Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06 and Shaun Callaghan '06 squared off in the Undergraduate Student Government presidential debate Thursday night, facing questions from campus groups as well as unaffiliated undergraduates in the audience regarding issues such as alcoholism, sexual harassment, homophobia and diversity.
Amanda Agyemang '08 agreed with Joseph's claim that students do not realize the extent of sexual harassment on campus, citing it as the most important issue influencing her vote.
"As a female, it affects me personally," she said. "I've seen it happen already . . . it's taken as a joke."
She noted that both candidates have platforms pursuing a solution, but that Joseph struck her as more genuine, despite his lack of USG experience.
"He's been in so many leadership positions before," she said, referring among other credentials to his tenure as president of the Black Student Union. "I don't think [lack of experience] will prevent him from doing a good job."
Dylan Hogarty '06 disagreed. Marking the presidency as too important a job to be trusted to on-the-job training, he said the candidate with the most USG experience will receive his vote.
"Shaun has a much better idea of how to leverage the different resources of the University," he said.
Hogarty termed the USG's successes in the past year as "exceptional," pointing to Callaghan's leadership as vice president.
"We've seen a lot of progress," he said. "Shaun's been there every step of the way."
Current USG President Matt Margolin '05 and Projects Board Representative Andrew Bruck '05 both agreed that the most important voting issue should be each candidate's plans for implementing his ideas.
Pointing to his accomplishments creating the Pre-Rade and the new point.princeton.edu website as examples, he said that both candidates should address the broader issues with more specific strategies.
"This is a much more long, tedious, complicated problem than either of them can realize," he said, noting that the term as USG president is only one year long. "You have to find ways to institutionalize the method of change."
Bruck who helped organize last year's debate as well as this year's also noted the lack of details in both candidates' platforms.
"Last year, there were specific tangible goals," he said. "This year, there's a lot more focus on broad issues."
The USG has lost credibility in the past for failing to follow through on campaign promises, Bruck said.
"If someone would prove to me that they're going to accomplish something as well as Matt Margolin, then that would get my vote," he added.
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