Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Brandon Lem Candidate for director of Health and Human Services Juan Carlos Jauregui, center, talks about what changes he would make if he were elected. [Click to enlarge]

Students vying for three director positions faced off today as Associated Students Inc. held the second in a series of candidate debates for the upcoming elections.

Candidates for director of Arts and Letters, director of Health and Human Services and director of Natural Sciences and Mathematics fielded questions in front of a crowd of about 15 students.

Director of Natural Sciences and Mathematics candidates Christina Steuart and Timothy Sirard did not show up to the director debate.

Sirard said in a prior interview he would not be attending the debate because he it was scheduled during a class.

"I would like to be there," Sirard said. "I'm not really benefiting my college if I'm skipping out on the very classes I'm learning about."

Steuart could not be reached for comment.

Erika Alatorre, assistant director for the ASI office of Governmental Affairs, said candidates are given the opportunity to attend the debates but attendance is optional.

Alatorre moderated the debate and asked candidates for the director of Health and Human Services why is voter turnout so low on campus and what would the candidates do to increase interest in student government.

Candidate Juan Carlos Jauregui said students don't feel the need to vote because there is no incentive. He would like to get the ASI directors out on campus to show students why voting is important and promote the student government.

Jauregui said before he became involved in the office of Governmental Affairs for ASI, he didn't know where ASI was located on campus and felt other students don't know that as well.

Incumbent Kevin Chun said apathy and ignorance are the main reasons students don't vote on campus. Chun said he'd like to organize and hold more events, such as the Health Expo he organized this semester, that pertain to students in many colleges instead of just his own.

"We need to start doing things on a larger scale," Chun said.

Banke Odubela, freshman pre-nursing major, was the only student present at the debate in the college of Health and Human Services.

Odubela asked what the candidates would do to help students within the college in their fields, such as by providing tutoring.

Jauregui said he'd like to promote student-professor relations in the college and increase student involvement in events, like the Health Expo Chun organized.

Chun said ASI doesn't directly provide tutoring but can point students in the right direction to academic advisors. He said sometimes advising doesn't help students and proposed putting the ASI director's contact information and office hours on each course syllabus as another resource.

Alatorre asked the candidates for Natural Sciences and Mathematics what issue here on campus they would address if elected.

As a member of the Action slate, incumbent Fely Sita-Makaba said one of the slate's platforms is promoting unity. She wants to promote unity by addressing the gap and creating a relation between faculty and students on campus.

Candidate Brittany-Arpel Thomas said she wants to address the classroom sizes because classes fill up quickly preventing some students from registering. She said she also would like to provide funding for research opportunities for students in her college and get better equipment for labs.

Alatorre also asked the candidates if they feel retention rates are an issue and what they would do to address it.

Sita-Makaba and Thomas both agreed retention rates are an issue at Sacramento State.

Sita-Makaba said she wants to promote student involvement in clubs and organizations and make students aware of events taking place on campus to prevent students dropping out because of a lack of involvement.

Thomas thought providing more scholarships, providing formal tutoring, and increasing campus and community involvement for students might promote retention.

When the audience was asked if any students in the college of Natural Sciences and Mathematics were present, no students raised their hands.

No candidates applied for the position of director of Arts and Letters.

Debates for the director positions for Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, Engineering and Computer Sciences, Business will take place Thursday at the Lobby Suite in the University Union from 1:30 to 3 p.m. For more information about ASI elections, visit www.asi.csus.edu.

Ashley Downton can be reached at adownton@statehornet.com.

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