UA President and Vice President candidates discuss transparency, club funding and planned initiatives

The Faculty Senate held presidential and vice presidential debates on April 3 and April 7 in the McNeil Building.

During the debate, two presidential candidates, college junior Leah Herendura and college junior Hannah Liu, discussed engaging with college administrators and working with other UA members. The vice presidential candidates (Wharton sophomore Michelle Chen, who is campaigning with Erendura, and Mackenzie Sleeman, a college junior who is campaigning with Liu), are trying to increase productivity. We discussed working together with students and administrative members.

The presidential and vice presidential candidates highlighted their experiences and goals in their opening statements of the first debate.

Liu talked about past projects as part of UA, including establishing a no-excuse policy for student-athletes, expanding the airport shuttle program and enforcing the community service ordinance. She also said that as president, she will work to protect academic rights, support student-athletes and ease the transition of first-year students to Penn.

Erendura said he wanted to serve as UA president because of the sense of fulfillment he had enjoyed over the years at UA. She spoke about her love of advocacy, and said her platform, which she described as built around diversity and equity, artificial intelligence, equity and inclusion, and wellness, will have a “huge impact” on students. It added that the aim is to provide solutions.

Mr. Sleeman cited his experience as a transfer student from Villanova University and as a new transfer representative and varsity representative. He specifically said he spearheaded Penn's Transfer Student Writing Seminar and his XCAT working group.

Chen said of her background that she is from a rural town in North Carolina. In particular, she touted an effort she led with the University of Pennsylvania Wellness School to bring over-the-counter medication vending machines to campus, which she said are expected to be installed in the summer or fall.

During the discussion, Liu and Herendura discussed plans to work with university administrators and collaborate with other UA members to ensure transparency.

Liu said he will develop the agenda for the meeting with administrators based on the meeting with student voters and ensure that all relevant information is communicated to university administration.

Erendura talked about plans to use survey responses to prove to the administration that the initiative has student support. She also spoke about her experience with the Vote Expression Committee and highlighted her efforts to ensure student speech is protected.

The second debate gave both candidates the opportunity to discuss their respective campaign platforms, reiterating many of the arguments made in the first debate. Mr. Liu's “Penn to Paper” campaign and Mr. Erendura's “An Intentional Penn” campaign both emphasize increasing access to mental health resources and creating real meaningful change for all students. Masu.

During the Q&A session, both candidates discussed the issue of transparency between UA and the general student body, acknowledging that current communication is inadequate.

“The goal of 'Intentional Pen' is to reimagine UA at both an inward and outward level as a way to close the transparency gap,” Erendura said.

Erendura focused the discussion on implementing structural reforms at UA and leading concrete initiatives such as an on-campus thrift store to increase UA's presence on campus.

Liu similarly emphasized the importance of transparency, saying that under his presidency, “UA is reaching out to students, not the other way around.” She said she would like to send out a survey to students about diversity, equity and inclusion. This will allow the UA to better assess student concerns and allow her and her team members to work with appropriate administrators to reflect and improve.

Both candidates heatedly debated fundraising during the question and answer session.

Mr. Liu discussed how cultural organizations are the best way to achieve DEI-related goals and emphasized the importance of funding being allocated to these organizations. He also claims that groups have expressed a lack of understanding of how university funding processes work, and that such groups should hire financial advisors to ensure these concerns are addressed. proposed to provide it.

“We need to create sustainable funds for cultural organizations,” she says.

“We want to understand what the needs of the student body are and how we can meet them without just using funds,” Erendura said. He emphasized the efficient allocation of funds while balancing the needs of the clubs.

Both candidates expressed their desire to continue their efforts even if they are not elected as UA president.

During the vice-presidential debate, Mr. Sleeman and Mr. Chen discussed how UA can better engage with students to make them aware of UA's efforts and how the administration can address student concerns. We discussed how we have been working together and how we intend to make UA more collaborative and productive.

Mr. Sleeman said that many student advocacy efforts may not reflect the needs of students and emphasized the importance of effective communication of concerns, advocacy efforts, and educational capacity building for the student body. .

In response, Chen said Penn State Student Government Week and pop-up information sessions could be an effective solution to ensure that UA acts as “a microphone that turns into a megaphone for students to talk about the concert.” He said that there is a sex. She also emphasized using school-wide email and other existing communication methods to reach her students.

Both candidates also discussed their past efforts. Mr. Sleeman cited the raising of transfer student concerns to the Dean's Advisory Committee and Dean, which resulted in the creation of the XCAT Working Group, and Mr. Chen said he would provide summer storage for first-generation, low-income students. He mentioned how he started working on the initiative. . She also discussed how she raised her students' concerns with President John Jackson.

Sleeman and Chen emphasized the value of collaborating across groups to ensure students' needs are met.

Unlike last year, this year's debate included a joint question-and-answer session, with pairs of running mates taking turns answering questions for two minutes each while their opponents were outside the room.

Voting for the UA role is now open and will close on Tuesday, April 9 at 11:59 p.m. Students can vote online through the Penn State Student Government's website.