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The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Live-blogging the Hatchet-SA Debate

The Hatchet live-blogged the second annual Hatchet-SA Debate tonight, from Jack Morton Auditorium. This blog post is for the presidential debate. For the preview, click here. For the live-blogging of the executive vice presidential debate, click here.

Analysis | 11:45 p.m.
The only outsider and the only sophomore, Tarek Al-Hariri, fared well against three senators, all juniors. He received good reactions from the audience on his positions, and his rhetoric was well delivered. He wants to build an internship database (similar ideas were proposed by other candidates, whether for jobs, housing, sponsorships, etc.), explore other sources of funding (also emphasized by Aswani) and do something drastic with J Street.

“OG” Oyiborhoro garnered the first applause of the night when he proposed a new kind of town hall, which he called “Colonial to Colonial,” vowing strengthen lines of communication between students and administrators. In doing so, he implied that the current town halls are a weak format — a stance that not one other presidential or EVP candidate seemed to take. He also faced a few difficult questions, including one from panelist Andrew Ramonas which referenced Oyiborhoro walking out of a meeting.

Kevin Kozlowski strongly emphasized that he was the only person who could continue where Nicole Capp and Brand Kroeger left off. Resonating this message through the auditorium multiple times, it is clearly one of his talking points, along with his three-pronged platform (GW2008, GWUnited and GW4US reminds us of Capp’s GWorld All Over, GW411 and GWInformed). I would think he is actively seeking the endorsements of Capp and Kroeger — could that make or break his campaign?

Vishal Aswani, as The GW Patriot also pointed out, used the word “privatize.” The idea was presented well and could help him win votes, but it is a huge step beyond other proposals, and would be particularly hard to implement. (Kozlowski, Al-Hariri and Aswani all favor stripping mandatory spending limits.) When asked by former president Lamar Thorpe what else he has done on campus, he championed his advocacy for a LGBTQ resource center. He also said the allocation process is too subjective, which is sure to stir additional debate.

Aswani and Kozlowski seemed to have structured platforms, while Oyiborhoro and Al-Hariri came with powerful, passionate rhetoric and a promise for change. We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out.

8:20 p.m. Final comments. Al-Hariri says his platform is not set in stone because every student has a different desire. Aswani says he’s running because he’s just an engineering student and that he wants to simply be a voice for all students. Kozlowski further emphasizes he is the “only candidate who can continue the progress of Nicole and Brand.” Oyiborhoro “never understood why students were apathetic about student government until (his) name was removed from the ballot” last week, and he says the students deserve something new (”prosperity, community, and sustainability”).

8:16 p.m. Running for SA office. Aswani says the uncontested races and open seats is a result of the burden of collecting signatures, and possibly suggested that the benchmark be lowered or that the SA advertise more during the petition period. “We do sometimes take ourselves too seriously,” he says.

8:12 p.m. Basden speaks. BSU president Charles Basden was recognized for a question, only to give a two-minute speech how hate does exist on campus, without a question to follow. When moderator David Ceasar interrupted him to ask that all questions are kept short, Basden sharply replied, “Thank you Mr. Ceasar I’m talking,” and continued for another minute.

8:10 p.m. GW Patriot. I’ve received word that The GW Patriot is also live-blogging the debate. I’m a little busy right now, but I’ll take look when I have the chance, and link to it from here. (Update: they have multiple posts, so check out their blog home page.)

8:05 p.m. Lamar Thorpe. Former SA president Lamar Thorpe wants to see the record of the candidates. He wants to know what the candidates have done, specifically calling out Kozlowski and in part Aswani, who were both senators when Thorpe was president. Al-Hariri mentions the Peace Forum. Aswani emphasizes his work in authoring the SA resolution for an LGBTQ resource center, which was approved last month by the senate. Koslowski says his record is on his Web site, and that he introduced legislation for increased transparency and legislation. Oyiborhoro started with his efforts to establish an Africana studies major, and he also mentioned “stop the hate,” which was he further clarified with a follow-up question from the audience asking about whether it was “much ado about nothing.”

Update: Before asking his question, Lamar Thorpe took a polite jab at panelist Lizzie Wozobski for saying earlier in the debate that Thorpe said that 99% of the president’s job is representing students at Rice Hall. Thorpe did say this when welcoming candidates to last year’s debate.

8:00 p.m. Questions have gone to the floor. The editor of The GW Patriot asks Oyiborhoro why he went over 100 days without holding a committee meeting (Oyiborhoro is the chair of the senate’s student life committee), while the by-laws state that a meeting must be held every 30 days. Oyiborhoro says this was not the case, that he did hold meetings and that a recent meeting on Feb. 4 was canceled due to an emergency. We’ll have to check with EVP Kroeger, who holds the committee binders. Update: Kroeger said the chairpersons of the academic affairs, finance and rules committees have kept records with him. He does not hold any binder for Oyiborhoro’s committee, though required by the by-laws, so we are unable to confirm when meetings took place.)

7:57 p.m. Not one candidate is running on a ticket with an EVP, although this was allowed as an exception to the new rule this year banning tickets. All strongly emphasized they’d be willing to work with anyone and everyone.

