Presidential debate entertains audience
Michelle Krupa
staff Writer
Candidates only have each other to blame for Sunday's debate debacle, student government representatives said Sunday night.
"It was an actual circus — three rings. I was pretty disappointed," said Judicial Council president Kelly Folks, who oversees elections. "Some of the candidates were looking to place blame everywhere but where it should be, which is right back on themselves."
Candidates who complained that time ran short and antics ran long should recall harsh criticisms they posed about the inefficiency of student government at the start of the debate, Folks said.
"When you denigrate the Office [of the President] like that, if you don't have respect for the job, you have to make that logical leap that you can't expect to be taken seriously about holding it," she said.
Tickets with little student government experience generally were the ones complaining and disturbing the debate, said student body vice president Michael Palumbo
"People are very quick to criticize when things aren't going their way," said vice president Michael Palumbo. "But it seems like they sure have plenty of opportunity to pitch in along the way, and they don't."
Student government does own blame for some of the chaotic event, however. The debate began 20 minutes late because an emcee cancelled at the last minute, Folks admitted.
The debate itself, including seven student panelists, was fair, Folks said. Several questioners, who were well-versed on ticket platforms, arrived with two types of inquiries: one for "serious" candidates and one for the others.
"I looked at some of the issues reported in student publications before the debate," said panelist Heather Volk, co-president of Hall Presidents' Council. "I asked questions relevant to the platform of the candidates, but if you look at the relevance of some of the platforms to student government, it was ridiculous."
Volk, for instance, asked "Darth" Todd Warasius and "Darth" George Coppinger how they'd deal with administrators if planned Jedi mind control failed. Their response — "execution" — was appropriate to the question but not to Notre Dame student government, Volk explained.
Audience composition also was criticized, as more than half of attendees hailed from Zahm Hall. Inadequate publicity of the event — which included dorm flyers and one ad in The Observer — was due, in part, to low involvement by dorm representatives and few campus-wide ads, Folks said.
Overall and considering the last two weeks' events, though, Murphy said changes are in order.
"I think it's pretty clear," he said, "with this debate and with Mr. [Brian] O'Donaghue's suspension and the Saint Mary's election, I think we're going to be looking at some election reform here."
All News Stories for Monday, February 14, 2000
