The Interfraternity Council (IFC) and Panhellenic Council (PHC) voted on Tuesday night to endorse Christian Ragland and Colleen Smith in their run for University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) President and Vice President, respectively.
The move to endorse UPUA veterans Ragland (junior-political science) and Smith (sophomore-biology) over dark horse candidate David Adewumi and running mate Devin Weakland came after both councils heard a 10-minute speech from each ticket, and participated in a 10-minute combined question and answer session.
Adewumi (junior-Spanish) led off, briefly talking about his trip to Haiti and outlining his campaign goals of providing campus-wide and downtown Wi-Fi access, Tenant Review of Landlord program (TRL) and 10-in-10 plan to lower tuition by $10,000 in 10 years.
Adewumi also advocates the creation of a student run auditing board to have a say in how tuition dollars are spent.
Though Adewumi didn't garner the support of the Councils, he said he feels he's the candidate who can take action on the issues important to students.
"They didn't choose to support me in this instance," Adewumi said. "But individuals can look at those issues and ask who's going to adjust the most to address those issues that they really care about. The issues we're talking about are across the board."
Adewumi and Weakland (freshman-public relations and international studies) are outsiders to UPUA, though they are actively involved in a number of other organizations.
Ragland focused on his platform of putting student government back in the hands of students and on issues such as sexual assault and alcohol abuse. Ragland stressed blame is often placed on the greek community, though all students are responsible for the issues affecting student life.
Smith argued she and Ragland are well-qualified for the role of President and Vice President, respectively, because of their involvement in both UPUA and outside organizations. She touted UPUA's victory in saving the Garner Street lights, opposing the noise ordinance and continuing efforts to get a non-voting student on the State College Borough Council.
Questions raised during the question and answer session included how the candidates would lower tuition while increasing services, what UPUA initiatives the candidates would like to see continued and what role the vice president would take.
Ragland said he's encouraged by the support of the councils to continue to work towards his goal.
"They represent a big portion of the students on campus and to have their support means a lot," he said. "The battle's not over yet. We want to make this a student life oriented election that will reach out to every student and every organization on campus to allow them the opportunity to support us."
IFC President Max Wendkos said Ragland and Smith proved in their speeches they are most prepared to take on issues relevant to Penn State.
"It was very important that we have a president and vice president that will support greeks during talks surrounding alcohol issues, sexual assault issues and general safety issues pertaining to the student body," Wendkos said.
PHC Vice President for Communications Marina Matteo said the council's support was motivated by past work with Ragland and Smith.
"They've done great things for us," she said. "We believe that Christian and Colleen will work to have to voice of the greek community and student body heard."
