The Stony Brook Press - Volume 28, Issue 11a

The Stony Brook Press - March 19, 2007 - Elections Guide

Inside the Elections Guide Senate Candidate Interviews

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Executive Council Candidate Interviews

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Endorsements

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Opinion

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USG Debates Photospread

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Listen to our interviews with the presidential candidates on our Podcast!

The following six pages contain interviews with many of the candidates. We asked them each the four questions listed bellow. 1) Have you ever been involved in USG before? If yes, then in what capacity? If no, what qualifications do you have that make you think you would make a good USG official?

http://www.thestonybrookpress.com 2) Why are you running for this position? Contributors: Adina Silverbush Alex Nagler Bryan Hasho Jamie Friermuth 2

Rebecca Kleinhaut Jowy Romano Stephanie Hayes Vincent Michael Festa

3) How do you feel about student apathy? 4) What changes do you plan on implementing if elected?

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Ketty Dautruche

Brian Bader

CAS Senator

CAS Senator

Independent 1) Brian has yet to serve in the USG. 2) He is running for this position because he’s “sick of complaining and sick of hearing people complain about the apathy, inefficiency, and anti-social trends of this campus.” He says he can’t sit around waiting for change to happen; someone needs to make it happen and he will try to do things in the student’s best interests, because that’s what he feels matters most. He asserts that he is not running for publicity or for something nice to put on a resume. He says he wants to work with the rest of the senate and hopefully make the upcoming semester effective for the USG Senate. 3) Brian feels that student apathy is a real problem. While he was petitioning for this position, he had to obtain 100 signatures to get on the ballot. He says he had to explain to at least half of the people asked to sign his petition what USG is and what he was running for. According to Brian, this shouldn’t be

the case. And it’s not just with USG, but with everything on this campus. “We have so many activities that go on that many students just don’t know about, myself included. This goes to show that’s it’s not entirely the fact that the students don’t care. It’s that they just don’t know about things on this campus. Although it may not be the official job of the senate, I want to try to inform more students and find a more effective way of informing students of what is happening on campus,” he said. 4) Brian plans on getting more concerts on campus, and also more student friendly events in general. Another big issue Brian mentioned that has been going on lately is the general distaste for the current meal plan. If elected, he will do everything in his power to lower food prices to a reasonable price so that students don’t have to worry about running out of meal points a few weeks before the end of the semester. He will also introduce the idea of having laundry included in our tuition. His laundry money comes out of his pocket and he’s sure it does for other students. It would be nice to not have to worry about this expense, he says. He asserts that commuter students also need a solution to some of their problems, such as the lack of parking, the long wait at the SAC for a bus to South P, and crowded lines at the SAC midday. They make up almost half, if not more than half the population of the undergraduate class, and he will try to get their needs met. Brian’s main goal is to increase student awareness on campus and get their needs met, because that is why he is running.

Eric Connor CAS Senator

SUCCESS Party 1) Eric has served as a USG Senator for the past semester. 2) Eric believes that his experience in the

Senate was invaluable, and that next year he will be able to take what he has learned and turn it into real progress. He hopes to carry on the traditions of his fellow Senators and add to the success of many of their programs. “The Senate is like a family.” 3) Eric believes that the past semester has let many students know that the Senate is working hard. He praises the legislation that has been passed last semester, especially Senator Antonelli’s ALIRRT program. He believes that next year, the Senate will be “on the road” to success. “We’re going to make it happen.” 4) Eric believes that he will be able to improve student life in “every way possible.” He finds Senator Antonelli to be “an inspiration,” and hopes to be able to follow in his footsteps next year.

1) Currently Ketty is serving as a senator and is on the legislative, environment, and rules committees. 2) She’s running for re-election because serving as a senator this year was a great experience for her. She learned a lot about laws and administration and feels there is a lot she can do for the students. 3) She believes apathy would decrease through increased awareness to the fact that USG is the cause of successful programs like ALIRRT and PASS. 4) Ketty will continue to fight against the smoking ban and wants to make a new, more accurate bus schedule.

