Candidates for Student Council President — third-year College students Vidar Hageman, Tenzin Lodoe and Tichara Robertson — discussed safety, increased transparency, underrepresentation and the Board of Visitors in a debate Monday at 6 p.m. The debate —hosted by The Cavalier Daily and UBE — provided students a chance to hear from the candidates ahead of the start of voting on Tuesday.
The candidates for Vice President for Administration are second-year College student Christopher Joseph, fourth-year Batten student Holly Sims and third-year College student Maryam Virk. The candidates for Vice President for Organizations are third-year Batten student Violette Cadet and second-year College student Ryan Bowers. The VPA and VPO races went uncontested in the previous year’s election.
The debate was livestreamed on The Cavalier Daily’s Facebook page. The debate was moderated by third-year College student Lexi Baker and second-year College student Grace Thrush.
Presidential candidates delivered their opening statements.
Hageman said he would be serving as a voice for students who feel that Student Council has not supported and represented them in the past. He said two priorities for him are equitable representation among student leadership and holding the University accountable for ensuring the safety of its students.
“I’m here because students don’t feel represented no matter their race, orientation or gender,” Hageman said.
Lodoe said his experience serving as Student Body President at Northern Virginia Community College will allow him to help students at the University. He identified a need for increased policy and legislation regarding safety for students and for building better relationships between students and the Board of Visitors by establishing a student voting member.
Robertson, who has previously served on Student Council, said self-governance is important to her, especially because she helped lobby the Office of Enrollment to change their policies regarding enrollment deposit waivers for low-income students. She also said she plans to improve support for various groups across Grounds, including increasing access to mental health education and creating more communities for Black students.
“I felt empowered as a representative to speak towards the student experience and did so by addressing something that affected many students like myself,” Robertson said.
Candidates then identified the top three priorities from their platforms.
Hageman highlighted safety, education reform and Student Council transparency. He said students need to feel not only safe interacting on Grounds, but also safe and comfortable enough to go to their administration and student leaders for help.
“We need to be unified around making a safer and more equitable and inclusive University,” Hageman said.
Lodoe identified safety, rallying for a student vote on the Board and building relationships with politicians as top priorities for his platform. He said Student Council needs to re-build relationships with politicians in Richmond who have the power to influence the University.
“At the end of the day, Student Council is a lobbying group until we get that vote — until we have true leverage on the Board of Visitors,” Lodoe said. “We must be able to persuade and influence. Build not just connections, but genuine relationships.”
Robertson said her top three priorities are improving solidarity among students, uplifting students and offering increased financial accessibility. She wants to coordinate more spaces for leaders of Contracted Independent Organizations to meet and create opportunities for them to work together across Grounds.
The second question for presidential candidates asked how candidates can improve Student Council relations with students.
Lodoe said students need to see a major and historic change to buy into the work of Student Council, and this can only be done if there is a voting student representative on the Board because of the group’s control over aspects of student life.
Robertson said Student Council shouldn’t target one topic at the University to make a change but rather engage in addressing various concerns through each committee. She thinks there can be improvements made regarding student council engagement with CIOs, such as with the Director of Coalition Engagement.
Hageman said student government leaders need to do a better job of connecting their visions to actions so that their ideas can have an impact for students. He said increasing student involvement with issues regarding them was important — such as discussing issues of safety with University Chief of Police at a town hall rather than behind closed doors.
Audience member Anthony Miroff asked how the candidates plan to establish new marketing approaches to boost student engagement.
Hageman said he does not plan to focus on marketing, but that he wants to note that Student Council’s actions do not reach the University community.
“We are able to help certain groups here and there, but it is not often enough that the entire student body is affected,” Hageman said. “That has nothing to do with marketing.”
Lodoe said his steps to boost engagement include more in-person outreach on behalf of Student Council to CIOs and student events. He said that he will engage with students through transformative change at the University that inspires all students.
