PHOTO: Christopher H. Brown
Candidates debate platform issues and student concerns during the first Undergraduate Student Government debate last night in 117 Osmond Lab.

By TRACY WILSON
Collegian Staff Writer

Food, instructor evaluations and Jesse "The Body" Ventura were topics of discussion last night at the first Undergraduate Student Government presidential and vice presidential debate of the election season.

After introducing their campaign platforms, candidates fielded questions from audience members as well as from fellow candidates.

Art Spicciati (junior-political science) and Rob McClure (senior-architecture) defended a part of their platform that aims to institute a 24-hour Pattee, after receiving questions about the costs of staffing and security.

"If (the university is) willing to give us the fourth-largest research library in the nation, why not be willing to give us access instead of just reading rooms?" Spicciati said.

A 24-hour Pattee would also provide more work-study opportunities for students to subsidize their educations, he said.

Beth Silvia (junior-human development and family studies) and James Hornick (junior-marketing) focused on extending HUB hours and publishing instructor evaluations.

"Students deserve to know the qualities of course before they enroll," Hornick said.

Other universities, such as Ohio State University, already publish evaluations, Silvia said.

Calling themselves representatives of the "common folk," Vivek Narayanan (senior-industrial engineering) and Christopher Blackwell (senior-chemical engineering) said they will work to stop the university from giving student names to solicitors and resolve other issues with the administration.

Narayanan said his experience managing in a large corporation will benefit USG.

"I know how to get things done and read the bottom line," he said. "USG is a business where students are the shareholders."

Desha Girod (junior-political science) and Garrett Fitzgerald (senior-environmental energy engineering) said they will work to make minorities a larger part of USG.

"I came to this country 10 years ago. I did not know any English," Girod said. "I understand what minorities at this university go through and will bring them into USG."

Girod added her success in helping to implement the new fall break has given her the experience needed to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a school holiday.

Comparing their campaign to Jesse "The Body" Ventura's, Dougie Bennett (junior-history and labor and industrial relations) and Ryan Knauss (junior-psychology) discussed plans to host a weekly radio show similar to Ventura's "Lunch with the Governor."

The program would allow students to call up and ask questions about USG and its relationship with the administration, Bennett said.

"There's no reason why students should have to come to us," Knauss said.

Bennett and Knauss also noted a survey they conducted to address students' top issues.

Penn State's lack of parking, English-language proficiency of foreign instructors and high food prices in campus eateries topped the list of issues students were most concerned about.

The next debate will be held at 7 p.m. March 29 in 117 Osmond.