March 14, 1995
The issues at yesterday's debate for AS candidates were urgent, and loaded with controversy.
They included weighty issues that are hot topics statewide, such as Proposition 187, affirmative action, and remedial education.
The candidates were also grilled by students for their views on topics unique to SF State. Those questions ranged from the administration's decision to cancel the football program last Friday to the University Police Department's handling of the arrest of AS Legislator Jason "Quddus" Archie on Feb. 21.
More often than not though, the debate revolved around student government itself: who it represents, what its role should be, and its past successes and failures.
This year's election debate pitted three candidates from the newly formed Student Struggle (Struggle) slate against four AS incumbents from the established Unified Student Movement (USM) slate. Seated at the table between the candidates for the two slates was independent Rep-At-Large candidate Xavier Aubuchon-Mendoza.
Struggle presidential candidate Kenyan McCarthy outlined a five-point plan that included doubling funding to student organizations and the creation of a textbook lending library for students. He put the cost of doubling student organization funding at $31,000.
Independent Auduchon-Mendoza said that AS should concentrate on enabling students to come to SF State by providing scholarships, and once they are there, do everything it can to help them graduate. He said that because of voter apathy, AS is "structured undemocratically, and does not reflect the will of the people," a situation he would seek to remedy by reforming the voting process.
USM presidential candidate Troy Buckner-Nkrumah promised that USM would continue to be "uncompromising" in holding university administrators accountable for their actions, and that "even if the entire slate loses, we will not stop our activism on campus."
Many of the students who lined up to question the candidates after opening statements were former or current AS or Student Center Governing Board officers and members of groups that composed the Progressive Coalition. The USM is made up of members of the Progressive Coalition, which backed last year's dominant Unity slate.
Senan Khairie (USM), seeking re-election as one of six Representative's at Large, joined the line and asked McCarthy about his slate's stance on the Malcolm X Mural controversy:
"Why were the African-Americans of your slate not active on that issue? If you're not accountable to your own people, how can you be accountable to all students?" he asked.
McCarthy rose to the challenge. "I support a mural of Malcolm X on any wall of this campus," he replied, adding that his slate didn't exist at the time and could not have taken an active role.
At times, the debate lurched along because of confusion regarding the rules of the debate. Students were asked to direct their questions to slates and not to individual candidates.
Buckner-Nkrumah (USM) asked that questions be addressed to both slates, after a long stretch in which the Struggle slate fielded a half-dozen questions in a row.
As a result, Aubochon-Mendoza was left out of the debate several times, as students directed their questions to the USM and Struggle slates, but not to Aubochon-Mendoza.
Many of the questions posed by students questioned the ability of a candidate or slate to represent all students.
"As student government you must be inclusive of all students. If you win, do you plan to use your position of power to be exclusive?" Brad Weinberger of the Zionist Action Committee asked Buckner-Nkrumah.
"It's good to see that the Zionist community is still an active information gathering community," he retorted. "As AS president, I want to see that organizations like this can no longer exist on campus," he said. But Buckner-Nkrumah went on to say that he would defend the rights of such organizations.
Throughout the debate, USM candidates advocated taking strong positions on state issues such as Proposition 187, affirmative action, and remedial education. USM vice-presidential candidate Marisol Ruiz, currently AS junior representative, emphasized the active opposition mounted by the slate's members to the anti-immigration law and attempts to reduce remedial education programs at CSU institutions.
Aubochon-Mendoza said that while he was personally opposed to Proposition 187 and other issues that USM has made its causes, the influence that AS has on such issues is limited. He said that time and money would be better spent on providing services to students, such as scholarships.
Struggle candidates, while proposing programs to educate students on these issues, presented no programs for action.