An umbrella organization of 10 student groups endorsed Howie Buffet for executive vice president after candidates faced off in the first public endorsement debate of the Associated Student Government campaign period.
The Progressive Alliance — made up of groups such as Women’s Coalition and NOWAR — threw support to Buffet after the Communication sophomore emphasized his experience as an executive committee member. Buffett debated about women’s issues and student group funding with opponent Karla Diaz, a Weinberg junior.
Upon hearing the news, Buffett said, “Yes! This is the best news I’ve heard so far during the campaign.”
The Progressive Alliance also endorsed Jane Lee for ASG president. The Weinberg junior spoke of her goal to form stronger ties between Northwestern and the City of Evanston. Lee’s opponent, Andy Kaufman, backed out of the debate at the last minute, said Andy Gupta, an organizer.
Kaufman could not be reached for comment.
According to Gupta, the Progressive Alliance supported Lee because she promised to improve city-university relations to benefit students and supported Buffett because he had experience with ASG.
Diaz said she had more experience with student groups than Buffett as the president of Alianza, a Latino cultural group. She said she would appoint a representative body of students to the executive committee if elected.
“My current stigmas toward ASG would make me want to see a more diverse (Executive) Committee,” she said. “It’s critical to get people who really care about student groups.”
Gia DiGiacobbe, a Foster-Walker Complex senator and Education junior who represented Amnesty International, said Buffett had an insider’s view but Diaz was a student group leader.
In Tuesday night’s second debate — sponsored by ASG — candidates for student services vice president and academic vice president proposed ideas they would implement if they took office.
Both Alex Lurie, a Communication sophomore, and Sara Whitaker, a Communication junior, differed on what they believed students needed. When moderator Gabe Matlin, a McCormick senior, asked the candidates what they saw as students’ main concern, Whitaker cited accessible banking and Lurie chose campus safety.
Whitaker said with LaSalle Bank leaving NU campus, banking is a serious student problem.
“Whether you’re a LaSalle user or not, this is going to affect you,” Whitaker said.
But Lurie criticized Whitaker’s priority and said he wants to work on practical issues like improving the shuttle system. He said the most important issue was ensuring students have a role in their community.
“The most important thing is that we really hear out the students and fight for them,” Lurie said.
The second ASG-sponsored debate covered the race for academic vice president between Jenna Carls and incumbent Prajwal Ciryam.
Carls and Ciryam disagreed on the organization of the committee and the experience needed to serve as the academic vice president.
Carls said this year focused too much on long-term projects like Target Pass/No Credit that went unfinished. She said she wanted to focus on short-term goals that would quickly impact students.
“We can go out crusading all we want,” Carls said. “But there are also a lot of little issues that can be done right away.”
Ciryam cited his experience as an advantage. Carls said leading a College Democrats committee and working in ASG on summer financial aid and the organ program bill demonstrate her skills.
But Ciryam said his long-term thinking led to significant improvements in summer financial aid and Target P/N projects.
Ciryam said the most important issue centers on financial aid for international students, something never offered before at NU.
