UGBC candidates 'meet and greet'

In an attempt to educate the student body about the candidates for their upcoming elections, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) hosted its "Meet and Greet" session Thursday in Higgins 310. The event, which was sponsored by the Election Committee (EC), provided each pair of running mates five minutes to break down their campaign to the approximately 50 to 60 students that attended. At the end of the session, sign up sheets were available at the front of the room so interested students could sign up to be part of a campaign team of their choice.

The first running mates were Jennifer Castillo, presidential candidate and A&S '08, and Daniel Sievers, vice presidential candidate and A&S '08. After both openly expressed their love for BC, they proposed making a number of "tangible changes" to campus that would benefit the current classes as well as future students. "Our priorities are going to be the students," said Castillo.

Sievers expressed similar sentiments.

"Yes, UGBC has a great deal of funding, but this is not our money. It's your money and we will advocate issues that you care about." He also stated that they intended to make student life "less stressful, more productive, and more fun."

The next team was Todd Wackerman, A&S '08, and Wesley Sackrule, A&S '08, who were running for president and vice president, respectively. The two addressed tightening relations with many of the other student groups on campus, including the AHANA Leadership Council (ALC), the GLBT Leadership Council (GLC), Ecopledge, and the Women's Health Initiative.

"Besides our advocacy for student groups and causes, we also intend to improve student life, as well as publicity, communication, and entertainment on campus. We want next year to be 'good' in the sense of productivity," said Wackerman.

The third pair was Conor O'Phelan, A&S '08, and Brian Borg, CSOM, '09. "Our motto for our campaign is 'students before politics,'" they said. "We want everyone to be comfortable and have a good time," they said, pointing out how difficult the transition from high school is.

Another issue they stressed is that there is not enough communication at BC. "We want you to be more informed. We want to work for now and for the future," said O'Phelan.

They also proposed hosting a formal winter dance, having a cooking class (which would work in conjunction with BC Dining Services), and holding an annual variety show, where students could showcase their talents. Additionally, they expressed support for the nondiscrimination clause.

The next team up was Bryan Connor, A&S '08, and Joe Feeney, A&S '08. This particular team is unique in the sense that they are running as co-presidents. "We think it represents the unity and dedication that we share, and the love for students that we have. The results are what matters to us, not the title," said Connor. A substantial amount of their pitch revolved around their citation of a particular Heights editorial that addressed some issues with the UGBC.

The two said that they were looking for the UGBC to be more student-directed and proposed holding monthly open forums as well as distributing monthly progress reports so the student body may evaluate all of the UGBC members.

As per the editorial, the team addressed the fact that the UGBC is made up of an exorbitant amount of students, while not necessarily producing a large number of results. The ultimate goal, according to Connor and Feeney, is to restructure the UGBC so they can do "more with less."

"We want to decrease apathy and increase responsibility," said Feeney.

More campaign goals proposed include creating a student government that embraces the dynamic of AHANA and that works to increase the quality of acceptance of the GLBT. They also said that they intend to work with the environmental programs at BC, especially in light of its abysmal environmental rating of C- by the Sustainable Endowment Institute.

Finally, they said that they agree with the editorial in that the UGBC does not produce enough small changes that could greatly improve student life.

The last team of running mates included presidential candidate Sean Scanlon, A&S '08, and vice presidential candidate Jamie Lepri, A&S '08. "We are running for one reason: because we think this campus is starving for change and believe everyone should have an equal voice as a trustee," said Scanlon.

"If it's not for fun, it's not worth doing," said Lepri.

Like the candidates before them, they extended support for the ALC and the GLC. A unique campaign tack, however, was that they said that they intend to work toward changing the University's speaker policy.

"We believe that it hinders dialogue in this learning environment," said Scanlon.

Scanlon and Lepri also stated that they will not tolerate any incidents of hate that occur on the BC campus. "We fully support the hate crime protocol, and we also would like to create a database, compiled by ResLife and BCPD, that is released to students monthly so we may be aware of these issues and be able to fully address them," said Scanlon.

Lepri proposed a number of basic changes around campus to improve student life, including later hours for dining halls, making basketball tickets available to more students, having 24/7 late night study hours, having heat lamps at the bus stops, and having a voting system to determine who would perform at the spring concert.

Scanlon and Lepri had other things they tried to address, but their time was cut short since the five minutes were up.

In all, the candidates shared concerns over many similar issues, including working with the ALC and the GLC, fighting hate, and making small but significant changes around campus to increase the quality of student life.

It appeared that this was what mattered most to the audience. As the meeting came to a close and candidates were made available for questions, students made their way down to the front of the room to either get more information or sign up for campaign teams.