Student Government presidential and vice presidential candidates debated for the fourth and final time Monday night in front of both an audience of more than 100 students in the Manship School of Mass Communication and those elsewhere on campus watching the live broadcast. TigerTV hosted the debate, and Station Manager Lance Frank moderated. He asked questions submitted from the Tiger TV Web site. Audience members also asked questions and candidates posed questions for each other. Brooksie Bonvillain and Chris Sellers of “Leading the Way,” J Hudson and Dani Borel of “StudentsFIRST” and Theo Williams and Millena Williams of “Geauxing the Distance” participated in the debate. Bryan Wooldridge and John Craig of “Two Kings for LSU” were present in the audience but left their reserved seats on stage vacant and decided to not participate in the debate. Frank asked candidates on stage if they value passion or experience more. Hudson said a combination of the two would be best. “Students that have passion, you see them all over campus,” Hudson said. “That same passion can be in Student Government.”Bonvillain said she will stick by their platform of leadership, experience, dedication and accountability. “As passionate as Chris and I are, you have to have experience to properly execute initiatives,” Bonvillain said. “I assure you we are passionate about the University, the students and our 22 initiatives.”Theo Williams said he values passion more. “Experience without passion means nothing,” Theo Williams said. “You can have passion with any organization on campus. And it doesn’t matter who you are, if you care about your University, it’s an easy learning process.”Frank asked the candidates who they would vote for if they were not running for president. “If I were not sitting on this panel, I would vote for J Hudson because I value his experience factor,” Bonvillain said. “I admire his work ethic and passion.”Hudson said he would vote for the Williams, Williams ticket though he noted Bonvillain’s experience factor. Theo Williams said he would vote for the Two Kings ticket. “They’re actually speaking the opinion of the average student at this University,” Theo Williams said of Wooldridge and Craig. Next year, whoever is elected SG president may run for the student seat in the LSU System Board of Supervisors. Bonvillain said she’d like to seek the position herself. “We can’t just sit in our offices,” Bonvillain said. “We have to appropriately take feedback and talk to other members of Louisiana.”Theo Williams agreed he would also seek the position if elected president and would work with other schools in the state. Hudson said he will reach out to other schools without being on the Board of Supervisors. “We’re gonna ensure we have a voice on the board,” Hudson said. “We’re gonna chose a student to be a liaison.”To make a greener campus, Bonvillain said she wanted to expend on the director of sustainability position with their Purple, Gold and Green initiative. She also said she wants to reroute the bus route to reach more off-campus student housing. Theo Williams said he wants to start lessening the use of paper by creating an eTextbook program. He also wants to extend bike paths along Dalrymple Drive, Highland Road and Nicholson Drive. Hudson said he’s already done work with sustainability. “On inter-fraternity council, I implemented a system where recycling bins were put in fraternity houses,” Hudson said. “That’s one great thing I got to see through.” Students can vote today on PAWS from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and elections results will be announced Wednesday. —-Contact Catherine Threlkeld at [email protected].
Candidates asked opinions about other tickets in debate
March 22, 2010