Six of the seven presidential tickets participated in the first debate in the University Park Undergraduate Association presidential election last night.

Jay Bundy, presidential candidate, and Jared Gagne, his running mate, were not able to participate in the debate, since they will not technically be candidates until tomorrow. Bundy turned in his judicial affairs record release form later than the other candidates because of confusion about the deadline, Frank Criscione, head election commissioner, said.

The presidential candidates able to participate were Ricardo Torres, Jonathan Gremminger, Gavin Keirans, Peter Johnson, Hillary Lewis and Daniel Hadas.

A common theme among all the candidates was the idea of uniting student groups across campus through UPUA.

Johnson, along with his running mate Chris Lenn, emphasized the point that UPUA needs to champion underrepresented groups on campus.

"Now more than ever we need to seek unity," Johnson said. "There are many underrepresented groups that need solidarity and need a unified voice."

The candidates agreed that solidarity was necessary to best represent students' interests to the administration.

"The administration is the greatest ally for students, because without the administration, we can't get anything done," Lewis said.

Mike Anderson, Torres' running mate, said the University Faculty Senate would be a good ally in returning decision-making power to students.

"The faculty senate aren't huge fans of how the administration has been infringing on our rights," he said. "We can work with them."

Anderson and Torres have each served as student faculty senators during the past year.

Hadas, Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity president, and his running mate, Michael Barasch, said they would draw on their experiences as part of the leadership of a fraternity. Hadas said when he became president of the fraternity it had 13 members, a number that has expanded to 80 during his tenure. He said being president of UPUA would be a similar feat, since he would be forced to increase interest in the group.

"I did it before," he said. "I'll do it again."

One candidate pitched his inexperience as a virtue. Gremminger and his running mate, James Imajewicz, said they would bring a fresh outlook to the organization, claiming "UPUA has not worked." Particularly, Gremminger harped on the lack of access the common student has to UPUA.

Keirans, whose running mate is Mike Wallace, emphasized that he would have plenty of time to complete his goals, since he is a freshman.

"It's very tough to get things done in one year," he said. "As a freshman, I have three years."

Bundy was in attendance at the debate, but he said his "surprise announcement" which was supposed to take place tonight would be postponed until a future event.