UGBC hopefuls face off in primary debate

Five teams running for president and vice president of the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) participated in the first debate of the campaigning season last night, sponsored by the UGBC Elections Committee. Immediately following, the teams took part in a second debate sponsored by the AHANA Leadership Council (ALC) and the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC), creating a one-night event that forced the candidates to cover a wide range of topics.

The five teams present at the debate were Chris Denice, CSOM '09, and Alejandro Montenegro, A&S '09; Rhick Bose, A&S '09, and Anand Savani, A&S '09; Phil Dumontet, CSOM '09, and Mike Sokolowski, CSOM '09; Michael Foley, CSOM '09, and Michael Fox, CSOM '09; and Katherine Buck, A&S '09, and Frank Nasso, CSOM '09. Candidates Paul Lilek, A&S '09, and Matt Marshall, CSOM '09, did not attend the event.

In their opening statements, the candidates acknowledged differences in their areas of involvement during their years at BC, but all stressed a common strength of experience.

Members of teams Denice and Montenegro, Bose and Savani, and Dumontet and Sokolowski all have a history of past and current involvement in the UGBC, while Fox and Foley said they gained their experience through the Jenks Leadership Program. Buck gained her experience from her service on the Student Organization Funding Committee and the Student Admissions program.

The first contended issue of the UGBC debate concerned off-campus student and neighbor relations, a topic that has become a pressing matter in recent months with the University's unveiling of its Master Plan.

Bose criticized the administration for not allowing students' voices on this issue to be heard more prominently in the past, and hopes to increase student involvement in off-campus protocol.

"We're being treated as commodities as students right now by the administration," Bose said. "We need to show them that we're here."

Buck took the opportunity to discuss the problem of off-campus safety, stating that she and her running mate, Nasso, support the implementation of Emergency Call Boxes, better recognized as the blue safety lights around campus, at every stop along the Commonwealth Avenue bus route.

Dumontet and Sokolowski endorsed the recommendations made last week by the UGBC Senate, which recently released a report outlining the current facts surrounding off-campus student life, from police presence to discipline protocol to student behavior history. The team also announced a new initiative that they would implement if elected, titled "Students as Good Neighbors." The initiative, which the team has been working on with University Spokesman Jack Dunn, would work to highlight student volunteer work and positive involvement within the greater Boston and Newton communities to improve student image among BC's neighbors.

Foley and Fox stressed a need for direct involvement and interaction with the neighborhood by sitting in on neighborhood meetings to better understand how to remedy off-campus relationship problems that have swelled in the Allston-Brighton community. They also argued for a need for a more clearly outlined and defined punishment protocol for off-campus students, which they said has been the root of many off-campus issues.

Denice emphasized the need for better student-administration communication. He proposed adding the UGBC "Know Your Rights" document to every welcome packet sophomore year to increase students' awareness of their rights.

Michael Reer, news editor of The Observer and A&S '10, asked the candidates if they would support the placement of the UGBC budget online. All teams agreed that as the governing voice of the student body, the UGBC should be transparent; students should be informed as to where their money is being spent.

"You the students should hold us accountable," Dumontet said. He also proposed a weekly online blog for not only the president and vice president but also for each department in the UGBC. These proposed blogs would include a weekly outline of the department's spending.

Communication was the major thread between all topics addressed, and was the first topic addressed by current UGBC President Jenniffer Castillo, A&S '08, when she asked the candidates whether they intended to improve student-administrator relations.

All the candidates proposed different means of attaining stronger lines of communication between students and the administration.

Along with weekly online blogs, Dumontet and Sokolowski proposed a newsletter written by the UGBC president and vice president to update the community, as well as a more interactive and sophisticated UGBC Web site.

Co-sponsorship and collaboration on events with other organizations on campus was also a major aspect of Dumontet and Sokolowski's platform.

Dumontet and Sokolowski and Denice and Montenegro both said they support the continuation of the current UGBC initiative to increase student awareness of events on campus through the use of LCD flat-panel televisions.

Denice and Montenegro said that their experience in the UGBC gives them a better understanding of where the issues stand currently with administrators.

"We know what the arguments are, and we know where they are and where to pick them up where they left off," Montenegro said.

Bose and Savani also sought to increase student-administrator communication with their "I SAW," or Student Awareness Watch, initiative, which would allow students to speak more easily with the UGBC officers on issues that they face on a frequent basis.

Foley and Fox stood in favor of smaller, less drastic changes that will cause less friction between the students and administrators but still allow for goals to be met. The team suggested the implementation of cameras in the Plex so students can monitor levels of activity from their residence halls instead of having to wait in long lines. They also called for more printing stations around campus for better student accessibility.