A room filled with students welcomed Student Government Association candidates for the second and final debate Wednesday evening in the Ball Communications Building.
After 16 questions by the four panelists, those present were not satisfied. Audience members were allowed to submit questions and took advantage of that opportunity, as the mass of quandaries was narrowed to four.
Members from each slate were asked to define leadership, name their mentors and sum up their slate motto in one word. This was aside from standard questions about issues concerning students.
"Students want to be heard," said Joe Flores, candidate for secretary of Team Tolu. "Students from every facet affect change concerning everything from safety to multicultural issues. We can't adequately serve everyone at Ball State if we don't find input."
Laura Harris, candidate for secretary for the Malloy slate, said recognition and on-campus unity were necessary to ensure involvement and meet student needs.
Issues involving economic planning were also addressed.
Lee Morrison, candidate for treasurer for the Malloy slate, said he would change the duration for budget allocation from a yearly budget to a semester budget.
"We want to take money left over and allocate it to other areas," Morrison said. "We will look into spending money on what students want to be seeing."
Team Tolu treasurer candidate Irving Washington had a different idea.
"We are going to focus on co-sponsorship and see how many students appeal to certain programs to support things everyone can enjoy," Washington said.
As opposed to the first debate, there were some issues in which each slate had strictly different views.
This showed in the issue of cross-cultural relationships.
Michelle Hudson, candidate for vice president for the Malloy slate, offered a university core curriculum class as a solution.
"If there was a class added to the core curriculum, maybe to replace or in addition to History 150, students would have the opportunity to learn about a lot of cultures and ethnicities," Hudson said.
Team Tolu presidential candidate Tolu Olowomeye strongly opposed the idea.
"Universities have looked at implementing this and it has failed," Olowomeye said. "Culture should be taken by college. For instance, the College of Business could include learning about black investors."
When asked to sum up their campaigns in one word, Team Tolu chose "change" and the Malloy slate chose "dedication."
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