SUCCESS Party

Brian Desrosiers CAS Senator

SUCCESS Party 1) Brian has not held a position in Stony Brook’s USG before, but he feels that his leadership skills were honed as he served as Senior Class President in high school. He is currently a part of the African

Student Union, the Student Activities Board, and the Caribbean Student Organization. 2) Brian is running for the Senate because he would like to take a more active political role in the university. He is “interested in how the student government is run”. 3) “At first, I had misconceptions about what the Senate did,” said Brian. After doing some research, he found that the Senate was something that he wanted to become more involved in. He hopes that he can use his position as Senator to pass the knowledge to the student body that it is worth it to become involved on campus. 4) Brian hopes to effectively represent the College of Arts and Sciences. However, he recognizes that the Senate works as one body and not just a group of individuals looking out for their own issues. “Hopefully those who are elected from my party will help me out with that,” he said.

Stephen Elardo CAS Senator

SUCCESS Party

before, but thinks that will be an asset rather than a hindrance. He is hoping to come into USG as a fresh mind, and thinks this will help him as a senator. 2) Steve is running for senator because he’s “sick and tired of what’s wrong with this campus.” He’s an average student that is tired of the high food and the lack of events, but wants to do something about it. “I think this position would give me the best opportunity to fix as much as I can,” he said. 3) “Student Apathy is definitely a problem at Stony Brook,” he said. “But I think that stems from a lack of information as exposure. I think the average student here does-

1) Steve has never been involved in USG

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Elections Guide - March 19, 2007 - The Stony Brook Press

Senate Candidate Interviews

The Stony Brook Press - March 19, 2007 - Elections Guide

Senate Candidate Interviews Elardo Continued from previous page

n't know a thing about USG, SAB and the like, and that is at the heart of the problem.” He feels that if the USG starts making changes and getting things done in a public way, then the students will start caring. 4) “First and foremost on my agenda and on SUCCESS's agenda have to be the lack of events and the high food prices. Every candidate will tell you the same thing, but I really believe that SUCCESS can get it done,” he said. Steve feels that if Joe

Antonelli becomes president, he will have the full support of the senate, giving them the ability to push through the things we want to accomplish. “Romual is a lame duck, no one supports him or anything he is trying to do,” he said. Some of the other things he wants to see happen are improvements to the campus bus schedule, which he feels is ridiculous right now. “I would work with SAB and hopefully Campus Residences to get more advertising for SAB activities. They have a lot of fun stuff going on that no one knows about because the advertising is so poor,” he said.

John Kriscenski CAS Senator

Kyle Grogan CAS Senator

SUCCESS Party 1) Kyle has never held a senate position, but has attended the meetings. He is also a member of the EFA. He tells us he has a good working knowledge of USG, and the roll of treasurer he held at the EFA facilitated his involvement in USG.

2) Kyle says he has been friends with Joe and Nathan for a while, who pushed him to run for Senate. He’s gone to most of the meetings, and is tired of student apathy. 3) “Apathy for USG is very low and it’s not that difficult to get signatures due to the fact people sign things out of boredom,” said Kyle. “Getting people to know that USG is a good thing. ALIRRT is a good program as it increases awareness of USG.” 4) He wants to try to increase funding for ALIRRT through budgetary roles, and try to have more programs that better benefit the students directly through the inner workings of USG. “We have the money; we should try to give it back to the students through beneficial programs. The off campus meal plan (campus cash) is not good enough,” he said. He would try to find a way to use meal plan points off campus.

Independent 1) John is freshman, so this is the first time he can run. He feels that a good work ethic is important in any person who’s going to represent the student body. “I’ve been involved in student governments since the 8th grade. In high school, I was in charge of a half-a-million-dollar budget, so I look forwards to applying my skills to help Stony Brook,” he said. 2) Saving money is a crucial factor to why

Thomas Lombardo CAS Senator

Leo Kamenetskiy CAS Senator

SUCCESS Party 1) Leo has no previous experience as a member of the USG, but he is not completely new to campus involvement. Leo was involved in the Telefund Program, and has aided in last year’s $1

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million raising of student scholarships. 2) Leo has stated that his main motive for running for a senate position is to combat the lack of student awareness of campus events. He feels that students should have a better way to find out what’s going on. “We know what’s going on at Bamboo Bernies but not at school,” he said. 3) In regards to student apathy, Leo believes students should most certainly care. “I mean, you should care. It does affect you—it’s your money.” 4) As for his plans as a senator, Leo plans on relentlessly spreading the word on campus events. “I’m definitely planning on keeping the students well informed—pass out flyers.” He also believes students need to be notified more effectively when it comes to snow days in terms of cancellations and the like.

