Following Thursday's meeting on elections and campaigning, juniors Charles Pierre and Nic Flores were told they will run unopposed in this years elections.
Because no other candidates entered the presidential/executive vice-presidential race, Pierre and Flores will run against an "abstain from voting" option in the election this weekend and will face audience questions rather than candidates' arguments at Wednesday night's debate.
The decision to change the event Wednesday from a formal debate to a discussion and question-and-answer session came Monday morning as Student Government President and head of the Elections Committee, senior Christine Walker felt the debate would be unnecessary. Though some current student senators jokingly suggested that Pierre and Flores take on Walker and current vice-president David Dietz, the overall consensus was that the event should take on more of an explanatory feeling.
Though he felt relieved at not having to take on Walker and Dietz, Pierre said he felt not having an opponent, especially in the debate creates a loss for himself, as well as for the student body.
"As a student we want to see nice, hard-fought campaigns where two candidates or three candidates are presenting their ideas and their platform articulately and in a way so that the students can differentiate who is the best candidate, but we won't have that," Pierre said.
Pierre explained his concern at not having opposition in the election as he feels it may make voters feel that he and Flores may not necessarily deserve the positions because he said they do not seem to have "earned" them. He emphasized the pair's effort to campaign more in hopes of combating such ideas.
"Just because no one is running against us, that doesn't mean that people know us yet," Pierre said, "We want to get people to really know and hopefully like us and our ideas. We're still campaigning hard, probably harder than we would otherwise," Pierre said.