Internal organization and student interaction were two big issues discussed during Thursday’s Student Government election debate.

“I believe the Student Government has been tarnished by the Student United Party being in power for so long,” said Eric Hiltner, presidential candidate for the United Party of Students. “Coke on campus was promised a few years ago when we didn’t even have the power to do it, and Pepsi is still here.”

The cultural diversity requirement was brought up numerous times. Dominic Capparelli, presidential candidate for the Campus Action Party, said the current administration is still pursing the requirement change even though the Student Senate voted against it.

Bobbie Mitchell, presidential candidate for the Students Wanting Action Today party, talked about a need for identifying misguided goals and correcting the actions behind the objectives.

Capparellli brought up the hiring of Scott Murray as marketing director for Student Government as an example of internal operations that drain organizational morale.

Hiltner agreed and said it took him 10 minutes to search the senate bylaws and identify how to properly hire Murray. Hiltner, who is a Student Senate member, pointed out that Student Senate Speaker Megan Ogulnick was made aware of the options, but took no action.

“I ran for the senate under the pretenses that I was going to rattle some cages,” Hiltner said. “I just want things to actually get done and get done right.”

Capparelli’s stated platform is to end wasteful spending, such as buying new computers for Student Government offices, and increasing safety by extending shuttle bus hours and pushing for more lighting on campus.

While discussing a need to keep good relations between Eastern and the city of Charleston, Levi Bulgar openly praised rival party member Eric Wilber for his work on the City Council.

Bulgar said, however, there needs to be new techniques for training people within the organization to replace Wilber.

Bulgar is the presidential candidate from the Student United Party. Wilber represents SWAT and is the lone candidate in the election for the student executive vice president position.

Presidential candidates also agreed on specific issues pertaining to community relations.

Hiltner said he recently bought a house in Charleston and purposefully bought it as far away from campus as possible because of student behaviors.

He suggested having weekly service days, whether it is in small groups or larger groups from multiple registered student organizations. The exposure in and of itself will help mend the student reputation within the community, he added.

Capparelli said bringing community members to senate meetings for engaged dialogues.

Mitchell and Bulgar agreed that Student Government should not be policing the students and that individual appearances and reputations are important to display among the student body.

Upon being accused for failing to support the Student Action Team, a lobbying entity within Student Government, Bulgar took full responsibility for the group only sending six representatives to Wednesday’s Lobby Day.

Bulgar added he has the experience to learn from his mistakes, whereas other candidates are too new to the system.

Bulgar is the current student executive vice president and former vice president for business affairs.

All four candidates said RSOs need to be incorporated into Student Government activities more than in past years; however, all the candidates expressed concerns about RSOs not trusting Student Government or not knowing about the organization.

Rick Kambic can be reached at 581-7942 or at rwkambic@eiu.edu.

Student Body President candidate Eric Hiltner asks Director of Student Life Ceci Brinker a question about campaigning rules and regulations before the start of the Student Government debates on Thursday night at Phipps Lecture Hall in the Physical Science

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