Presidential candidates for USG debate in Frist

Reforms to the academic calendar, transparency in the Undergraduate Student Government and helping students take advantage of the resources available to them were among the issues discussed at the debate between the three presidential candidates and two vice presidential candidates Sunday night.

Class of 2013 senator Bruce Easop ’13, USG vice president Catherine Ettman ’13 and Shikha Uberoi ’13 debated first at the Frist TV lounge in the presidential debate. The debate was moderated by Whig-Clio president Jay Parikh ’12.

The candidates first had three minutes each to introduce themselves and their policies. Afterward, they had one minute to respond to questions from Parikh and audience members and then 30 seconds to respond to each other.

“I really want this to be a debate and not a joint press release,” Parikh said.

Easop spoke about his experience as a senator in his opening statement, highlighting his main projects: the 2015 website, COMBO survey, a mental health initiative and exploring a pass/D/fail policy for introductory language classes.

“Having the hands-on project experience, the support of USG leaders and having worked outside USG will allow me to be really effective working within the administration,” Easop said.

Easop has also worked with the Alcohol Coalition Committee and is a former Street staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Uberoi said she wanted to do all she could in her capacity as USG president to reduce the competitive and stressful atmosphere on campus.

“I would love to bring about a mental mind-frame change here on campus,” Uberoi said. “I’ve seen way too many people running around, heads down in their theses, in their work. That breeds so much of a rat race mentality.”

Uberoi also said she will work on strengthening the South Asian Studies program, which she helped found many years ago by inviting her mother to teach Hindi at the University. Uberoi, 28, initially began as a member of the Class of 2004 but left to pursue a professional tennis career.

Ettman shared the three main pillars of her platform, which included improving academic advising, increasing student access to physical and mental health resources and improving campus mentorship programs. Ettman said her experience as USG Vice President as well as a summer job in the Office of the Vice President of Campus Life have helped her gain a “bird’s-eye view” of how the USG and administration can cooperate.

When Parikh asked about academic reforms, Ettman mentioned specific changes she hopes to make to the academic calendar, including shifting the beginning of the school year two weeks earlier, giving students the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off and moving finals to before winter break.

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Easop agreed, noting that he had worked with different departmental representatives while senator and that many of them seemed receptive to the idea of changing the schedule.

“Bringing that to higher-up administrators is something that could be really valuable in making sure that gets through,” Easop said.

Uberoi, however, said she would want to hear voices from both sides before arguing on behalf of the students to break with academic tradition.

Ettman also brought up the possibility of holding a training session for professors who serve as academic advisers.

“Academic advising is a perennial issue that students have,” Ettman said. “We need to do a much better job of providing freshmen with the resources they need to make the right academic choices.”

Easop said he wants to revamp the USG’s Student Course Guide to make sure it is able to answer a wider range of questions from students.

Uberoi also discussed changes to professor-student relations, saying she wants to work to extend professors’ office hours. “I am the customer here,” Uberoi said. “I want to learn from the professor directly.”

Current USG President Michael Yaroshefsky ‘12 then asked candidates for aspects of the current USG administration that they were disappointed with. Easop said he would like to see more communication between the student body and officers other than the president. Both he and Uberoi said the USG should be more transparent in communicating how it reaches its decisions.

Ettman suggested that the USG make information on how it allocates its $130,000 budget publicly available to students.

Another student asked each candidate what makes them unique compared to the others.

Easop said that he would keep in mind the fact that he only has one year in office when planning his goals, and Ettman brought up her proven ability to disagree constructively with administrators. Uberoi discussed her unique background.

“I’m brown and I’ve played professional tennis for 10 years, which makes me a Tiger for longer than the two candidates combined,” Uberoi said.

The vice presidential debate featured Merik Mulcahy ’13 and Stephen Stolzenberg ’13. In his opening statement, Mulcahy said he is looking to continue the progress made by Yaroshefsky’s administration in forging partnerships with student groups. He also said the USG should provide a forum for students to discuss campus issues.

“Greek life was a prime example where the USG failed to create a place for discussion,” Mulcahy said.

Stolzenberg brought up his experience organizing buses home for Thanksgiving, working on getting Paw Points accepted at the ‘Wa and planning Communiversity as USG campus and community affairs chair. He also said he would not be shy about reaching out to other schools for advice.

“It’s not as sexy to talk about what Harvard does or what Yale does, but these schools go through a lot of the same problems that we do and they’re organized in different ways,” Stolzenberg said.

About 40 students attended the presidential debate, and over half of them left before the vice presidential debate began. Polls open Monday at noon.