ASUA presidential candidates have different outlooks on campus issues

The two candidates for ASUA president presented drastically different viewpoints on campus issues yesterday on the Mall.

The debate, which attracted about 30 onlookers, was the last public opportunity for Aaron Black and current Associated Students of the University of Arizona Sen. Doug Hartz to pitch themselves to voters.

Black, a political science junior and fund raising chair for the rugby team, reiterated his pledge to put green grass on the Mall and misters at the Student Union Memorial Center, while Hartz, a biochemistry senior, focused on his plan for a weeklong fall break.

But issues concerning ASUA's role in tuition and budget negotiations were the first up for debate.

Black and Hartz agree that ASUA will play a part in helping the university meet state-mandated budget cuts.

Black said tuition increases could be used to alleviate the effects of budget cuts - an argument UA administrators have put forth. He also said passing a motion on the ASUA ballot to increase the Student Recreation Center fee by $3 would pour money into ASUA for club funding.

Black said he would support a tuition increase for in-state students, but he said he is not familiar with the system for increasing tuition, so he could not quote a percentage. He said he didn't think raising tuition by a couple hundred dollars would hurt students.

Hartz said he supports a tuition increase, as long as the increase is divided over several years - not implemented all at once.

He said he would want to make sure the tuition money would be used for maintaining the "quality of education" at UA - namely through increasing faculty salaries.

Hartz said using tuition to deal with budget cuts, as a powerful state legislative committee has suggested, would be a tax on students.

On advising, Black said he "has no idea" about advising and has never met with an adviser. He said he thinks the SAPR Student Link system, which allows students to track their academic process, works fine.

Hartz said he would continue the work of the Academic Advising Task Force, which has spent months investigating and examining academic advising.

Both candidates said campus parking is a problem, as it was recently named one of students' top concerns in a campuswide climate survey.

Hartz said that with the closure of some Zone 1 parking lots, garages should be cheaper for students and he would seek to lower permit prices.

Black said parking is a problem but added that the top initiatives on his platform override parking issues.

"I'm the comfort candidate," Black said.

Black responded to a question about the planned Alumni Plaza, which is slated for construction in front of the Administration building and will add grass to the Mall.

"Who knows if it's going to happen?" Black asked. "It's dirt right now. I'll see that we get green grass if I have to plant those seeds myself."

Hartz shot back, saying that the construction company building the new Student Union Memorial Center is under contractual obligation to restore the grass on the Mall when they have completed the project.

"Those things are already going to happen," Hartz said. "Student funds are important, and I don't want to see them wasted."

Black said the fact that other university units are already at work on some aspects of his campaign platform supports the validity of his campaign. He said he didn't know going into his campaign that the university was already planning to bring green grass back to the Mall.

Hartz also said that if Black's misting system proposal were accomplished, it would be "a tragedy."

"We would have to use reclaimed water," Hartz said in an interview after the debate. "If I'm sitting at the union eating my lunch, I don't want to be sitting under reclaimed water."

Hartz pushed his fall break plan, which he worked on as a senator this year.

He said the break would save the university $300,000 in heating costs and give out-of-state students a chance to go home for break.

Black said he would be in favor of a fall break, but he said he would not push for the plan if elected, because he said students "already skip class without an extended break."

In his closing statement, Black also vowed to "throw all the beer, drugs and porn on campus into a dump."

"If you elect me as president of this university," he said. "We're going to have one hell of a party in the Tucson dump."

When asked about his statement, Black said his comments about the "dump plan" was "a joke."