Yesterday in the South Park Blocks, the leaders of both slates for the upcoming ASPSU elections spoke to over 50 students in a debate on the merits of their platforms.
The debates, run by the PSU Debate Team, featured presidential candidate Hannah Fisher and her running mate Kyle Cady from the Bridge the Gap slate, as well as presidential candidate Christian Aniciete and his running mate Karla Hernandez of the Empowerment slate.
After a coin toss, the first speech was given to Fisher who gave the audience a brief overview of her educational background and pointed out the correlation between a lack of education and crime.
Aniciete followed suit by giving a brief background of experience and established his desire to serve students. He made it clear that he was a student himself and said, “in order to serve students, we must be students first and foremost.”
At one point Aniciete said, “I am not a politician.” Fisher said she is also not a politician, but a student first, adding, “we are both running for ASPSU president.”
There was little volleying of attacks back and forth, with the candidates focusing primarily on their own platforms.
Questions for the debate came from representatives from three student publications, David Holley (Vanguard), Emma Duncan (The Rearguard) and Tessie Lopez (The Portland Spectator).