of what happens, will continue to serve the student body with distinction.”
The election’s sole candidate for Student Trustee Town Hall, current USNH Board Representative and junior political science major Christian Merheb, took time before the debate to answer questions regarding the new position, what it entails, its respective responsibilities and how it ties in with Student Senate. Merheb said that he has had an interest in student government since his second semester of freshman year, and that his subsequent positive experiences on campus and in UNH student government has inspired him to seek out ways to, “give back to this campus,” and how he could, “make sure that this campus continues to evolve and continues to be a great campus for so many students as they come to UNH.”
After winning the right to speak first, presidential candidate, sophomore political science major and Campus Structure Chairman Ethan McClanahan used his opening statement to address year-long issues surrounding a controversial lack of transparency from both students and administrators concerning a number of events in the past academic year. Topics McClanahan mentioned included the College of Liberal Arts (COLA) lecturer layoffs, stating that increasing transparency includes, “making sure we are communicating with students as much as we possibly can,” and, “get the student voice heard,” by meeting with student organizations and diversity support groups and giving them a chance to better understand the policies and initiatives that could affect them the most from bodies such as Student Senate.
Vice-presidential candidate, junior business administration major and Student Activity Fee Committee (SAFC) Chairman Jake Adams added to his running mate’s comments as he highlighted how UNH administration has, “cut students out of the room,” when it comes to major decisions that directly affect the quality of student education. He underlined past failures on the part of involved students to, “communicate those decisions as effectively as we’d like,” with details being “left out” of the decision’s explanation of purpose, as he seeks to help students, faculty and other contributors to UNH – people he called “stakeholders” – to seek the, “answer when a decision is being made.”
Representing the other side, presidential candidate, sophomore political science major and the Interfraternity Council’s Vice President of Recruitment Joseph Ramirez framed his campaign as the, “outside looking in,” drawing from his past involvement in the campus’ Fraternity and Sorority Life community, with contributions including the raising of, “thousands of dollars,” for a number of chapters and other organizations including the Sexual Harassment & Rape Protection Program (SHARPP) and the Children’s Miracle Network.
“...I am just like all of you, wondering what’s going to happen to my campus,” Ramirez said. “…after seeing all the tension that happened last year, after seeing the COLA layoffs…I am worried that the people in the position of power aren’t holding up to our standards of what leadership means.”
“We see this campus as divided,” vice-presidential candidate, junior civil engineering major and former president of Kappa Sigma Thomas Libby said along with his partner’s comments as he cited recent divisions between students and administrators. “Our mission to create an inclusive and welcome community at UNH is going to be a struggle and an uphill battle,” calling for “strong leaders” to deconstruct the barriers that divide students by race and other social characteristics.
“Together, administration will be scared of us,” Libby added. “Divided, they can do whatever they want.”
When it came time for the ten-question “rapid-fire” segment of the debate, which consisted of five moderator questions and five audience questions, both tickets answered similarly when concerning topics such as whether UNH administration, “is currently being transparent with students,” and the community on the whole in its’ decision-making process (“no”), whether or not faculty should be required to undergo cultural sensitivity training in spite of budgetary concerns (“yes”), and whether or not UNH administration has done its part to, “foster diversity on campus,” (“no”).
However, Ramirez and McClanahan showcased contrast between the two campaigns when asked about whether, “protecting against cultural appropriation outweighs first amendment rights,” McClanahan answered “yes,” followed by a “no” from the Ramirez campaign.
In the debate’s featured segment, the “general debate,” five extended-answer questions, with each ticket allotted a two-minute answer, followed by a one-minute rebuttal from each side.
When asked about how they would, “seek to change the current structure of student governance of UNH to better serve students,” vice-presidential candidate Adams said that he entered student government at a time where student government had been, as he described it, “restrictive” and “elitist” establishments that had not made an adequate effort to, “reach out to students and figure out exactly what students want.” His plan to potentially solve the issues that had plagued his predecessors involved championing a special “management committee” through Student Senate to better seek out what has contributed to a “toxic” governmental environment and how to restructure the internal management teams through an “action plan” created from past research conducted by the aforementioned committee.
Meanwhile, presidential candidate Ramirez responded with a call for more organizations to be properly represented in Student Senate.
“…to make students feel like they’re more included in our student government, we have to be actively sharing what we are doing in student government,” Libby added. “They can’t voice their opinion if they don’t know what’s going on.”
In response to a question asking how the president-elect and vice president-elect would, “better protect the equal treatment of students with marginalized backgrounds,” presidential candidate McClanahan brought up the controversies surrounding last year’s Cinco de Mayo celebrations in which accounts of offensive cultural appropriation of Mexican culture on campus landed the university in hot water. The candidate expressed his frustration that, “students weren’t included,” in meetings of UNH administration concerning solutions to the problem and how to prevent similar incidents in the future.
“It’s vital that if the university hopes to make sure that these events don’t happen again,” McClanahan said, “that they’re including diversity support organizations that are directly affected by events like this.”
The Ramirez/Libby ticket countered their opponents as Ramirez expressed frustration that, “my opponents were in great positions to change Student Senate and make it a more diverse place for minority groups,” and they had not, in his view, sufficiently succeeded in making the body as diverse as it could be after a combined five years in the assembly for both McClanahan and Adams.
In each ticket’s five-minute closing statement, both campaigns thanked the student body for their active involvement in the election process and for attending the debate. Vice-presidential candidate Libby stressed that, “our primary duty is to empower the students and to give you all a voice,” and that his campaign would work “tirelessly” to put the interests of the student body first.
Ramirez promised that he would, as president, ensure that “everyone” – students, faculty, administration, his campaign – is being held accountable for their actions.
From the McClanahan/Adams ticket, vice-presidential candidate Adams commented that being president is more than just “identifying the issues,” but also about “coming up with solutions” to those problems. Adams and McClanahan then resolved to use their remaining time to address topics that were not brought up in the official debate questions, one such topic being the fate of SHARPP’s budget and general on-campus awareness of sexual misconduct on campus, which could be affected by retractions of budgetary support for similar programs across the country by the U.S. federal government in the making for several months.
Originally published in The New Hampshire in Vol. 107, No. 22, on Mar. 29, 2018.