21.54

This is Erin, signing off. Thanks for following! Remember! VOTE!

21.54

M: Thank you to the candidates and interpreters. Get out and vote!

Barry: Thank you to the candidates. Thank you to the audience for coming out. You’re making the final decision. You’re voting. Approach the candidates and ask them any remaining questions you may have. Vote! Voting starts on Monday, 04/23/12, 12am. Goes until Thursday, 11:59pm. Results will be listed at Senate April 27th in the Bamboo Room.

Voting booth will be outside the Digital Den. Voting can be found: http://apps.rit.edu/its/vote/

21.51

Santiago: Students need to know what’s going on. Students need to be included. Show them what we are doing. Finally celebrate what we accomplish. Not just SG. Thank students for their hard work and things they’ve given back to the community. Dream bigger needs the students to be successful.

21.50

Thomas: We’re looking to create more community places for students to get together.
Santiago: Our goals are to reach out, get feedback, get back into the community. We want to go out to the students. Take the office out to the students. Integrate the feedback and use it.

21.48

Deer: We’ve involved in SG. We know the ins and outs of the system. We also have concrete goals. We will be accomplishing these goals. We will let you know what we’re doing step by step so you know what we’re doing. We set them high, because we want to reach high goals. We are really working for the club space. Its high goal. Without high standards, we wouldn’t be where we’re at today.

21.47

M: This concludes q&a sessions. Now moving on to closings.

21.47

Deer: Finding out how we can best represent NTID. Promoting more awareness events to get the students to understand one another and mingle together.

21.45

M: How can we remove the barriers with NTID and general RIT campus?

Santiago: I’m integrated in the Deaf community. We need to integrate together. The mix and mingle yesterday was extremely successful. Students with no ASL knowledge found ways to communicate and had fun. NTID is RIT. We share the same space. We need to show that more. More ASL. More No Voice Zone type activities.
Leonardo: Spread awareness. Sometimes hearing students are afraid people will judge them for not knowing ASL or knowing it well.

21.43

M: What support can you offer GLBT to make the campus more accepting and inclusive?
Deer: Meet with Tristan, Outspoken senator. Unisex bathrooms, ease of changing name through RIT system and increase Safezone training. Show students we all belong.
Leonardo:  Promoting acceptance and events so people can gain an understanding of the community. As a part of the community, getting people to support us and us to support them and become allies, we won’t have to worry about it.

21.40

M: How do you intend school spirit and how will you use it better the campus?
Santiago: Social media. We find out what’s going on and let people know. Bring back Spirit Fridays. More than just wear brown and orange. Show we care about spirit.

Leonardo: Encouraging others to go to other events. Not just their own. Get interactions up. Its not just colors. Its involvement.

21.37

M: Mid-year orientation concerns.
Thomas: Not thorough enough or meaty for them to learn about RIT and to get them to excited. They don’t want the freshmen orientation. We need to welcome them and connect them. We need to show the around them around campus and show them what they might want to get involved with. Get them connected immediately.

21.36

Leonardo: Give smaller clubs training. Help them figure out to make themselves grow and get attendance. Make a connection with them and help them. Planning how we can help so we can work together. Getting all members involved to help with events.
Santiago: We don’t want to micromanage. We want to support them.

21.34

M: How do you plan to help smaller clubs and organizations to be successful?
Deer: Using the SG Services to help advertise and get the word about the different clubs. Promoting them. Reaching out and knowing how to help specific clubs. See what they need.
Thomas: Get a strong foundation for clubs so when they e-boards graduate, they can remain strong.

21.32

M: For VP, how can you uphold Amsler’s excellent leadership?
Leonardo: Experience with RIT’s Leadership Institute. Have learned so much about leadership. I have passion for it and it intrigues me. It will help me to go forward as a strong leader.
Thomas: I know what its like to be a senator. I know what is needed to be a good leader as a VP. I’ve also been on campus. I’ve had a lot of different perspectives with different communities on campus. I can help bring their issues to senate. I love RIT. I love spirit. I want to motivate others to continue to work toward strong connections.

21.30

Leonardo: I know a few of these people. We need to cater to every spectrum of students to show them we have things that interest them or they can create something themselves.

21.29

M: How specifically can you involve less outgoing students?
Thomas: I started as one of those students. The people who pulled me out of my room and get me involved. That’s our job as SG. We need to be those people. Motivate them to find their interests.

21.28

Deer: Everyone’s excited. So many benefits. Costs lots of money though. We need to focus back on long term and logistics. Will this continue to benefit us?

21.26

Thomas: CampusLabs will replace club connections. Will increase connections. Software will help tract engagement and involvement on campus. I asked tons of questions. So much we can do with it. So much it can be used for.

21.25

M: How would you use CampusLabs?
Santiago: Hallelujah! Thank god we’ve found this! This well help us manage ourselves, connect, budget better. Help advertising. Find information

21.23

M: What if you need to make a decision between clubs? How would you decide?
Deer: We’d look at it analytically. Its not an option for me to be biased.  We have to take ourselves outside the picture and rely on the cabinet to see how the money will be used.
Thomas: Find what the student body wants. See how events will reach out to them. How should we use our money?

