Incumbents meet fresh faces in Student Council 2010 debate

The Columbia College Student Council 2010 debate Tuesday night was a battle of the newcomers against the incumbents as the Clear Party went head to head with veteran The Party, helmed by current 2010 president AJ Pascua.

The Clear Party, helmed by Activities Board at Columbia representative Cliff Massey, painted themselves as the ticket of innovation, while Pascua's The Party stressed their experience and connections.

The incumbent ticket took on a more formal air as they presented a platform as "the council you trust"--the one, they said, that had the relationships with key administrators and alumni, that had helped develop alumni mentorships and study programs, and that learned by experience how to plan events like Lerner Pub or the class gala.

Members of Massey’s ticket wondered if Pascua was focused too much on external contacts and and off-campus life and not enough on fostering on-campus community. The Clear Party said they wanted to further support student athletes and performers, build a stronger relationship with the Greek community, and help students develop "the skills for professional lives. Or unemployment."

Both Massey and Pascua committed themselves to developing a closer relationship with student groups on campus. Massey suggested altering aspects of council sponsorships for clubs and events by making sure to provide not just funds, but attendees, through increased advertising and ticket distribution--efforts that might help bring a wider scope of student groups into the CCSC fold.

“What we want to see next year is having cultural groups more integrated with student government,” Pascua agreed, and thought that it would be beneficial to give cultural groups specific representatives on council to whom they could appeal.

While Pascua acknowledged that the University’s alcohol policy limited the amount of drinks they would be able to serve at events regardless of CCSC initiatives, his running mate Chen said that they would push for a wider variety of alcohol for student gatherings. Massey said that they were talking to seniors about how to best incorporate their ideas into the end of the year events.

Both tickets addressed the need to further integrate student government and Greek councils—the “powerhouse of social events,” according to Pascua—and Massey’s party said that a combination of events that specifically reached out to sororities and fraternities like the spring carnival, or a senior class day community service project that would both bring students all over campus together and count towards the required Greek community hours, would go far.

The Clear Party worked to paint itself as the proactive ticket, saying that The Party had become complacent in reaching out to people, and that they had sought out student opinion and feedback. Pascua shot back that while they chose not to “harass” people by going door-to-door, they were still working on initiatives that were relevant to their constituents.

“You cant lean back on the past,” the Clear Party's Asher Grodman, CC'10, said. “You need new initiatives to incite people.”

Pascua argued that all the issues brought up were ones that members of The Party had been tackling on the council for years, which gave them the background and the know-how to press on in.

“Just because we have experience on CCSC doesn’t mean our initiatives are stale,” Pascua later replied.

The 2010 debate follows the class of 2012 debate held Saturday evening. The Academic Affairs representative debates will be held April 13.