John is running. “I feel that the 200 dollars we all pay to the student activity fund is a crucial part of our undergraduate life and as the Senate has already passed PASS and ALIRRT, I feel we can pass more legislation to use this in more efficient ways. Of course, the meal plan is also a major part of why I’m running, as I feel there are more options that can be explored.” 3) John feels that student apathy is a concept that plagues every school. “One of the only ways we can improve apathy is if the student government increases involvement to fight apathy. People aren’t going to care about a government that doesn’t do anything for them, so if we fight harder for the students, we can make it so that more people care about the school.” 4) John would like to expand the PASS Act and the ALIRRT Program, mainly so that the latter does not sell out so quickly. “I’d like to also create more programs to save students money and look into the possibility of a food co-op. “I think the money that the students are putting into the student activity fund should be used directly by them.”

SUCCESS Party 1) Currently Thomas is a USG senator serving on the budget and legislative committees.

2) When he took his position as senator, USG was divided. Now that they are all one big happy family he feels improvements can finally be made. As senator, he wants to push for free STD testing sites on campus. 3) It bothers him that in a school of 20,000 only 200 vote. Students, according to Lombardo, should realize that “USG controls everything.” He says students should talk to USG if they want change and if they want events on campus that they will enjoy. He says that the senate is open minded and will listen to students. 4) Lombardo hopes that next year USG will put their party affiliations aside and work to benefit students; parties to him are just a distraction. However, he’s a member of a party because he feels this is a stepping stone to becoming a USG Vice President in the future.

Alexander Markow CAS Senator

Reform Party 1) He has not served in USG in any official capacity, however he has served as a proxy on the USG Senate seven or eight times this year. He is also a senatorial (unpaid) aide; he helps out around the office and has input in legislative matters. He is also involved with several other organizations on campus. Alexander participates in Animated Perspectives, the Rifle Club, the Enduring Freedom Alliance, the SBU Archers Society, as well as the occa-

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sional visit to the Greeley College LEG. He is also the Secretary of the SBU CRS, the Vice Chairman of the Reform Party, and the Staff Photographer for The Patriot. 2) Alexander is running for this position because he believes that there are many things to be discussed and dealt with, in terms of the interior and exterior functionality and appearance of the USG to the student body it represents. He thinks serving as a senator will be a Continued on next page

Markow Continued from previous page

fun and exciting experience. He says, “Unfortunately there is no glory in winning an uncontested election, there is the honor in liv-

ing up to the expected (and respected) image of a USG Senator.” 3) Alexander says student apathy on campus is, unfortunately, a problem that exists, has existed, and will continue to exist. However, appealing to those students should be a primary goal for the 07-08 Senate. It is impera-

tive that there will be surveys and questionnaires (whether they be through blackboard or otherwise) implemented by the Vice President of Communications, to get tangible, statistical evidence of what the students who aren't using their share of the fee actually want. 4) As a Senator, Alexander says, “You have an obligation to implement positive changes in both the Senate and the USG. Your job is to legislate, negotiate, and deliberate. Things such as the online club budget applications and constitutional reform are amongst the chief concerns that can be actively dealt with by the Senate. Also, the equitable distribution of the student activity fee is also among my chief concerns. Clubs, organizations, and individuals need to get what they pay for. There are a fair amount of students on campus who do not choose to participate in any clubs or events, and I believe that to promote both fiscal responsibility and acquiesce to the large number of apathetic fee-paying students, there should be an incremental reduction in the student activity fee. This will also help to balance the budget. The 300,000 dollar rollover, and 62% of students who voted in the fall election should be enough proof that action should be taken.”

