VIDEO: SG Debate 2012

11:55 – Question 5 for Action! party:

What is the biggest weakness in your own platform?

ANSWER:

Cuderman (president): "The biggest weakness in our platform is definitely the campus bar and grill. I think one of the reasons it is deemed our greatest weakness is because people don't understand what we are trying to achieve with the weakness. What we are trying to achieve with the campus bar and grill is not to create a campus bar and grill. It is to establish a feasibility plan, where students can go and see why there was a campus bar and grill, why it closed, what we can do in the future to reopen one. A couple of the big reasons that was closed was because students are not 21 and how often are faculty going to want to go and drink with undergraduate or graduate students. They're not. There was not enough room, obviously Einstein's has about 20 tables, without more tables the grill is going to have to be the main focus of that bar. So I want to be able to create a book, a binder full of pages, where someone could come in and know exactly what happened when they hear, "oh we used to have a campus bar and grill." And then in the future, if that is something that students want, then we advocate for that."

13:01– Question 5 for the Revolution party:

What is the biggest weakness in your own platform?

Byrd (president): "I think the biggest weakness in our platform is we weren't able to include every concern that we heard from students. I think that it's a limited platform, but it is very concentrated. So what I would do is definitely work harder I think to include more student concerns, more issues, because myself, Jeremy heard a lot of things that can be improved. So what we would work for in the future is to make sure every single constituent's concern is heard on the platform card."

13:34 -- Question 6 for the Revolution party:

What is the biggest weakness in your opponent's platform?

ANSWER:

Byrd (president): "Feasibility. Without a doubt. Myself, Rosa, Jeremy, have had numerous meetings with administration, with students, with student organizations. The reason why our platform is focused on advocacy is because we know some of these big ticket items just aren't going to work. I can't tell you one single instance where I heard students complaining that they needed a car wash built for them by SG. I just can't. This is another capital improvement project that A/S should not be going toward."

14:09 -- Question 6 for the Action! party:

What is the biggest weakness in your opponent's platform?

ANSWER:

Cuderman (president): "First I would like to say, Kolve thank you for your leadership and I honestly value your humble opinion, but feasibility, we have talked to administration about every single one of these. If you read it you have to interpret the way it says it on the card. If you are looking at it and breaking it down saying these guys are going to create a football stadium, no we're not. What we are going to do is begin fundraising and making people aware of what we want to do. Things like that on our platform card need to be read the way it is written. With that being said, I think that the Revolution Party when they said that they want to launch a student action committee, it really doesn't make sense to me, because while Lauren and Justin and a lot of other members in SG did a great job this last year. There was some leadership problems and those leadership problems caused over 15 open seats in SG senate at one point, under the leadership of someone in their organization."

The following questions were submitted by students via the Eagle News website. These questions do not reflect the research of Eagle News. The questions will be read exactly as they were submitted. The two-minute time limit stands for these questions.

15:35 -- Question 7 for the Action! party:

This question was submitted by Ingrid Joan, a senior majoring in the college of professional studies. "What does fiscal responsibility mean to you?"

ANSWER:

Cuderman (president): "Fiscal responsibility is making sure that funds are being used in the proper way. Our students are giving $11. 24 directly to SG out of every credit that they take. This needs to go going toward the initiatives that we are putting on these platform cards, if elected. In the past, they have worked on doing these, but everyone in an organization, such as SG, every branch needs to work together to make sure these happen. You can't have one branch doing it alone. It you have all three branches working together in a fashionable manner, in a timely manner, you are going to get things done and they are things you want on your initiatives card that you are handing out to people and promising people need to be done."

16:27 -- Question 8 for the Action! party:

This question was also submitted by Ingrid Joan, a senior in the college of professional studies. "Records show that the candidate for the Vice-President position, Luis Vargas, was previously in Senate, however, was pointed out. Why should the student body vote for someone who couldn't make the time commitment as a senator, to be the vice president of the FGCU student body?"