The UCS Debate 2018

Last night in Salomon 001, the UCS Elections Board put on the annual UCS/UFB Debate, and Blog was there to give you the highlights and introduce the candidates. Voting goes LIVE via Qualtrics tomorrow at noon, so be sure to read before you hit submit!For UFB, Julian De Georgia '20 is running unopposed for Vice-Chair, while Drew To '19 and Lisa Schold '19 are up for UFB Chair. For UCS, Will Zhou ‘20 and Camila Pelsinger ’20 are the VP candidates, while Shanzé Tahir ’19 and Fabrice Guyot-Sionnest ’20 will contest for the Presidency.UCS President:Fabrice Guyot-Sionnest is a sophomore from Chicago, concentrating in Computer Science and Political Science. At Brown, Fabrice has captained his Mock Trial team, been involved with the Innovation Dojo, and started Bears@Work, an organization dedicated to finding CS students paying jobs in Providence. He is also a member of a fraternity on campus. Fabrice is running to increase diversity of thought on campus. His platform focuses on welcoming students and speakers from all political backgrounds and expanding Diversity and Inclusion policies. Find his full platform here.

Shanzé Tahir is a junior concentrating in Ethnic Studies and Biology. She is a Muslim immigrant who grew up abroad and in the Midwest. At Brown, Shanzé has acted as the President of the Lecture Board, an executive board member of the Brown Muslim Students Association, and a Minority Peer Counselor at the Brown Center for Students of Color. Shanzé's platform focuses on providing support to students affected by the current political climate, reducing interpersonal and institutional harm on campus, and pushing for greater accountability from the administration to prioritize student concerns and voices. Find her full platform here.  

UCS Vice-President:Camila Pelsinger is a sophomore concentrating in International Relations and Cognitive Neuroscience. Camila has worked on initiatives like the Campus of Consent Bill and the Integrated Bias Reporting System alongside the current UCS President and VP. She is also involved with SAPE training and has coordinated events for the Brown Immigrant Rights Coalition. Camila's platform focuses on building community, with a particular emphasis on an integrated and accessible Title IX reporting system. Find her full platform here.Will Zhou is a sophomore currently serving as the UCS Student Activities Chair. He is a member of UFB, a Meiklejohn leader, a member of emPower, and a Positive Change Volunteer. Will hopes to make UCS resources accessible and transparent in order to empower student voices and initiatives. His platform includes prioritizing the security of undocumented students, holding the administration accountable to timelines for sustainability and #OurCampus, and advocating for unused credits to carry over across school years. Find his full platform here.UFB Chair:Drew To is a junior who has been involved with UFB for two years; he currently serves as Vice Chair. He joined UFB because he wanted to help forge a climate in which students can showcase all that Brown has to offer through events, performances, and lectures. Drew aims to push for policies in UFB that will make student input and innovations a priority for campus reform. He wants to make UFB more efficient and communicative. Find Drew's full platform here.Lisa Schold is a junior from Vermont who has served as the UFB-UCS Liaison for the past two years. Her goal is to foster campus-wide relationships by promoting communication between UFB, UCS and student groups. She also wants to improve the transparency of UFB on campus, particularly by publishing end of semester fund allocation reports. Lisa is currently studying abroad in South Africa, Vietnam, and Argentina, so she Skyped into the debate last night. Find her full platform here.

UFB Vice-Chair:Julian De Georgia is a sophomore who has served as a UFB representative for the last two years. He is running unopposed.Here were some of the key issues discussed in the UCS debate:The Role of Identity Centers…Shanzé promised to work in close connection with some of the main centers that help support people of marginalized identities at Brown. In a similar vein, William talked about the centers' importance for the UCS as well as for the student body as a whole. Shanzé and Camila both highlighted their experience working with and in these groups. Fabrice also cited their importance, but was concerned that sometimes these groups silenced campus speakers.Diversity of Thought…This was certainly one of the most prominent and tense issues discussed during the debate. Given that this topic is a main part of Fabrice's platform, he was asked a number of questions directly on the topic. He stated that at times many students, including religious students and students of color, have had their voices suppressed at Brown. He strongly pushed back on the notion that his support of increased diversity of thought in some way condoned or allowed institutional oppression to take hold at Brown. He argued that his platform would allow for a more rigorous intellectual environment that would improve student growth. On how Brown’s new Diversity and Inclusion hiring plan would fit into his vision of increased diversity of thought, Fabrice argued that his platform was in line with the goals of the plan, but also that those of divergent views should see representation and be comfortable in the classroom. When asked for clarification, he was non-committal about a single definition for “divergent views”, arguing that they could be across any political or religious spectrum.On this topic, Shanzé also advocated for dialogue, but stated that she would actively work against speech used to attack anyone or make them feel unsafe.A Third Option for Sexual Assault Survivors…Camila argued that the current options for someone who has experienced sexual assault (either going through a trial or doing nothing) were woefully insufficient. During the debate, she proposed other avenues for restorative justice that a survivor on Brown's campus could pursue.Our Campus…William promised to work with the administration to release reports about where the University is on meeting the demands of Our Campus initiative. He argued for the expansion of Title IX protections and the addition of more informal processes for restorative justice, while also citing his past experience working on issues related to Title IX.Disability Center…Shanzé has made a Disability Center, an idea that has long been considered by the UCS board, a central part of her platform. She envisions establishing a space for those with differing abilities to build a community and find support. She also mentioned working to create a new concentration in Disability Studies.Full Disclosure…All the candidates were asked whether they supported the Full Disclosure Campaign, which aims to increase the transparency of legacy based admissions. All of the candidates supported the measure to increase transparency. Shanzé and Camila were the most vocal on this issue.And here are the highlights from the UFB debate:UFB Transparency…Each UFB candidate emphasized the importance of transparency and communication. In particular, there was a focus on fairness and a desire for dissemination of information to clubs of all sizes. The candidates also agreed that UFB should use their newly revamped website to publicize the board's activities, particularly the allocation of the activities fee. Drew wants to expand the Chair position to make it more available to clubs that want to discuss UFB related issues. To accomplish this, he proposed open office hours. In a similar vein, Lisa discussed making UFB more of an accessible resource for student groups.Activities Fee Increases…Lisa and Julian suggested an annual increase in the student fee, in order to keep up with inflation, as opposed to sudden jumps year by year. Drew argued that a yearly increase was unnecessary; he instead proposed going on an as-needed basis, which he argued would better meet students’ needs while also minimizing the costs.UFB Financial Aid…Drew suggested setting aside a lump sum for the purposes of providing aid for those that need help covering additional fees. He highlighted the Lecture Board’s large semester budget as a possible place to obtain money to fund financial aid.UFB Recruiting…Following a series of uncontested elections for UFB positions, last night's debate presented recruiting as a major issue. Lisa suggested working with UCS to get more qualified candidates to run. Furthering her theme of transparency, Lisa believes that making more students aware of UFB will help the group meet its goals.  Julian and Drew both hoped to include a UFB booth at the activities fair.Cost Reduction…Lisa and Drew both talked about limiting groups' receiving of large lump sums at the beginning of the year as a way to reduce costs. All the candidates agreed that greater transparency would reduce wasteful spending. Julian also suggested collectively negotiating for better transportation rates for groups. Drew added that moving all publications to one printer and making negotiations for speakers consistent across student groups would cut costs.Both UFB and UCS elections will occur March 20-22. Online polls will open at noon on March 20th. Images via, via, via, via, via, via, via