On Monday, March 26, the SGA presidential and vice presidential candidates met in the Governance Room of the Student Union for their only debate before the election. They took questions and challenged each other in front of a crowd of around 50 students.
The event, hosted by The Northerner, gave the candidates the opportunity to speak about their platforms and allowed both them and the audience to ask questions.
Of the around 50 students that attended the debate, four stood to ask questions.
The debate resulted in a few different conclusions.
Pederson and Hornung are using their experience on SGA as the foundation of their campaign, saying that their networking with administration will allow them to be more direct when trying to problem-solve/reach solutions for students. They were also repetitive regarding said experience and their Norse 2020 vision.
The Rust/Karr slate relied on its differences from the other candidates. Karr pointed out that she is not a Greek student and that she and Rust are like “Yin and Yang.” They also held strongly to the belief that student organization experience other than SGA is just as valuable.
Young counted on his lack of experience and knowledge of SGA’s inner-workings, opting to portray himself as the voice of the “average student” that has much of the same understandings of resolutions, policy and administration as NKU’s general population. He was able to answer questions rather quickly and, it seems, honestly. He was willing to openly admit when he was not sure of how to answer something.
Overall, the debate was successful and resembled the aggressive back-and-forth banter of true political meetings.
However, there are a few things to keep in mind: this election differs from many in the past in that it not only has a wild card, but it has the distinct possibility of rising to something more than a popularity contest, as many school elections and titles often can be.
Pederson and Hornung described the current SGA atmosphere as one that has been more productive than some in the past.
While this might be true, it is still necessary for students to show up on Wednesday and Thursday to help ensure that SGA continues to make resolutions, like the one passed regarding NKU counseling services, rather than ones like the recent move to bring a Redbox to NKU.