7:56 p.m. Al-Hariri did not pick an EVP to run with him because he would be honored to work with anyone. He also says he’s simply a student among equals — it should be noted that the other three presidential candidates are all sitting SA senators, while he is an outsider.

7:55 p.m. 2008 election. Kozlowski is talking about his GW 2008 proposal, saying that Obama shouldn’t be speaking at American and Maryland — “GW should be the epicenter of politics.”

7:53 p.m. Al-Hariri wants to fund student organizations without charging the students more than he needs to, via fundraising initiatives. He invokes “car washes,” which (update:) Aswani later mentions.

7:51 p.m. After Kozlowski said when he was talking with students and that no feedback was positive, Oyiborhoro releases a joke I’m pretty sure he was saving: “Well, when I was going around asking people to sign the back of my petition…” Huge laughs from the audience, and I’m pretty sure I see Chernak laughing as well.

7:49 p.m. More J Street. Aswani suggests we privatize J Street, and that the SA should present proposals to President Knapp. Kozlowski wants to increase hours on J Street, eliminate mandatory spending and work to improve J Street.

7:47 p.m. J Street. Al-Hariri is invoking laughs and applause with his shots at J Street and Sodexho, suggesting that we should take a hint that no J Street exists on the D.C. map. He also said something that invoked an interesting (quiet) response from the audience: “stop freezing student money, that’s (only) for terrorists.”

7:43 p.m. First laughs of the night. Ramonas asks everyone if they will keep the programs implemented this year, such as the town hall series. Al-Hariri flatly asks if it was simply a yes or no question. He says he definitely supports the town halls. Aswani invokes the next two laughs of the night, after saying he would give out his cell phone number (despite possible “drunk dials”) and my room number “hopefully in E Street.” Kozlowski wants to expand the SA to integrate closely with student organizations. Oyiborhoro says his “Colonial to Colonial” initiative, a new type of town hall, will open lines of communication between students and administrators, instead of just a listening forum. He implies that the current town halls are a weak format and are not enough. A portion of the auditorium applauded (the first applause).

7:41 p.m. Restructuring. Ramonas asks Kozlowski how he plans to restructure the SA; Kozlowski, with only a minute, pointed people to his Web site (see his GWUnited plan, he says), and said he wants to organize representation by class and student organizations. His Web site says he wants to give representation to multi-cultural, Greek and other student organizations. He also points out he’s involved Greek life.

7:40 p.m. Oyiborhoro says it is important that the SA president is someone the GW administrators can take seriously. Kevin again invokes Nicole and Brand.

7:36 p.m. Al-Hariri says that voter turnout is so low because the students don’t know what the SA can do for them. Aswani emphasizes that online voting was a great senate initiative. Kevin is situating himself as the only candidate experienced enough to continue the role of Nicole and Brand — I expect this to be a talking point (note his Web site, where he says he wishes to continue “the progress (of) Nicole and Brand”). Oyiborhoro says that, as a write-in candidate, each vote for him will be a strong one as the voter will need to write in his name.

7:29 p.m. First question, from Andrew Ramonas, for all candidates: what is the biggest problem in the SA, and how will you correct it? Al-Hariri: the SA is not a governing body and should not try to be one. Aswani: the financial process is too subjective; the “mood” of the chair and the committee can affect the outcome of allocations. He wants to make it more objective. Kozlowski: the debate’s first campaign pitch with “GWUnited.” He wants to get more students involved. Oyiborhoro: wants to advocate on behalf of students and student organizations.

7:27 p.m. Moderator David Ceasar mentions the use of a tally sheet to make sure that everyone has the same amount of time to speak. It is possible that the use of a speaker’s list by the executive vice president will be discussed during the EVP debate. EVP Brand Kroeger did not use a speaker’s list this year, which has resulted in some considerable controversy.

7:25 p.m. Hatchet editor in chief Jake Sherman is introducing the candidates, the panelists and moderator, and also welcomed the various media outlets The Hatchet invited: The Daily Colonial, WRGW, GWTV, GW Blogspot, GW Patriot, The Colonialist.

7:22 p.m. And so it begins. Nicole and the candidates have walked out on stage. Nicole is welcoming the candidates and the audience, and also recognized Robert Chernak, GW’s senior vice president for academic and support services, who is in the audience tonight.

7:12 p.m. They’re still working out technical difficulties — it looks like they’re having sound problems. The Hatchet’s multimedia editor, Sam Salkin, says his video titled “Advice for the Future, from the Past” may not happen. We will, however, post it online later. (Update, 10:30 p.m. — the video is played, and it will also be online tomorrow.)

The Hatchet is live-blogging the second annual Hatchet-SA Debate tonight, from Jack Morton Auditorium. We’ll be starting in a few moments with a welcome from SA President Nicole Capp, an introduction from Hatchet editor in chief Jake Sherman and the debate rules from moderator and Hatchet senior editor David Ceasar.

While most people who would want to read this are sitting in this auditorium with me (Jack Morton seats 250 and is more than half full), we hope this serves as a good record of the debate, and I hope to offer some analysis as the event progresses. -Andrew Nacin, web editor of The Hatchet.

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