Candidates for next year’s Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) executive went head-to-head in a debate March 21, with each of the five slates debating issues ranging from their accountability to students and how they plan to deal with internal disagreements, to what they saw as the biggest flaw in RRRA’s constitution.
The candidates running for vice-president (programming) were the first to take the debate stage. They were asked how they planned to make RRRA events more inclusive and accessible.
Nathan Dresser, vice-president (programming) candidate for Can’t Stump the RRRA, said his slate would focus on creating events students actually want to go to.
Celestina Bogle, vice-president (programming) candidate for the Unified slate, agreed with Dresser on this point.
“Being involved is what makes us Ravens . . . I want to make sure students have access to clubs [students] want to be part of,” she said.
Accountability and the transparency of RRRA was also a big issue during the debate.
“We want to make sure RRRA is accountable and transparent in every single way,” said Andrew Rolston, vice-president (administration) candidate for The Home Team slate.
“Our slate hasn’t made any promises we can’t keep . . . Remember, nothing is free and you can’t pay for everything,” said Emmett Bisbee, vice-president (administration) candidate for Integrity First 2016.
Daniel Pollak, vice-president (administration) candidate for The Best Team, said he wants his slate to be open to ideas and input from many sources.
“We don’t want to be ruling as . . . a dictatorship,” he said.
The presidential candidates from each slate debated last. The event got heated when they were asked what differentiates them from the other candidates on the stage.
“We don’t have a huge pile of volunteers, we don’t have a catch phrase, I’m not up here dancing,” said Jake Yeates, presidential candidate for Integrity First.
David Zilio, presidential candidate for Can’t Stump the RRRA, questioned the ability of Matthew Dodds, presidential candidate for Unified, to follow through on his slate’s promises.
“You were saying you know how to work with Housing, you do know how to work for Housing. I’m questioning how much you know how to stand up to your current superiors and work with Housing,” he said.
Dodds said the Unified slate is the only slate to mention specific promises to RRRA voters.
“Our slate is the only one to mention something specific like banning water bottles,” Dodds said.
After the debate on March 21, it was announced that The Home Team, lead by presidential candidate Zayge Klein, was disqualified from the RRRA elections.
Two electoral violations from March 21 were posted on RRRA’s elections website against The Home Team which resulted in their disqualification. One violation was an improperly stamped poster on a residence room door and the other one was a poster on a room’s door not being signed by both people who lived in the residence room.
Voting for next year’s RRRA executive will take place on March 23.
Five slates are running in this year’s election, in contrast to last year when only one slate ran.
Julia Parsons, chief electoral officer for RRRA, said she is glad to see so many students involved with the electoral process.
“I think that shows that people are really engaged,” she said. “We have a contested race because people are interested and want to be a part of this.”
