The one candidate running for Creighton Students Union president and the freshman and junior candidates running for the vice presidency for student affairs discussed improving communications with students and strengthening the role of college representatives at the CSU debate Wednesday night.
Patrick Lam, Arts & Sciences freshman, and Seth Rich, Arts & Sciences junior, are the candidates for vice president for student affairs; Dylan Miskimins, Business senior, is the sole candidate for president. Elections will be held Nov. 3 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. via survey ballot sent to students’ Creighton e-mail accounts.
Lam stressed the importance of letting students know how to get involved in CSU and around campus, and how to improve CSU’s relationship with student organizations. Even though he is a freshman, he referenced his leadership experience in high school as the vice president of the student development association for two years. If elected, one thing that Lam would want to accomplish within his term is making sure everybody knows what CSU is when they arrive at Creighton.
Rich stressed improving the management and training of college representatives, strengthening their role within CSU and improving CSU’s visibility on campus. Rich was a representative for the College of Arts & Sciences for two terms and chaired four committees during those terms. Two issues Rich feels are most relevant to students are improving shuttle routes to possibly go to 72nd and Dodge streets on the weekends or take students to and from the airport before and after breaks, and starting a committee to discuss the controversial tobacco ban. If elected, one thing Rich would want to accomplish within his term is having monthly legislation on issues.
Miskimins stressed improving communications between CSU and student organizations and the student body. Miskimins was vice president for finance in 2008 and co-coordinated the 2009 National Jesuit School Leadership Conference. One thing Miskimins hopes to accomplish in his term is having a student sit in with the board of directors, either as a voting or non-voting member in order to voice student concerns.
Even though he is a senior, Miskimins will be graduating next December rather than this May. The extra semester actually afforded a second chance for Miskimins, as he ran against Adam Hare for president last year. Miskimins has no hard feelings towards Hare, despite his previous loss.
“Adam did a great job and I wouldn’t do anything drastically different than he did,” Miskimins said.
He used his year off of CSU to take on a leadership position in a different capacity organizing a national conference.
Miskimins blames a few things for the short list of executive candidates this year.
“I think the lack of advertising for elections kept people from running and representatives find other things to do. The commitment makes it difficult. You have to be here over the summer, but I think the biggest problem is just that people didn’t know about it,” he said.
Even with only three candidates, the debate was still informative.
“I think it was good, it showed how the three candidates each have good experiences and different experiences,” Hare said.
“I thought it was interesting, it covered a lot of topics relevant to campus and questions to weed out people who are not qualified,” said Corbin Weaver, Arts & Sciences freshman. “I’m pretty sure I’ve determined who I’ll vote for based on what was said tonight.”
“Once we have new executives and representatives, I’d like to see a return to the basics of student government, passionate leadership and a renewed effort to reach out to students,” Hare said.