Gearing up for the official first-year Class Council elections on Monday, many candidates appeared at the Student Government Association’s Class Council debate to campaign. 

Executive Vice President Kayla Armbruster, who served as the moderator, began the debate by encouraging attendees and candidates not only to vote in the Class Council election, but also the presidential election in November.  

In advocating for Emerson students to show up to both polls, Armbruster said, “it is now our civic responsibility to vote.” She explained that the debate would begin with presidential candidates before then moving on to candidates running for vice president. 

Candidates for president of the Class of 2028’s student council include: Lauren Gumban, Jazlyn Compton, Noah Bushe Wang, and Ruben Gonzalez. After the candidates took their places on stage, each candidate had two minutes to make a personal statement related to their campaign. 

The candidates were then asked about their plans to utilize the $1,500 budget currently allocated for the Class of 2028 Class Council. 

Gumban said she wanted to focus more on community-building events.

“There were tons of fun events during orientation week, and I really felt more connected to my peers and it helped me feel more comfortable being myself,” Gumban said. “[Fun events] are also a great way to foster that sense of community that I want.”  

Compton said she wanted to use the money to make menstrual products more available on campus. She also wants to provide additional access to environmentally friendly water bottles.

Wang said, “I don’t know what I should do for you guys because we’re all freshman and I think if we are doing the election for the president we [should focus] on what ability that president has.”  

Instead, he stated that the candidates should allow students to vote and decide on what to do with the funds.

“We can send it to the Instagram and the student [can] vote to decide what we should do,” Wang said.

Gonzalez voiced that the budget should be used for events for students “to create that sense of community, because we should be able to come together as a smaller class.”

The candidates were later asked about how they plan to incorporate voices and opinions that they may not agree with into their decision-making process if elected.

Gumban said she “prides [her]self on being someone that you can confide in.” 

“There are many concerns that you may want to keep anonymous,” she began. “Being as transparent as possible starts with the people who are in charge and I want to make sure you guys know who I am as an individual.”

Compton began by saying she thinks that “we can work together, listen to each other and learn about each other’s beliefs.” She argued this can “offer a lot of support and connecting on ways that we never thought we could. We all have different beliefs and it’s important to listen and sometimes, that’s the most we can do.”

Wang says that they could find a middle ground with people they disagree with.

“I think good communication and free communication can help us to help everyone in the community be comfortable,” Wang said.

Gonzalez highlighted that living in Oklahoma has made him no stranger to opinions that differ from his own. 

“Listen and be open to what’s going on, have that space where we can talk,” he said. “I don’t want it to be like, ‘I’m the president and I’m over you,’ we’re all supposed to be part of one community, person to person. If there is something that’s going on, I want you to talk to me, and we can deal with that in whatever way it needs to be dealt with.”

After the presidential candidates concluded answering questions from Armbruster and the audience, only one vice presidential candidate, Sophia Jade Kong, took the stage. Kong is running on a ticket with Gonzalez, although this does not guarantee that both will be elected. 

On their decision to run together, Kong said that she and Gonzalez have shared values of what they want to bring to the school, “which is sharing voices.” 

“There are people who reading emails is really hard [for them] and they don’t know how to find resources,” Kong said. “We can bring resources to the class as well as bring them to ourselves, even if we don’t get elected as a team, we’re still going to do that anyway because they’re cool things to do.”

Kong highlighted their goals, saying they don’t want anyone to feel alone.

“I want to bring more voices so we can have a better future together,” Kong said. “…I will try my best to work with different student orgs that can actually change policies here.” 

Before the debate officially ended, Armbruster reminded the candidates and audience that voting opens on Monday, Oct. 7, and will be open for approximately 48 hours. The Class Council election ballots can be found on EmConnect.