Outside candidates battle for positions

By DARYL LANG
Collegian Staff Writer

Today, two ballot tickets for Undergraduate Student Government president and vice president are attempting the nearly impossible: breaking into the tightly knit web of USG from the top.

Without USG experience, they have steep odds to overcome. Of the past 10 USG presidents elected, only one never held a student government position before winning the election.

Of the eight USG presidential campaigns, two on the ballot have no USG experience -- Dougie Bennett and Ryan Knauss, and Vivek Narayanan and Christopher Blackwell. In addition, three write-in campaigns with no inside connections are running -- Ryan Atkins and Michael Viscusi, Rick Morgan and Marc Morgan, and Carolyn Van Bastelaar and Steph Porter.

The other three ballot tickets are made up of students who hold or have held USG positions -- Desha Girod and Garrett Fitzgerald, Beth Silvia and James Hornick, and Art Spicciati and Rob McClure.

Presidential candidates Silvia and Spicciati both sit on USG President Caroline Casagrande's cabinet. Both their runningmates have been fraternity senators.

Casagrande and the candidates said the competition has not interfered with the normal routine in the USG office.

"It's really been smooth," Silvia said. "Art (Spicciati) and I get along very well."

Spicciati agreed.

"We've been able to remain extremely professional," he said. "We're all friends, beyond USGers."

Both Girod and Fitzgerald have been part of USG Academic Assembly, although neither currently holds a position.

"It's easier to run when you have some connections within USG and when those connections have been involved in a campaign," Girod said.

Candidates from outside USG said being separate from the organization has its advantages.

Narayanan said he and Blackwell have an outside perspective candidates involved in USG lack.

"We've tried to stay away from the USG office," Narayanan said. "We want to stay away from the petty politics that are going on there."

Bennett said he and Knauss used their campaign to meet students face to face, as opposed to candidates who he said did not reach out as much.

"They seem too passive," Bennett said. "Like they're going to be fine by just sticking up a million fliers."

Rick Morgan, who is running a write-in campaign under the alias of a chocolate brownie named Mary Jane Liquor, said he has more flexibility than candidates who already are representing USG.

"They all seem to follow the same pattern," he said. "We're able to throw in our own special brand of creativity."

Atkins and Viscusi said they decided to run as write-in candidates this year on a bet but might apply to be on the ballot next year.

Another write-in campaign, Van Bastelaar and Porter, both freshmen, decided to run to bring more diverse opinions to USG.

Brandon Butcher and Stephen Ross, who announced their write-in campaign earlier this week, decided to withdraw from the race and support Van Bastelaar and Porter.

Ross said combining their support can help them since they are not affiliated with heavyweight student groups such as the Lion Ambassadors, greek organizations or USG.

"If you don't come from one of those three places, you don't have a chance to get those people to vote for you," Ross said.

Two candidates from different campaigns expressed concern about the influence of Penn State's senior honor societies, Lion's Paw, Parmi Nous and Skull and Bones. These societies do not publicize their membership selection or their activities.

No candidates said they were members of these societies, but only Silvia and Girod declined to answer the question when interviewed.