By By Michele Richinick, News Staff

At the third and final Huntington News sponsored Student Government Association (SGA) presidential debate Monday night, candidates Matthew Soleyn, an SGA senator, and Ryan Fox, SGA Vice President for Student Affairs, both stressed the importance of allowing students’ voices to be heard concerning issues facing Northeastern.
Though both candidates made some points to the 50-something students in attendance at the Curry Student Center, both spoke in general terms, never truly defining themselves and their differences and often giving silly and bogus answers.
For instance, when the moderator, Vice President for Student Affairs Ed Klotzbier, asked the candidates about their views on sustainability, Soleyn said Fox was not in favor of more recycling bins around campus because Soleyn thought Fox said ‘squirrels eat paper.’ The concern, Fox said, was not around paper but about the rodent-attracting syrup left in soda cans at the bottom of the bins.
Soleyn also said he believed more students would show up to athletic games if ‘we start winning’ and Northeastern starts ‘recruiting better coaches.’
The candidates often dodged directly answering, opting instead for seemingly rehearsed responses, even if they didn’t truly answer the questions.
At one point, a member of the audience asked the candidates to reveal their passions and purposes for being at Northeastern. But neither candidate responded with a clear-cut answer.
Soleyn responded by saying the focus should not be on him taking credit because, as SGA president, he would facilitate the work, and the student body should get the credit. Fox said, if elected, he will work to have students’ voices heard and help the university get on track to be the best it can be.
Each candidate’s response to the first four questions of the debate were straightforward answers geared toward how they felt on issues like SGA’s role in the Northeastern community, how in touch SGA is with students, the importance of organizations’ collaboration and ways to protect students’ budget priorities.
When asked about the single most important issue facing the campus today, Fox said the biggest issue is students realizing they don’t have somewhere to turn ‘- whether it be not knowing if their adviser is providing them with correct information or figuring out how to voice their opinions.
‘The basis of my entire campaign is giving you a voice,’ Fox said.
Soleyn said open communication between administrators, students, SGA and faculty needs to improve.
‘I want to see more action as a result of the communication,’ he said.
Fox and Soleyn both agreed that SGA’s service is the power between students and administration, and the organization must fulfill its expectation to take students’ ideas and present them to the greater community.
Both Fox and Soleyn recognized that many students feel out of touch with what is going on around campus.
Fox suggested using technology to its full advantage by putting plasma TV screens with announcements in various locations around campus and making monthly newsletters about events on campus. Soleyn stressed the importance of following through and acting upon proposed ideas.
The debate was also filled with personal attacks on one another, rather than the issues.
Fox seemed composed and ready to attack Soleyn’s answers throughout the hour-long debate. Soleyn, on the other hand, seemed to reserve personal attacks against Fox until the last 10 minutes.
When Soleyn said he thought SGA was out of touch with the average student, Fox rebutted him.
‘I’m curious,’ Fox said. ‘You say SGA is out of touch with students, but you can’t get in touch with students in the campaign,’ referring to Soleyn’s failure to reach out to students other than having a blog and a Facebook event.
Toward the end, it seemed Soleyn wasn’t thinking clearly about his answers. When asked about his previous statement that he would maintain his newly elected position as the Resident Student Association (RSA) vice president for housing services if elected president Soleyn said his commitment is to the students.
‘If the student body says I should be president, I will be their president,’ he said.
Then, moments later, when a student asked if he would resign his position as vice president for housing services, Soleyn said ‘that I don’t know yet.’
The SGA president should be fueled with passion for the university and eager to implement changes that positively affect all students. If the candidates can’t show passion in their debate answers, how can the university expect them to act passionately while being president of the student body?
For the final debate, you would think Soleyn and Fox would have put more effort into diving as deeply as they could into their individual stances, rather than personally attacking the other person about miniscule issues that don’t affect the Northeastern population.