Chris Pitera CAS Senator

SUCCESS Party 1) Christopher has not held a position in the USG before, but he feels that he has gained relevant experience while interning at the Executive Office of the President in the White

House. Christopher is currently a part of the Enduring Freedom Alliance and is a staff member of The Patriot. 2) Christopher is running for the Senate in order to properly represent the College of Arts and Sciences. He also believes that he is “fiscally responsible” and that he will spend the Student Activity Fee in ways that benefit the students. 3) Christopher acknowledged that this semester, proper promotion of programs such as ALIRRT and Tiki Barber’s lecture has helped students realize that USG is there for the students. If elected, Christopher would seek to “let people know [that] USG is beneficial.” 4) If elected, Christopher would like to become a familiar face on campus. “I would like to question [students] on campus and refer back to the Senate.” He would also like to help the Senate to create “leverage” with meal plan prices and the activation fee.

Nirmala Ramsaran CAS Senator

SUCCESS Party 1) Nirmala has spent her time participating on the Student Activities Board, where she distributes flyers for forthcoming campus events. She recently joined LASO, and has also worked with the SAO working with advisors to help plan events on campus. 2) “I’m running because I feel like

women are poorly represented,” said Nirmala. She feels that students are unaware of activities on campus, and wants to focus on the academic side of the university. “Schools important, you know,” she said. 3) Nirmala is disappointed with the school’s response to the idea of student apathy. “They haven’t tried anything— no one’s reached out,” she said. She speaks of the importance of reaching out to new students. “Sometimes they’re not aware of all the events available for their resume—they don’t realize,” she said. 4) As for her focus as a senator, “obviously student involvement,” said Nirmala. “I guess the publicity and marketing of the events that are poorly publicized.” She also has her sights on the school’s food services. “Our contract is over this summer. We can make a resolution to change that—even lower the food prices or change the contract culture.”

Suhas Sreeharshan CAS Senator

SUCCESS Party 1) Suhas ran for Freshman Representative last year, but didn’t receive enough votes

to get the spot. He now participates in the Environmental Club, the Martial Arts Club, and frequents LEG meetings. Next year, she’s going to be an RA—a testament to her responsible nature. 2) Suhas is running for a position on the senate because he wants to see changes happening at the school. “A lot of my friends want to see some changes but they’re too busy,” he said. He promises to listen to people and their opinions. 3) In regards to student apathy, Suhas said that, “Many people don’t know what events are going on. Even if they put posters on the wall, there’s so many of them people ignore them.” 4) Suhas’ focus in the senate is to concentrate on listening to everyone’s opinions and bringing them to the senate.

We were unable to get in touch with the following Senate candidates: Adeel Anwer CAS Senator Steve Hauptman CAS Senator

Richard St. Fleur CAS Senator Blake Wind CAS Senator www.thestonybrookpress.com

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Elections Guide - March 19, 2007 - The Stony Brook Press

Senate Candidate Interviews

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The Stony Brook Press - March 19, 2007 - Elections Guide

Executive Council Candidate Interviews Joseph Antonelli President

SUCCESS Party 1) Currently a Senator. Worked to pass the ALIRRT Bill, rewriting of SAB Bylaws to include veto power for Vice President of Student Life on expenditures as well as the measures to allow any USG Represented club an automatic vote at USG meetings. 2) Senator Antonelli is running to make a difference. Originally, he planned to run for treasurer, but people thanking him for ALIRRT have made him realize that he

has made some difference and that he can affect more change as President. He feels that his confidence will serve as leverage to let him get more things done. 3) Student apathy starts right off the bat with campus tours by informing students about the proximity of the LIRR to campus. By increasing the average student’s awareness of USG, Senator Antonelli feels students will realize there is more to do on campus and that they have the power to suggest events and bring them to fruition. 4) Senator Antonelli has many ideas for things he could possibly implement. In cooperation with NYPIRG, he feels that the school could negotiate for a lower price on LIRR tickets, therefore allowing more to be sold. He also feels that the food situation must be addressed, namely the prices and the activation fee. He feels that making other providers aware of Stony Brook will allow for competitive bidding, therefore allowing for the best opportunities for the school. He also feels that the Campus Cash as an off-campus meal plan must be reformed to allow for students to use their cards off campus and for the food to possibly be delivered.

