Executive board vice presidential candidates squared off Monday night, emphasizing what they hope to bring to the Student Government Association if they are elected. After each presidential candidate gave a few opening remarks and introduced who was on their executive board ticket, a panel consisting of Program Coordinator Donna Bess, senior Greg Muck, Doug Marcouiller, S.J., and International Student Federation president Darren Pais asked each VP candidate questions. The “More for Students” ticket filed a grievance against the “Stepping Beyond” ticket on Friday, calling out a violation of e-mail policy. A member of Maria Rozier’s sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, sent out an e-mail on the sorority listserv-of her own accord-telling supporters of the ticket to wear blue. As a result, executive board candidates for Stepping Beyond were unable to wear blue, their signature color, during the debate; instead, they chose to coordinate their outfits with pink accents. One other grievance was filed by More for Students before the debate, involving a violation of posting policies; likewise, Stepping Beyond had filed one grievance against More for Students for a posting violation. As a result, both tickets were sanctioned with an imposed delay in outdoor postings.In the first face-off of the evening, Lisa Udofia, of More For Students, stressed that, if elected executive VP, she wants to make things more convenient for students. She is hoping to accomplish this by making 24-hour copiers available andby designating more 24-hour studying areas. “I realize the time crunch we are faced with as students. This is why access to 24-hour copiers and study arenas are critical,” said Udofia. She also wants to allow student organizations to book rooms online instead of going to the Student Life office in the Busch Student Center. “It is unnecessary to walk up to the third floor of the BSC when, with the click of a button, we can book rooms,” said Udofia. Jeff Bigner, excutive VP candidate for “Stepping Beyond”, wants to reduce the amount of red tape for which SGA has become famous. By eliminating the student organization cabinets, Bigner wants to free up student leaders’ time. “Student leaders are too busy to attend another meeting with SGA. It is another example of how they have to jump through hoops to get things done,” Bigner said. Bigner also wants to encourage advisers of Chartered Student Organizations to attend CSO-sponsored events. He said that he wants to promote student organizations’ activities so that administrators are more aware of events. Bigner also believes the transitional stage from year to year in student groups should be reconfigured to allow student groups to change leaders more efficiently. “The last month of school is not the time to hand down new responsibility,” said Bigner. Jamie Nichols, who is running for financial VP on Stepping Beyond’s ticket, believes that, while the administration has focused much of its time on capital projects like the Research Building and the Arena, they have not paid enough attention to student life issues. “Administrators are narrowly focused on building projects here at SLU,” Nichols said. Her main objective is to enhance the upperclassmen scholarships. She voiced concern that, although tuition will go up 6 percent next year merit scholarships do not increase. “This [tuition increase] is another increase that negates current scholarships,” said Nichols. More For Students has chosen Chris Pingel as their financial candidate. Like his opponent, he plans to expand upperclassmen scholarships. “We have founded upperclassmen scholarships but need to make them permanent,” said Pingel. He wants to spark interest and growth in the upperclassmen scholarships by working with administrative officials to make it an option for alumni and other donors to give to SLU. Pingel also wants to allow student groups to access their financial accounts online. “The current process is inefficient and burdensome,” said Pingel. More For Students’ candidate for academic VP, Gene Diamond, wants to improve academic advising across SLU’s campus. “This is one of the fundamental issues facing this campus. Students are often paired with over-burdened advisors,” said Diamond. He also wants to make it possible for students to charge their books to their student account so that they would be able to use scholarship money or push back their payment. Diamond also believes that the University should look into expanded academic programs. “I want to explore the possibility of offering more academic programs: journalism, advertising, architecture and sports management,” said Diamond. Adnan Hussain, Stepping Beyond’s choice for academic VP, also agrees that academic advising needs a major overhaul. However, he disagrees with his opponent that SLU should expand its programs. Hussain said that it is important that the University first fix its existing programs, and then look forward to see what it should add. Hussain believes that students should be able to know what books they will need at the time of registration of classes, instead of having to go through the bookstore. He also noted that Room 319 in the BSC should be turned into a study area. “This space has sat empty for two and a half years, while students searched everywhere for quiet study space,” said Hussain. Also on Stepping Beyond’s ticket, Anne Nickson is running for administrative vice president, and she hopes to improve communications between SGA and students. “We should ensure senators take their positions seriously,” said Nickson. One of her main objectives is to redesign the SGA weekly e-mail, which Nickson believes is too hard to read and not user friendly. She proposes that the SGA e-mail contain links to a Web site. “Student desire more than a plain text list of activities,” Nickson said. Samantha Howard, of More For Students, wants to give students the chance to interact more with SGA. Howard proposed having upcoming legislation, along with SGA’s agenda, posted online before their weekly meetings. “I want to make more students aware of what is happening in SGA,” said Howard. She proposes an online poll about upcoming legislation to give senators a better idea of how their constituents feel about certain pieces of legislation. One grievance has been filed by More for Students since the debate, relating to Stepping Beyond’s non-compliance with an earlier grievance sanction. As a result, Stepping Beyond will post a reduced number of stake signs on Election Day.