Candidates met in the Koelbel building to discuss issues ranging from communication and mental health to sexual assault prevention. Oct. 26, 2022. (William Oster/CU Independent)
The University of Colorado Boulder Student Government(CUSG) held its first and only representative-at-large debate on Wednesday, Oct. 26 in the Koelbel Building.
Run by the CUSG Elections Commission and moderated by staff from the CU Independent and The Bold, candidates made their case as to why they should be elected into CUSG’s legislative council and how they would improve life on campus for all students during their term.
Three tickets, with two students each, made up the total number of debate participants.
Elizabeth Craig and Kelly Clingan represented CU 4 All, running on a platform of inclusiveness, safety and transparency.
Hector Guerrero and Trent Devine represented Unity 4 All, with their campaign focusing on mental health awareness, sexual assault awareness, and food insecurity.
Brendan Church and Raya Patel ran under the Dedication Ticket, promising to improve mental health, decrease financial, social and academic pressures and promote more inclusion on campus.
Here are the key takeaways from the two-hour debate.
Sexual assault prevention and mental health awareness were a top priority
Reports of increased sexual assault severity by students and concerns for mental health among community members were some of the biggest talking points of the night, with each ticket outlining some plans to help solve these issues.
CU 4 All proposed reimplementing emergency blue light boxes across campus, which would provide students the ability to alert authorities of a crime. They also presented a plan that, if they were elected and the initiative was passed, would provide incoming freshmen with personal safety alarms in hopes that it will reduce assault.
“Safety is very important to us…we’re very, very dedicated to making sure [sexual assault] doesn’t happen when we’re in office,” said CU 4 All candidate Elizabeth Craig.
Craig said this plan had been in the works for some time, and she had worked with university officials and the alarm manufacturer to lower the price of the devices and prevent exorbitant costs.
Unity 4 All promoted the “Bandana Project,” a mental health and suicide prevention awareness movement where students could sport a lime green bandana on their backpack strap as a sign that they can be approached by students who are struggling with mental health issues and support them if need be.
“Sometimes it may be a little easier for students to walk up and tap someone on the shoulder rather than scheduling an appointment and going through the whole gist of things,” Unity for All Candidate Trent Devine said.
The Dedication ticket said it would plan to reallocate CUSG resources to students in crisis scenarios to improve their mental health, hoping to delegate more counselors to provide “more immediate assistance” to students in need. Candidate Brendan Church was vague on how this plan would be possible and didn’t offer many specific details.
Candidates acknowledge communication gaps, both from administrators and CUSG
Recent reports of violent crime in violent crime on University Hill have highlighted the problem university officials have, as they’ve struggled to address complaints about the effectiveness of the university alert system. Students have been asking for increased communication from the university, but feel like little has been done.
University officials have made several changes to the alerts system in recent months, including introducing another stage of alerts called “CU Advisories.”
CUSG has its own gaps in communication. Many students are unaware of who their legislators are, what they do and when to vote for their representatives. Last year’s spring CUSG election saw a 16.7% turnout, a high for the organization.
Candidates said they are aware of these communications problems and each had varying solutions to address the range of issues.
The Dedication ticket said many students aren’t aware of the student government’s impact on the population.
“CUSG needs to reach out to students that don’t vote and meet students where they’re at, instead of waiting for students to approach them,” Church said.
As for communications from CU officials, Raya Patel said she knows of this struggle firsthand.
“[Police are] trying their hardest and there’s only so much they can do for us,” Patel said, referencing her professional relationship with CUPD Chief Doreen Jokerst.
Patel and the Dedication ticket would make downloading the Alertus app, which sends out alter push notifications to students, an “opt-out” system instead of an “opt-in” one, making it a requirement for all students to download.
Hector Guerrero, from Unity 4 All, said it was important for CUSG to increase communication with off-campus students and create a resource center that would compile “a variety of different needs for students.” Unity 4 All also recommended having someone work full-time solely on CU’s alert system to improve communication from the university.
“Within limitations, we think we can find accurate and quickly responsive sort of altering system, whether it’s independent of CU or not,” Devine said.
When it comes to CU officials and their communication, CU 4 All said they wanted to see alerts sent out even if they’re not always confirmed by officials. That way, they said, students aren’t merely relying on social media for their information.
However, this plan could put the university at risk of legal action and could possibly further the distrust between CU and community members if an alert went out with incorrect information.
“We want to make sure our students know what’s occurring, even if they haven’t yet been confirmed,” Craig said.
Candidates have big plans but lack details on how to make them happen
Despite the many campaign promises each ticket spoke about – reimplementing emergency blue light systems, creating an off-campus resource database, requiring students to download Alertus – candidates failed to clarify how they plan to fully implement these ideas, and whether they actually have the jurisdiction to do so.
Candidates sometimes appeared unaware of the limits on their power. Candidates from CU 4 All recommended funding their personal safety alarm initiative by reallocating money from the university system’s budget, from which Board of Regents members have financed their retreats.
However, the money for the CU Regent’s retreats comes from CU’s university system, which isn’t available for CUSG to spend.
Dedication also had issues, with Church initially recommending cutting funding and student fees for certain programs, yet retracted when pressed by moderators for clarification on where these cuts would be coming from. They too could not specify how to fund their campaign promises.
Unity 4 All also stumbled throughout the debate, not clarifying how they would go about creating a position to watch CU alerts full-time, while not being able to identify how much their proposals would cost students.
No ticket could actually say how, specifically, they would fund their initiatives.
Voting starts Oct. 31 with a CUSG kickoff event at Farrand Field and runs through Nov. 4. Students can cast their votes on the CUSG website.
Contact CU Independent Managing Editor William Oster at William.Oster@colorado.edu.