Chinelo Onochie President

Independent 1) Chinelo has served as USG senator and has been VP of Academic Affairs for the past two years. She has been a major force in overseeing the PASS program, game

Nathan Shapiro Executive Vice President

Romual Jean-Baptiste President

Independent 1) Romual is running as the incumbent president of USG. During his previous term he worked to implement the campus cash system, and the online club registration system, which allows clubs to schedule events without having to go to the USG offices. He also worked with Campus Residences to get the YES Network on campus, as this was the will of the students. Progress with FSA has been made as campus dining hall hours have been increased and many of the Union facilities will be renovated over the summer, with one of the more interesting offerings of next year being a Caribbean themed eating facility. 2) President Jean-Baptise is running because he knows how to get things done. Having

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been in USG for the past three years, he knows who to go to in the administration to get things done, and has gained their trust and influence over them. He feels that he has the connections needed to get more things done, and that voting for anyone else would reset these valuable connections and put the students back at a hindrance that would take the full presidential term to rebuild. 3) Romual feels that student apathy is very unfortunate. He expressed that if students actually took the time to be involved with the student governments, residence hall LEGs, or any other club, they could have a more fulfilled overall college experience and apathy would decrease, as students worked to make the campus a better place. 4) President Jean-Baptise would like to continue to reform aspects of the Stony Brook Undergraduate government and implement further changes to help the student population on the whole. One thing he discussed was making laundry services free of charge for students, claiming that we, as students, pay enough for other services as it is. Also, he would like to increase the recently implemented campus cash program, roll meal points over between terms, increase bus service, and increase the number of weekend events. One other possible change is the increase in number of off campus dining facilities, as this is in an experimental stage, with the eventual roll to be the inclusion of the actual meal plan onto it.

shows and the recent lectures on campus. 2) She has three year’s experience with USG and wants to improve communication within. Chinelo asserts that students need to come together and work together. She has experience with administrators and faculty, which has garnered a level of their respect, which she feels this will really help her to get things done. 3) “Apathy is a result of not enough positive leadership in USG,” said Chinelo. “USG needs to improve their reputation. Students should know we’re a group of students who want to do positive things for their university.” 4) While she’s not making false promises to students, she will try to lower food, laundry, and book prices. Additionally, she’d like to explore how good our professors are and help improve the campus bus schedule.

SUCCESS Party 1) Nathan has been serving on the USG Senate this past year. During the past semester, Nathan drafted The Clarification in Employment Act, which helped USG to account for “fiscal responsibility.” He also helped Senators Joseph Antonelli and Jonathon Hirst to draft new bylaws for the Student Activity Board, giving all clubs and organizations to opportunity to cast a vote in SAB. Nathan is also the President of the Enduring Freedom Alliance. 2) As Executive Vice President, Nathan

will be responsible for running all of the Senate meetings. Nathan would like to be able to train senators and “provide leadership” for the ones who are new to the Senate. Having served on the Senate before, Nathan is “well acquainted with the rules” that they must abide by. He hopes that his presence will keep the Senate “on the same track.” 3) Nathan believes that USG needs to use all media outlets on campus to let people know more about the positive things that they are doing. “What [students] know about USG combines with outrage over the meal plan. These two things come together [to] raise attention regarding what USG can accomplish.” 4) Nathan recognizes that USG can become swamped in personal politics and concedes that life in USG can sometimes feel like “a soap opera.” However, Nathan believes that the past year has truly shown him just how effective the Senate can be. He credits Senator Joseph Antonelli on “changing my perspective on how to approach USG” with proposals like the ALIRRT program. “[Many Senators] came in with bright ideas… I’m going to try to carry on this tradition as Executive Vice President.”

Jonathan Hirst Vice President of Student Life

SUCCESS Party 1) Jonathan has served as a USG senator this year. He’s worked on redrafting the SAB bylaws and helped support the ALIRRT program.

