Spring Break
Student Senate presidential candidates spar during debate
Bridgette Blight
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: News
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During the opening statements, Ahrens announced that the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is working with URI students in the fight against the town of Narragansett's "Unruly Gathering" ordinance that fines renters of "party houses" and puts orange stickers on front doors.
He called the ordinance "unconstitutional" and regretted his initial course of action when URI students came back to campus in September and found that changes to the ordinance had been passed before Labor Day.
"I should have said 'I want to sue the town of Narragansett,'" Ahrens said.
Feinberg focused on his experience as president of the URI Beta Theta Pi fraternity, as well as his role as the founder of the now-defunct Rhody Rides that provided rides to intoxicated students. He is the only candidate without experience on the Student Senate Executive Committee.
The most important issue to Ahrens is the state budget crisis. The lack of state funding was a contributing factor to the elimination of the URI gymnastics team as a varsity sport, Ahrens said. Both Ahrens and Feinberg said they would fight to make gymnastics a club sport as soon as possible.
The candidates also brought up the director of communications position several times. Last Thursday's issue of the Cigar included a story on reports of questionable job performance by Sara Addis, the current senate DOC.
"The DOC is meant for communication with students," Ahrens said. "When more happens in senate, the DOC will have more to report on."
"The past two DOCs have been very involved in outside organizations," Feinberg added. "[The position is] not taken seriously among the executive board." Feinberg suggested that the DOC create a Student Senate newsletter to share information from senate committee meetings to students through a listserv.
Student Senate Elections' Committee Chair Cristin Langworthy, the moderator for the event, brought up Ahrens' lack of involvement in other student groups. Ahrens viewed this as a benefit to his campaign. He said he will be able to perform his job with little bias for particular student groups.
Feinberg complained about the apathy of student senators. Out of the 45 members of student senate, only 20 are regularly in the student senate office, he said. His running mate, Eric Klos, agreed.
"We've been begging people to join Student Senate just to have warm bodies," he said. "This is a terrible approach ... we should focus on quality over quantity [of senators]."
Klos suggested that improving the image of senate will attract more dedicated students.
Ahrens had a slightly different take on the issue of senators' performance. He placed blame for senators' lack of interest and participation partly on the Executive Committee. The board sets the example for the senate, Ahrens said.
He also promoted making the minutes for the weekly senate meetings available on Mondays instead of the day of the meeting. However, he also reinforced the need for senators to attend meetings.
"If you don't show up, you don't deserve to be on senate," Ahrens said.
The candidates disagreed on how to handle the chief operations officer position. Klos initially said that he and Feinberg will consider eliminating the position because many of its duties overlap with the vice president's job description. Ahrens disagreed, saying that the position was created for a reason.
"The COO is under-utilized because we haven't done a good job," he said.
Feinberg suggested a senate information booth in the Memorial Union on a weekly or monthly basis. The DOC would be in charge of the information booth, which would provide a forum for students to learn more about senate. Students would also be able to share questions and suggestions with the Student Senate this way.
David Bedard, Ahrens' running mate, bemoaned a lack of student participation in administrative committees. He recommended that more senators join administrative committees and explained that participation required some give-and-take on their part.
Ahrens also called for more student involvement. "It is your job to represent the students no matter what," Ahrens said. "Student Senate is a separate entity from the university ... President [Robert] Carothers is a pretty intimidating guy to talk to."
Feinberg recommended that senate take a look at the makeup of administrative committees.
"Challenge the committees," Feinberg said. "As leaders, we can't be afraid to do that. This issue needs to get publicity."
When asked why he waited until the last day possible to announce his candidacy, Feinberg struggled to find a response with input from Klos.
"It was a financial decision," Feinberg said. "I was supposed to graduate in December 2008, but I decided to stay on as a fifth year senior ... It was more beneficial for me to be here. Why should there be haste [in deciding to run]?"
Senator Shane Lee asked the candidates about how they would deal with issues of demographics at URI.
"I've done the job [External Affairs Committee Chairman] that senate asked me to do," Ahrens said.
Bedard has been on the Cultural Affairs Committee for two years and is currently its chairman. He said that he is involved with many cultural groups on campus and he has helped to get many of them work together to sponsor programming at URI.
Feinberg, who is Jewish, said that he has experienced some discrimination at URI. He also stressed the importance of communication between minority groups and senate.
Lee said that he did not receive the answer that he was looking for. The candidates did not provide any concrete examples of how they would combat issues facing minority students, not only cultural minorities, but students with disabilities.
"They need to be able to transport themselves into [minorities'] shoes," Lee said. "It's not only an issue of black or white, blue or red, it's about promoting diversity in the university ... we need to break through to the next level."
Lee also said that the candidates' discussion of students' rights was an important part of the debate.
About 15 people showed up for the event, mostly student senators. Poor turnout at these debates is common, Langworthy said.
"I expected more people to show up," sophomore and student senator Alan Pettit said. "Last year almost 30 people came ... I guess people were apathetic."
Langworthy said that attendance for debates does not depend on the level of promotion by student senate.
"Attendance is always an issue," she said. "It stems from a lot of issues ... I was disappointed that more senators did not make an effort."
The senate presidential election is today and tomorrow in the Memorial Union from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