21.22

M: How do you plan to focus to advocacy when its been mainly programming?

Santiago: I’ve had leadership roles where it has not been about programming. Making sure people are following rules, etc. I’ve explored SG’s sites and documents. I’ve been in charge of delegating and getting business done. Not just programming

21.21

M: Debate resumes with audience questions
What day would you use Dr. Destler’s weather machine to make it perfect?

Santiago: ImagineRIT day! So its perfect for everyone to enjoy
Thomas: The day students take the survey about how pretty RIT campus is.
Deer: Have all the tours go on that day
Thomas: Make the students figure out the perfect day weather machine settings and make it every day. Good weather brings out great attitudes and atmosphere.

21.11

M: This concludes prepared questions. Now, a 5 minute break which will be followed by audience questions.

21.11

Thomas: We want to make a resource guide for clubs/organizations can see how to make an event the best it can be and friendly to all groups on campus.

21.09

Leonardo: Training for clubs to make more deaf-friendly events.

21.09

Thomas: Clubs here are philanthropic and Greek life is philanthropc. We want to link their values together.
Deer: Tons of clubs here who want to help the community. Greek Life wants that as well. Connect them. Meet them and get them working together.

21.08

M: How do you plan to increase collaboration and planning with minority communities on campus?
Santiago: CampusLabs would be a strong tool to link students to events and interests they really want to be involved with. Push these events so they are successful, other groups will see this success and work for the same turnout.
Thomas: We want to make sure groups know basic ASL and ASL that pertains to the specific clubs. Increase communication between different groups and NTID. Increase collaboration between clubs and organizations with Greek life.

21.05

Santiago: We have passion. Headed up a flashmob to show that RIT is work and play. Trying to bring back the Quartermile fundraiser back to recreate that tradition. Looking for ways to get school spirit up.

21.04

Thomas: Been involved and love RIT. Huge passion for SG. We want it to reach full potential. We want to understand our full usability.
Deer: We’re extremely driven. I intend to complete all the goals I set for myself.

21.04

Leonardo: Not directly involved but have been working alongside SG for many things. Will be the tie between organizations and SG. Strong time management. Managing academics, involvement and even jobs. The same drive will help us accomplish goals.

21.03

M: What advantages do you feel you have over your opponents?
Deer: Our involvement with SG. Our experience with cabinet, roles, student relations. Our goals are tangible and not just ideas.
Thomas: We share involvement with SG but come from different backgrounds. Diverse clubs and organizations help us to better represent the campus.

21.01

Thomas: Getting student involvement so that projects are more fitted to students. Get them involved in the beginning so the end project is much better.

21.00

Santiago: Semester conversion and planning has already taken means to figuring out the changes coming with the conversion. But we want to help them out and make sure things are going well. GeneSIS is a big issues right now. The fact students are able to reach out and change the project to work out better for the students.

20.59

Thomas: Reaching out to students to make sure we are representing students properly. Semesters system change. Next year is our last year on semesters. We want to make sure students are ready. From the big issues to the smaller issues.

20.58

M: If elected what do you think your biggest challenge will be?
Santiago:  My biggest challenge is students thinking I need to give them more favor because I am involved with them and have ties with them
Leonardo: I have the same problem. We will treat everyone on an equal playing field.
Santiago: We are here to represent the students. We will help you out, we will use our resources, but it will be fair.

20.56

Santiago: Spirit isn’t just about Let’s go Tigers! Its about Let’s go each and every organization you’re involved. Have the Club Fair out and about so people can see what’s going on and what RIT has to offer.

20.55

Thomas: Students come here will find there place on campus and we want to make sure they know that.

20.55

Thomas: There’s always something to do on campus. There’s not a way to not fit in on campus.

20.54

Santiago: more awareness of events. Show people what’s going on. Some sort of station to show what’s going on. One side to SG, one side to athletics and one to clubs and organizations to help improve student attendance and creating better school spirit.

20.52

M:Identify one thing that frustrates you about RIT and how you would improve it?
Thomas: When students say there’s nothing to do. There’s tons to do. We want to link similar organizations together to create bigger, better events for the student body. We want to use the community collaboration fund to increasing funding to groups who don’t have funding.

20.51

Thomas: Events visibility. We have a calendar already, online but I don’t think students don’t see it. An actual calendar somewhere on campus for students to see

20.51

Leonardo: Interest in a news station on campus. That reports what’s going on campus and events going. A great way to get info out to the students.

20.50

Deer: Create a “RIT Craig’s List” was a goal of ours, we found out one is already in progress. We want to sit down and see what their long term goals are and how we can help them promote it and get it on campus instead of making SG’s own.

20.49

Thomas: The different services we offer at SG are not known on campus. The SGTV, free popcorn, etc. We need to show what all these services can do to help.

