Although this is the first contested Graduate Student Senate election in several years, the Board of Elections will not host a debate between the two parties.
“The vice chair of the Board of Elections and I have had a pretty extensive conversation a couple of weeks ago about whether or not host a debate,” said John Hummell, chairman of the graduate senate Board of Elections. “(We) decided that it is not the role of the GSS Board of Elections to host a debate.”
On May 5, the Board of Elections did offer to host a discussion between the two competing parties but has not yet received a response from either side about whether they wish to partake, Hummell added.
John Calhoun, the hOUr party’s presidential candidate and current Student Senate University Life Commissioner, said he believes that the Graduate Student Senate elections would have benefitted greatly from having a debate.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “There’s hasn’t been any publicity about it at all — graduate students probably don’t even know that there is an election going on. I believe that (a debate) is a crucial process to a good experience.”
The board will not hold a debate because of time constraints, said Tracy Kelly, current Graduate Student Senate president and head of the Proud party.
“My understanding is that there was some logistical concerns about getting a debate together and getting it advertised and all that when you only have about two weeks,” she said.
Both parties agree that a debate would have helped raise publicity and awareness about the election.
The hOUr party has been using other methods to campaign, Calhoun said, adding that Graduate Student Senate has only sent one email about the election so far.
“We have been talking to organizations and sort of talking to people through social media,” he said.
Kelly agreed that the lack of a debate requires parties to be more inventive when trying to get information to graduate students.
“It has forced us to be a little more creative,” she said. “I think that is good because it really gives the candidates a chance to look for opportunities for face-to-face interaction with grad students.”
However, Calhoun said no amount of campaigning could make up for the lack of a debate.
“We are a party, and we are biased, and we are going to promote ourselves as opposed to the institution,” he said. “We can try to make up for it too, but it is not quite the same as having an unbiased party host a debate so everyone knows what’s happening.”
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