Robertson said she is always open to new methods of marketing to engage students with resources and projects. She mentioned her experience working with Student Council’s STI testing initiative, during which Student Council used new outreach methods that were successful in attracting students.
Audience member Walt Heinecke, president of the University’s chapter of American Association of University Professors and associate professor of education, asked the candidates if they favored requiring a student representative be elected by students to the Board. Currently, the student representative to the Board is selected by the Board and not by the students.
Hageman, Lodoe and Roberton were all in favor of students electing their own Board representative — Lodoe hopes it would allow other students to hold the elected student accountable, while Robertson said she hoped to encourage progress and on account of Bert Ellis’ recent appointment.
The candidates delivered their closing remarks.
Robertson re-stated her platform priorities of solidarity, upliftment and accessibility. She promised to be a liaison for students and to keep their best interests in mind.
“It is my belief that Student Council can work better for the students and I am the best candidate to ensure that happens,” Robertson said.
Lodoe said he will lead through communication, collaboration and compassion to promote equity and help students who feel like they don’t belong. He described his candidacy as a symbolism of equity.
Hageman said he would deliver a new vision for Student Council to unify leaders on specific action to help students. He said students need a Student Council that is accountable and not built on insiders who are already involved with Student Council.
Candidates for the VPA position delivered their opening statements.
Sims outlined her previous work on Student Council as Chief of Cabinet, where she worked on various lobbying projects such as STI testing and CavAdvantage grants. She hopes to expand her work with lobbying, eventually involving more students.
“I hope to make our internal processes more available to student groups who wish to partner on lobbying projects, assist in a transition away from the reimbursement system for student council members and CIOs and create first-year gender inclusive housing,” Sims said.
Virk said that as a transfer student herself, she understands how it feels to not have a voice or belong. She said she would improve academic advising, advocate for more class offerings for undeclared students and offer more resources to transfer students as VPA.
“I want to be the voice of the unheard,” Virk said.
Joseph said he wants to provide a more transparent student government system and revise the system to be more representative of a wider range of students.
The first question to the VPA candidates asked their opinion of the perception of Student Council by students and how the candidates would increase engagement between Student Council and students as VPA.
Sims said she thinks there is a misunderstanding of how decisions are made about funding by Student Council. She wants to make Student Council more accessible to students so they can get support and information easier.
Virk promised to educate students about how Student Council works so they have more knowledge on existing resources for student support.
Joseph said his experience as Class Council President for the last two years has shown him that most students don’t know where to go to voice their concerns. He said that increased transparency and representation across years in Student Council can create an outlet for students to get solutions to their problems.
“There’s a lot of good that Student Council is doing,” Joseph said. “But legislative-wise, not a lot of students know what’s happening.”
Candidates for the VPO position delivered their opening statements.
Cadet said she has experience serving as a leader to various groups on Grounds, which will help her in the VPO position.
“A vote for Violette Cadet and the Community Coalition is a vote that believes if we uplift student voices, increase accessibility and work to build solidarity, we can make our University ours,” Cadet said.
Bowers said his experience working in the organization branch of Student Council as a treasurer to allocate funding provides him with knowledge of how to serve students and organizations.
The first question to both VPO candidates asked how they can leverage their skills and experience to improve financial support for Contracted Independent Organizations.
Cadet said there needs to be a diverse representation of CIOs in the organization branch who know what is needed and can directly connect groups to donors.
“It’s not enough for me to say what they want,” Cadet said, “it’s listening to the people around me.”
Bowers said he will draw on his experience providing funding to CIOs to ultimately expand the CIO consultants who work directly with the student organizations. He also wants to improve support for underrepresented groups.
“With added funding next year, I will work to increase diversity grants and co-sponsorships so historically underrepresented groups will get adequate funding,” Bowers said.
Voting begins Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. and will end Thursday at 4:00 p.m. Students will receive a personalized voting link via email Wednesday. Results will be announced Friday.
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