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2) He’s running for Vice President of Student Life because he feels there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed. He wants to help reach out to all students with Continued on next page

Hirst Continued from previous page

more advertising in the quads. He hopes place bulletin boards in all dorm buildings and commuter lounges advertising events

so students are aware of what’s going on. He wants to work on having more peer mentoring programs especially for transfer students and hopes that students will be able to receive internship credit for this. As VP of Student Life, Hirst will oversee the work of the SAB and work with them to put on co-sponsored events. 3) Apathy would decrease, according to Hirst, with a lot more advertising. He says that no one should assume students are aware of the events going on; USG really needs to work harder to grab the attention of students. 4) If elected, Hirst hopes to help make USG a more unified group. With the new bylaws, USG will be more involved in SAB. He thinks that laundry prices need to be reduced and the cheaper LIRR tickets need to be more available.

Lynn-Marie Watson Vice President of Student Life

Independent 1) Since Lynn transferred to the university in Fall 2005, she has been a part of Student Activities Board. She helped in planning and executing programs on campus during the Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer semesters. 2) She is running for the position of Vice President of Student Life and Programming, because although she has a lot of experience with the programming and event planning aspects, she feels a lot of student life issues on this campus still need to be tackled and many have been left

unresolved in past years. She says that commuter students are still unsatisfied with the parking situation and have been shown no plan to resolve this. Lynn is not going to say she can lower meal prices, because as a student she’s heard that preached over and over again with no results. She does plan to use her power to pressure FSA as hard as she can to make some changes. 3) She thinks large number of her fellow undergraduates have no interest in USG, or have a perception that USG either does nothing or is corrupt. She has seen no corruption in her days as a member of the USG. She feels students don’t know about USG so they have no way to get involved, until something goes wrong and they need a voice. She hopes she will be this voice. 4) She believes in working with Campus Residences so parking changes for commuters can be made by placing freshman and sophomores in certain quads. Since they are not allowed to have cars on campus, this would free up resident hall parking for commuter students. If elected, she also plans to reach out to the students and see what else is on there mind, aside from high food prices, before she makes an open ended promises that she can’t deliver.

Leonard William Wright Tr e a s u r e r

Independent 1) Leonard is currently the Treasurer of the Undergraduate Student Activities Board; the largest funded USG organization on campus. 2) He originally wanted to run last year for Treasurer, but had no experience with

USG or USG accounting. Instead, he joined SAB for the experience, in order to prepare himself for running for USG Treasurer. 3) He thinks as a member of the student body, as well as SAB. He has a very open mind when it comes to the opinions of his fellow peers, in these organizations he feels you have to be in order to be successful because at the end of the day you are representing them. 4) His first goal would be to attack the USG budget process and to make it as simple and short as possible. As treasurer of SAB, he has a personal experience with this process and it is rather tedious, for absolutely no reason. He wants to make it simpler, in order for every USG club and organization to have a smooth process when it comes to allocating for USG Student Activity expenses. This would be his primary goal as USG Treasurer.

DON’T FORGET! VOTE ON THE SOLAR SYSTEM ANYTIME FROM MARCH 19 - MARCH 23

We were unable to get in touch with the following Executive Council candidates: Micheal Cohan Vice President of Acedemic Affairs Clifford Pierre Vice President of Communications Jeffrey Akita Vice President of Clubs and Organizations

Gabrielle Robergeau Senior Class Representative Juvanee A. Bedminster Junior Class Representative

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Elections Guide - March 19, 2007 - The Stony Brook Press

Executive Council Candidate Interviews

The Stony Brook Press - March 19, 2007 - Elections Guide

Endorsements Vote for Chinelo Onochie and Nathan Shapiro We came to the decision as an editorial board that Chinelo Onochie was the best candidate for USG President. Out of all the candidates, she’s proven herself in her current position as Vice President of Academic Affairs and has been constantly praised by the USG Senate as being both a competent and meticulous Vice President. She’s been working hard overseeing the PASS program, and has helped organize the USG lecture series. Chinelo is the only candidate who mentioned academics in her Press interview, the reason we all are at this University. She didn’t fill our minds with unrealistic promises, but instead gave us real hope that with the relationships she’s built over the last three years in USG, she now has the respect of the administration and the persistence to affect real change. Chinelo attends many USG senate meetings, even when she has nothing to complain about. Unlike Romual who only seems to be there when he has something negative to say. In fact, we’ve never seen Chinelo complain.

