Student government candidates debate campuswide issues

by Perry Swanson
The Metropolitan

Candidates for student government office focused on plus-minus grading, student apathy and campus parking at a discussion forum March 24.

Nine candidates showed up for the meeting in the Tivoliâs Multicultural Lounge. Political science professor Oneida Meranto moderated the discussion.

It was the first of two debates for SGA candidates. The second is scheduled for April 2 at the flagpole in the middle of campus.

Alice Marie Orth, an independent candidate for vice president of Academic Affairs, said if elected, she  would help increase communication between college administration, faculty and students.
 

ãI want to become more involved in the community that I belong to,ä she said.

Retention of ethnic minority students is one issue Vice President of Diversity Janet Damon said she would address if re-elected.
 

But Damon said her job extends beyond serving ethnic groups on campus and also includes other groups such as single parents and students with disabilities.
 

ãDiversity is much broader than we have allowed it to become today,ä Damon said.
 

Damon is running with the group of 10 candidates calling themselves the Student Power Initiative.

SPI ticket members named several issues they would work on if elected: a week-long break from classes during fall semester, plus-minus grading, student retention and graduation rates, campus parking,  and increasing access to student services for evening and weekend students.

The group plans to produce a reference book of student evaluations of faculty members. The book would be free to students, said Andy Nicholas, SPIâs presidential candidate.

Nicholas was alone as a presidential candidate at the forum. The other candidate for president, Dave Flomberg, a copy editor and columnist for The Metropolitan, couldnât attend the meeting because he was out of town.

Some observers, including former presidential candidate Gabriel Hermelin, have complained that the SPI ticket will ãstack the deckä against independent candidates. The ticket includes several who were on the assembly this year.

But Nicholas said forming a ticket of candidates offers advantages to voters, and noted that students will vote for individual candidates, not the ticket as a whole.

Full-time Metro students will pay at least $16.50 more in student fees next semester if a vote by the Student Government Assembly is approved by the collegeâs governing board.
 

The assembly voted unanimously March 12 to increase the Student Affairs, Information Technology and Athletics fee. The increases would bring total fees for a student taking 10 credits to $176.70.

Metro President Sheila Kaplan will recommend which fees should increase to the college governing body, the Board of Trustees for the State Colleges in Colorado. Kaplan was expected to discuss the issue with other administrators at a meeting March 25.