“If Georgetown tries to encroach on my rights, we’re going to rock it like a hurricane,” Tom Karwacki (MSB ’09), a Georgetown University Student Association presidential candidate, said as he tore off his shirt in the middle of the Hoya’s first GUSA presidential debate on Tuesday night. “Rock You Like a Hurricane” blared from a set of speakers amidst the 50-plus attendees in the audience. Karwacki and six other GUSA hopefuls answered questions from the Hoya, the Voice and the audience for an hour and a half.
Voting began last night at around 5:30 p.m., when the Election Commission sent an e-mail to the student body with a link to the website. Students can vote until tonight at 11:59 p.m.
The candidates who did attend the debate answered questions about how they would improve the quality of food at Leo’s, what two things they would most like to do if elected and how they would work with the University administration.
David Dietz (COL ’10) was the only presidential candidate who didn’t attend, choosing to spend his night campaigning door-to-door in Village C West and New South with his running mate, Tyler Stone (SFS ’09).
“If you want to reach people, you don’t go to the debate, you knock on doors,” Stone said.
In the days leading up to the election the candidates have made YouTube videos, campaigned door-to-door and sought endorsements from various student organizations.
“We’ve been talking a lot to GU Solidarity, GU Pride, a lot of groups,” vice-presidential candidate Brian Kesten (COL ’10) said.
Sarah David Heydemann (COL ’09), a member of the Georgetown Solidarity Committee, said that while the group was not officially endorsing any candidate, “we especially appreciate the willingness of Brian [Kesten] and Kyle [Williams] to work with us on issues of workers rights at Georgetown.”
Stone said that he and Dietz have received support from EcoAction, H*yas for Choice and the Central Asian Students Association. Their platform includes seeing the GUTS bus fleet running on natural gas.
The Georgetown University College Democrats endorsed D.W. Cartier (COL ’09) and his running mate Andrew Rugg (COL ’09) a few days ago, sending out an e-mail to the two thousand students on the their listserv.
According to Communictions Director Chris Dodge (SFS ‘10), the College Democrats sent a questionnaire on different student issues to every campaign. From the group of eight tickets, Dietz and Stone and Cartier and Rugg were chosen to speak before a board of about sixty people. The board then voted by secret ballot to endorse Cartier and Rugg.
“We felt they best addressed the issues that are important to the College Democrats,” Dodge said. “Reforming [the Student Activities Commission], having a broader coalition of students involved in how SAC funds are distributed—it’s definitely a huge issue for the College Democrats.”
GUSA presidential candidate Tim Brown (COL ’09) said that he and running mate Dale Sevin (SFS ’09) did not seek the College Democrats’ endorsement.
“I thought their application was slanted, they were really seeking candidates that would take positions favorable to that organization,” he said. “And, as your paper [the Voice] has quoted me, ‘I don’t whore myself out.’”
Brown said that he and Sevin have received endorsements from “Work Hard, Play Hard” and the Rugby team, admitting that the two groups have significant overlap.
Some candidates, like Karwacki and his running mate William Farrar (COL ’09), didn’t seek any endorsements.
“We figured no one was really going to endorse us,” Karwacki, who sometimes refers to himself as a joke candidate, said. “So we didn’t even really try.”
According to Election Commissioner Maura Cassidy (COL ’08), if no candidate wins more than fifty percent of the vote today, the computer system will go into instant run-off elections. The candidate with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated, and the votes of the people who initially chose that candidate will go to their second choice, and so on until a winner is determined.
