TigerTV hosted Student Government in the first-ever live televised SG presidential election debate Monday night. Students packed the Journalism Building’s Holliday Forum as SG presidential candidates Dixon McMakin and Colorado Robertson went head to head on student submitted issues. But there was an obvious crowd division. Students supporting the Dixon-Oaks “Vision 2008” ticket sported purple and gold in their cheering section, while fans of Robertson-Bates’ “The Foundation” ticket dauned blue and white. The “Do Nothing” ticket headed by SG presidential candidate Taylor Craft and his running mate Wesleigh McLeod did not attend. The history sophomores cited “prior obligations” as the reason for their absence. But the absent candidates still addressed one of the biggest issues of the night – student fee increases – through a pre-recorded video. “I am opposed to fee increases for the students,” Craft said in the video. Robertson, Student Senate speaker, is a member of the Student Required Fee Committee and promised to fight against student fee increases. “I voted against the Student Health Center’s proposed fee increase during the last Student Required Fee Committee meeting,” Robertson said. McMakin, SG director of athletics, said he cannot promise to get things done that are not in his hands. “We promise we will spend your money to the best of our ability,” McMakin said. “We will fight them to the best of our ability – but we don’t have the power.” Tyler Gamble, Reveille Radio director, moderated the debate and asked each presidential candidate their thoughts about the first-year residency requirement, although it passed the LSU Board of Supervisors this past semester. Robertson said the University must be committed to improving the current residential hall conditions before implementing the requirement. McMakin said he knows the requirement is already set to go into effect in 2009. He said he wants to implement a free DVD rental program to “enhance the freshman experience.” Improving SG account oversight was the next big issue of the night. McMakin said he thinks accountability is a big part of improving SG spending. He said whenever an expenditure occurs, it should be posted on the SG Web site for students to review. Robertson said SG needs to hire a business manager to oversee the accounts. “SG needs to look at the hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been allocated to the accounts and get it out to the students,” Robertson said. One student asked Robertson how quickly he would implement his textbook rental program if elected. Robertson said he has already started looking at location options for the program. “We are also looking to a textbook tax reduction with the state Legislature,” Robertson said. Another student asked McMakin what fees he plans to increase to compensate for the monetary difference if student football ticket prices do not increase. McMakin said he will fight all around campus not to raise fees. He said he plans to let the administration know “they will be sorry if they even think about raising student ticket prices.” The spotlight shown on McMakin’s running mate Kristin Oaks and Robertson’s running mate Shannon Bates, during round two. Gamble asked each vice presidential candidate how they plan to get things done in SG. Bates, mass communication junior, said she plans to lobby the state Legislature with Robertson to accomplish their platform. Oaks, senator for the College of Agriculture, said “getting student voices into the Legislature” is key to seeing change. Gamble asked Bates and Oaks to address the biggest failures of the current SG administration. Bates said the current SG administration has failed with their communication and organization. She said many of the teams at a ticket forum had no idea how to get proper funding for programs they participate in. Oaks said the biggest problem has been communication. She said many students are not aware of things SG has made available. She cited $5 worth of free printing in the library available to all students as one example. One student targeted McMakin about his opinion of diversity. McMakin said he has a vision to bring together all 27,000 students on campus next year to share one voice and one vision. He said reinstating the University President’s Cabinet will help represent all students. Both tickets invited students to Free Speech Alley tomorrow to talk to the candidates before voting begins Wednesday on their PAWS account. After the debate, candidates shared their experiences about being on television. Bates said she had never been on camera before, and she was nervous. “But once I got going, it was easy,” she said. Robertson said he heard just about every question raised during the debate.
the beginning of this campaign, we have said we wanted to have a conversation, and TigerTV gave us the chance to do that,” Robertson said. Oaks said she was nervous at the beginning of the debate, but she thinks her and Dixon did an excellent job. “I think if you say you are not nervous about something like this, you are not human,” Oaks said. McMakin said he was anxious before the debate. But he said the biggest problem for him was not the answering the questions, but technical problems with hearing the questions. Sarah Sadler, mass communication junior, attended the debate and thought it was interesting to watch the candidates interact. “I thought both tickets did well, but I thought Robertson-Bates shined in the debate,” she said.