By SEAN GARNER

Senior Reporter

Campaign season is underway for the four candidates running for Oakland University Student Congress president. The thing all four of them have in common is that they would like to see OU students view the school as more than just a place to get a degree.

Mark Medaugh, Kristin Dayag, Janelle Arbuckle and Anthony Ivone began their campaigns for office with a pair of debates in the Oakland Center Monday and Tuesday.

The student body presidential candidates answered questions from the audience about their leadership qualities and their plans to change OU.

All the candidates said in the first debate that many OU students are disconnected from the campus outside of their courses, and that this needs to be addressed.

Dayag, a sophomore political science major who currently serves as OUSC multicultural director, said this starts with OU changing how it perceives itself.

“The thing about the typical Oakland University student is that our goal is to transform what that image is,” Dayag said. “Rather than have that typical Oakland University student that we all agree is a commuter student that is not as active in this community, we want to have people feel a part of this community. Ten years down the line, we don’t just want to remember our college days as being in class.”

In keeping with the theme of student apathy, the Monday debate was sparsely attended, with only about 15 people seated in the gallery at the Fireside Lounge in the OC, where several incidental bystanders were in audible range of the debate.

Ivone said the opportunity to win the highest office at OUSC appeals to him because of a hard-wired inclination toward achievement.

“I have a more intrinsic motivation [than the rest of the candidates],” Ivone said. “I’m just an extremely competitive person. I want to succeed at everything I do and I want to do it the best I can. My experiences up to this point with school and work show me you really have to go after things you want, you really have to attack it.”

Ivone is a political science major, and the only presidential candidate who has not held a position in OUSC.

Eric Sturgis, a junior secondary education major who is running for a seat on the OUSC legislature, attended the Monday debate and said it was a good opportunity to find out how the candidates’ previous experiences qualified them to be president.

“Since I’m running for legislator, I wanted to know what our next student body president had to say and what their plans for the university are,” Sturgis said. “I think it was a very good debate. I know all of them have a vast amount of experience in different activities, and I was just interested to hear what those activities were and how they can use those experiences if they get elected.”

Tuesday’s debate was held in Pioneer Food Court in the OC, in front of a larger but significantly less attentive audience. Only a handful of students sitting closest to the podium on the east end of the food court had their eyes set on the debate.

This debate dealt with issues more directly related to the OU students like multicultural understanding, fiscal policies and raising awareness for other student organizations.

Dayag and Arbuckle pointed to OUSC’s negotiations with food service provider Chartwells as an example of dealing with issues that directly affect the students.

“Our biggest issue is the services the school should be providing to the students,” Medaugh said.

Medaugh, a biology major has served several positions in OUSC before.

One of the cornerstones of Medaugh’s platform centers on getting Kresge Library to stay open 24 hours a day.

“We know there are some fiscal issues involved with this, but we believe that if we could sit down and discuss this with the administration or other people in charge, we could make this a reality,” he said.

Arbuckle, a sophomore political science major who serves as OUSC public relations agent, said her platform revolves around getting students to care about what is happening on campus.

“It is so, so important to get involved on campus,” Arbuckle said. “My freshman year, I came to class and I went home. Ever since I joined OUSC it has just made my campus life so much more enjoyable, and it has just given so much more passion to go to OU. So what I want to do is get the message out and get as many people connected to OU as I possibly can.”

Christie Stover, an adjunct communications professor and advisor for WXOU radio station, moderated both debates and said she was impressed with the current crop of candidates.

She said she thought having a debate in perhaps the most congested area on campus could compel otherwise apathetic students to take notice of the candidates and their platforms.

“Students are basically unaware here of student choices,” Stover said. “So while it could be a little distracting, being in their face like this, might sort of force them to pay attention. Whereas if it were somewhere else, nobody would have been aware, at least maybe we rung a bell with some of the students here today.”

The vice presidential candidates’ debate will be on Wednesday, March 18 in Pioneer Food Court in the OC.

The candidates’ campaign platforms are on www.oakland.edu/voteou. Each candidacy tickets also have a campaign Facebook group.

Voting will be open March 23-25. Like last year, students can vote only on www.oakland.edu/voteou. Election results will be announced March 27.

Oakland University Student Congress Presidential Debate #1 from Demetrios Anastasiow on Vimeo.