Temple Student Government has held it’s first debate of the 2016 election.
Temple Update moderated the debate along with the Temple News. It happened on Tuesday, March 15th in the Student Center.
This year, four tickets are running for office instead of the usual two, making this debate more diverse in opinion than years prior.
The tickets in this years race are Believe in TU; concentrated on campus involvement and passionate about safety, Empower TU; a group that is making sure that every student feels at home by pushing inclusivity, Owl OpporTUnity; dedicated to making student’s time at Temple affordable, enjoyable, and beneficial, and Take TU; a platform comprised of three student activists who hope to represent what the students really want.
The candidates discussed hard-hitting topics such as Temple’s plan for a new on-campus stadium and how the budget impasse in Harrisburg will affect Temple students.
All of the candidates stated that they did not simply want to be the bridge between students and administration, but they also wanted to connect the North Philadelphia community and Temple administration.
After all of the hardship that the current TSG has gone through with the stadium, the tickets want to make sure that they are keeping everyone in the loop, and keeping everyone involved in decision-making.
Several of the candidates also pushed for a restructuring of the entire Temple Student Government system.
Empower TU discussed its plan for a 40-student house of representatives that would provide input when discussing issues on campus.
Take TU responded, saying, “We don’t think [40 students] is enough…we’ve been outside of Sullivan, we’ve been advocating for things, and Temple refuses to listen to us.”
Instead, they proposed a push to give TSG voting rights on Temple’s Board of Trustees.
Owl OpporTUnity had a similar idea to Empower TU, and explained its student senate, an elected group of students who will give a voice to the Temple student body.
Believe in TU did not speak a lot about how they would change the structure of TSG, but they stated that they planned to implement an “Open Door Policy,” in which students can come to the TSG office at any time of the day to discuss issues.
Current TSG President Ryan Rinaldi attended the debate and told Temple Update that he is excited for the candidates and he hopes students will come out to vote in the upcoming election.
“We had a room tonight that was standing room only for a TSG debate, and hopefully that’s indicative of how students get out and vote,” said Rinaldi. “It’s an exciting time, I’m happy for the candidates.”
The next debate will be held on Monday, March 28th at 6 pm in the Student Center.
This is just a clarification that the next debate will be Monday March 28th at 4pm in room 200C of the Student Center.