Chinelo Onochie

Nathan Shapiro

She is not affiliated with any party, and her bipartisan stance will help her bring together a divided USG. Joe Antonelli we feel is a solid candi-

date, but with only one semester of USG senate experience, we feel Chinelo is better suited for the position. Nathan Shapiro is running for

President

Executive Vice President

Executive Vice President unopposed, but we’d still like to show our support for him. He’s been one of the most outspoken senators this year and we feel very confident in his ability to take on more responsibility. We’ve gained great respect for Nathan since he left the Reform Party to pursue his own ventures, and we strongly wish he hadn’t signed on with SUCCESS. Either way, we hope Nathan will continue to serve in the best interests of the students and continue to be an influential USG leader. Jonathan Hirst running for Vice President of Student Life seems like an adequate choice, but we never got a chance to interview his opponent so we can’t endorse him. We appreciate the job he’s done in the senate this year, working hard on ALIRRT and the SAB bylaws. His ideas for expanding student awareness of events on campus are sound, and we hope that whoever gets elected to this position actually gives us some events to look forward to, since they were sorely lacking again this year.

Opinion Insincere Banter and Unfulfilled Promises By Bryan Hasho ___________ USG elections are pointless. I don’t mean to suggest that the USG is a worthless endeavor, because it’s not—a student government is a valuable and noble campus organization. And while I’ll log on to SOLAR next week to support candidates that promote worthwhile initiatives, I’ll do so understanding that, even on the college level, what comes out of a politician’s mouth is absolute horseshit. While this isn’t an all-inclusive statement, history proves it true. Last year, the students (with a little help--*wink wink*), elected Romual Jean-Baptiste as the president of the Executive Council, and what a pick that was. Last year’s Press elections guide reads, “He hopes to change the meal plans—specifically the price of food—and he thinks this could be done if students pressure the Faculty Student Associations more.” Obviously, the price of food has not come down. And once again this year, Romual has plenty to say about prospective changes. “I think I’ve made significant progress this year,” he said in his Press interview. And hey! He wants to lower food prices; surprise surprise. In one year students have now been bestowed a potential off

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campus meal plan. Not only is that an absolute joke as most students don’t have the option to eat off campus during the day, but it sure-as-fuck doesn’t have anything to do with the food prices idea you whipped-out for the crowd last year. From there, he goes on to spew the rest of the quintessential shit-students-care-about list he has on his index cards. Alongside Romual, Alexsandra Borodkin and Robert Romano sit in their senate positions after pushing the food prices platform—way to go guys. Pretty much everyone spoke about increasing weekend activities last year, and pretty much nobody did anything about it. Ralph Thomas said he would “change USG from within.” That went well. It’s getting awfully frustrating that, including this year, we hear the same proposals over and over. When it comes to proposing reform, your redundancy equates to incompetence. In 2004, the USG passed their first bill, protecting student organizations financially and progressing the way clubs exist on campus. That’s good work. It’s unfortunate that the USG has deteriorated into a smorgasbord of false promises and regurgitated ideas. Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate this year’s USG accomplishments. ALIRRT

Vincent Michael Festa

The three presidential candidates at the debates

was rather neat, and saved some folks some money. Amy Wisnoski’s PASS bill was a brilliant piece of legislation that has helped lots of students. The SAC’s dining hall is now open an hour later, that’s nifty. Oh, and Romual contracted some aides. But if you’re all going to run for senate positions and push your platforms down our throats, at least show us that you are trying to do what you said you’d do. The senate gets cranky every time

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they’re mocked for spending their entire meeting on internal matters. And while we’d love to give them the benefit of the doubt that they are doing all their ‘real’ work conveniently behind closed doors, we can only do so if you have something to show for all that work. If not, tell us you’re a good guy; tell us you’ll make the USG meetings more entertaining. At least then we’d have a genuine reason to place our votes.

Elections Guide - March 19, 2007 - The Stony Brook Press

Photos of the USG Debates

Photos by Vincent Michael Festa www.thestonybrookpress.com

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Henry Kissinger Says:

“I was told there would be pancakes.” Sky Chase Zone