The Alumni Conference Room was home to the first ever town hall meeting of Plattsburgh State’s Student Association presidential candidates.
Multiple positions in the Student Association are up for election in the Student Association general election next Tuesday, including president, executive vice president, and senate positions. Presidential candidates include John Asare, Jessica Falace, Daniel Khoshkehpazi and Smit Pujara.
The candidates were given the opportunity to answer questions submitted by students before the event.
Questions given by the moderator of the event were divided in multiple categories, such as money, leadership and diversity advocacy . This gave the candidates the opportunity to express their opinions on different aspects of student life.
An issue echoed by each candidate related to campus shuttles. Each candidate believes there should be more of them, especially one for downtown.
“Recently we received a grant for the revitalization of of downtown Plattsburgh,” Falace said. The City of Plattsburgh received 10 million dollars as a part of a state-wide revitalization project. Falace believes it’s important PSUC students get to enjoy the upcoming developments.
Falace went as far as proposing a shuttle that would take students to the Field House as well in order to better support PSUC athletics.
On a hypothetical situation where cutting some part of the Student Association budget in favor of holding an event such as a concert, Khoshkehpazi said, “I wouldn’t plan on cutting anything.” he said, “We can utilize connection with local businesses to have them [provide] money to hold this event.” In exchange for money, the local businesses would be sponsors of the event, and would be advertised Khoshkehpazi said.
When given the opportunity, the candidates pounced on the opportunity to give their pitch to the near-capacity crowd. They noted their leadership skills as well as their own understanding of the issues students on campus face.
Each candidate agreed on the basic ideas that the Student Association president should make student life on campus more convenient, but also to make campus a better learning environment.
The general election for the Student Association will be held next Tuesday. Students will receive an email where they can fill out their ballot for the candidates they choose.
Email Fernando Alba at news@cardinalpointsonline.com