20.48

Santiago: Want to help continue Greg and Phil’s goals and reach out to the students to see what they want
M: What do you think SG could have done better and how would you have done?
Santiago: Speak Up Day isn’t every year. Tables from depts. organizations etc. Students could go up and say what they like/what they want changed. Wants this opportunity every year.
Leonardo: Not all students understand what SG is what it can do. We want them to know what we do and what he can do.
Santiago: Why doesn’t SG come out to events they don’t donate money to. We need to show support at these events. Not just money

20.46

Deer: We want students to be able to make changes to projects in progress and help make things better. (i.e.: GeneSIS layover)

20.45

Santiago: Getting library to be 24/7. Very important. Students hate being kicked out and having to go somewhere else to study. Gracies having togo meals later in the evening. Food on campus late at night is very important. Getting RIT and Rochester involved together. The zoo, the tour of Rochester. Showing students what’s going on there and the community what’s going on here.

20.44

Deer: Love accountability. I want to be kept on my toes. Shows students are interested and want to know what’s going on.

20.43

Thomas: Reach out to clubs and building connections so we can support clubs and the community better and more efficiently.

20.43

M: What has been SG’s biggest achievement this year?

20.42

Thomas: We want to support all groups  but there will be times we will need to focus on one group specifically.

20.42

Santiago: Would not favor Greeks more. I agree. All students will be seen as equal. No favorites.

20.41

Deer: I can’t pick the most unrepresented. We need to support all of them. We want to actively help and solve the problems these organizations are having to make RIT a stronger place overall. From going to different meets, they saw what students really needed. Sarah is already working on making scheduling easier for clubs

20.40

Santiago: NTID is already integrated strongly. We just need to support. But RIT needs to support athletes more. Everyone loves hockey but what about other sports? We want to get students to more other events. Have students go to these game because they want to go to these game. More people at more games, athletes will want to win more and create stronger spirit.
Leonardo: Increasing diversify, showing what students can bring to campus to make better.

20.38

M: What group would you like better representation on campus?

20.37

Santiago: Scholarship money is important, but celebrating clubs would also promote more community. So students know this school is amazing and a cool place to be. Give them something for being involved.

20.37

Thomas: Beautification is definitely something that needs to be improved. Working already on a “Leave your mark” campaign. Students could make something to leave on campus for years to come.
Deer: With unlimited funds, more funding for clubs! Students should have the resources to make an impact.

20.36

Leonardo: Push for what we already have in place and make this about the students. Its your campus. We want your feedback. What do you want done with the money, how you want it used.

20.35

Santiago: Take RIT off the ugliest campuses in America lists. Less strict rules on posting, to get more involvement and create a stronger community.

20.35

Deer: Increasing the scholarships, of course.
Thomas: Freshman have a lot of scholarships, but afterwards, its harder to find the funds. If you have the funds to get involved they are more likely to do so.

20.34

M: With unlimited funds, what would you improve about RIT?

20.33

Rebuttals:

Santiago: Have a collaboration in the works with Karey Pine
Thomas:  We need a fund to include the community as a whole. So clubs/organizations don’t have to take from their own budgets.

20.32

Deer: We want to have more involvement in things as they begin. We want to help them with feedback and what’s going on from the start so we get involved and everyone is happy with the project.

20.31

Thomas: Initiatives we’d like to keep is wellness and students wellness awareness. Possibly a calorie counter to keep track of meals consumed on campus. We want to become the most engaged campus in the country. We want to foster spirit and create a community. A collaborative fund for clubs and organizations who work together.

20.30

Santiago: This is not much we want to discontinue. They are here for the students are helping us to make a better campus over all.

20.30

Leonardo: Also, increasing spirit on campus. Keeping up the strong spirit presence.

20.29

M: Which initiatives from this year do you wish to continue and grow?
Santiago: Diversifying culture on RIT, working with others to really show all the different cultures and communities on campus.

20.28

M: Next part of the debate is prepared questions. Two minutes to answer questions, other side has 1 minute for a rebuttal.

20.28

Three minute opening of campaign goals and introduction is now over.

20.28

Thomas: Giving more recognition and resources to clubs, reaching out to the Rochester community by expanding the TE3 bus to reconnect are some of main goals

20.27

Deer: Have visited over 60 organizations to learn what was going on with RIT. Students who go above just their degrees to make a difference. Spirit goes further. Its not just brown and orange.

20.25

Leonardo: We want to inform RIT about what goes on in Student Government through social media usage as well as get clubs involved with one another to know what is going on with each other.

20.24

Leonardo: Our goals: Reach out, Feedback, Diversify culture and Inform.

20.24

Santiago: 4th year
Leonardo: 3rd year

Santiago: SG has done really well with completing their goals. However, we’ve noticed areas that need improvement such as feedback. With our experience with involvement on campus, we believe we will be able to implement this.

20.22

M: WITR 89.7 is recording the debates currently and will be broadcasting them on Sunday, 7pm

20.22

There is a series of prepared questions and then there will be a series of audience questions as well.

20.21

M: Introducing Taylor Deer (President candidate) and Sarah Thomas (VP candidate) and Victor Santiago (President candidate) Mark Leonardo (VP candidate)

20.17

This is Erin, blogging live from the SG 2012 debates! Everything is getting put into place and it looks like we will be starting soon!