Royal Purple

Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: News

From left: Rygh, Smits, Bara

Three Whitewater Student Government presidential candidates are debating tonight at 5 p.m. in the Down Under. Issiaka Bara, Allison Rygh and Andy Smits will discuss their campaign issues.

Bara and Cheick Ouedraogo's slogan is "Together we move forward." They said they aspire to make UW-Whitewater part of United Council again. The United Council lobbies on higher education issues at the campus, state and national level, according to its Web site.

"For me in this school if we have a student government they should be taking care of everything on campus," Bara said.

Bara and Ouedraogo also want student organizations to be able to go through WSG for forms that they need rather than Leadership Development.

"UW-Whitewater has a lot of organizations for students to take part in, and they should be sharing what they do," Bara said. "WSG should take a position to facilitate with the orgs."

Bara attended UW-Richland for two years before transferring to UW-Whitewater. He represented UW-Richland student government on the United Council. Bara has been part of African Student Association, philosophy club, and economics club. He is majoring in integrated science and business.

The second slate is Rygh, the WSG university services director, and Academic/Student Affairs Director Justin O'Rourke. They are campaigning for meal transfers in the University Center, parking issues and to increase involvement through campus organizations for major events.

"We are not going to give empty promises to anyone," Rygh said.

Rygh and O'Rourke said they want to do what's right for the campus.

They also want to invite other organizations to WSG meetings and offer them recognition.

"Some people look at this as a position of power,;we look at this as more of a position of responsibility," O'Rourke said. "We are students ourselves; we are working for our friends; we are working for our classmates, people we see everyday, and we expect them to hold us accountable." O'Rourke

Rygh has a personal goal to get students to the polls. District 2 began voting in the Hamilton Center this year. WSG worked with the Whitewater Common Council to bring the polling location on campus.

"Last year, I posted sign to vote for WSG president and vice president, and nobody knew what WSG was, so that is my motivator," Rygh said. "Nobody is [ever] going to wonder what WSG is ever again."

The third slate in the WSG elections is Smits and Joe Smolinske. Their slogan is "Your Voice, Your Future, Your Choice."

Their main focus is to bridge the gap between the UW-Whitewater students and WSG. They want UW-Whitewater students to feel their issues are accessible.

Smolinske and Smits want to collaborate with the student organizations. Their ultimate goal is to have the organizations work together, and plan larger events.

"We want to get rid of the 'suitcase college' stigma," Smolinske said.

They want to help the campus become eco-friendly by putting LED lights on campus. The LED lights would have a high initial cost but are energy efficient.

This is Smit's third year on WSG; he has served on the strategic budget and planning committee, campus landscape committee and the climate committee.

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