RHA endorses Taylor, Hand and Aguilar

Leigh-Anne Brown Arizona Daily Wildcat Executive vice presidential candidate Mary Brandenberger speaks at the Residence Hall Association forum last night.

All of the students running for executive offices and nine of the 17 senate candidates gave one-minute speeches in front of about 100 people - a majority of them active RHA members - in the Old Chemistry Building.

After two student representatives from each hall voted by secret ballot, Tara Taylor was named RHA's presidential choice, along with Jason Hand for administrative vice president and Cisco Aguilar for executive vice president.

In the senate race, Emily Dunn, Benjamin Graff, Josué Limón, Janet Rico and David Snyder, received RHA endorsement.

Executive vice presidential candidate Mary Brandenberger, who lost her RHA endorsement to Aguilar, said she was frustrated with the imposed time limit.

"I'd just like to say that speaking with a one-minute time limit is very difficult," said Brandenberger, a journalism and English junior, as she walked up the stairs toward the door after her time expired.

Snyder, a biology and political science senior, who received RHA endorsement, also said he was displeased with the set format.

"One minute is not enough time to get your point across," Snyder said.

The candidates deserved two minutes to voice their opinions, said Candy Harris, a sociology junior, who was at the forum.

"They were in the middle of thoughts and got cut off," Harris said.

Residence Hall Association President Matt Everitt, an economics and finance senior, who defended the format, said any extra time given to the candidates would have forced the forum to run much longer than usual.

"The goal was to have it run as smooth and as short as possible," Everitt said. "This way, the maximum amount of stuff could happen."

The crowd clearly favored administrative vice presidential candidate Jason Hand and senate candidate Janet Rico, who are UA resident assistants, cheering as they were announced.

Hand, a mechanical engineering junior and a RA at Graham-Greenlee Hall, said he wished to start a program in conjunction with RHA to help retain freshmen, an issue addressed by several of the candidates.

"We could use the resources of both RHA and the Associated Students to cut costs," Hand said.

Senate candidate Michael Dobbs, a molecular and cellular biology sophomore, said he believes communication is important.

"The administration is not communicating effectively with students," Dobbs said.

And senate candidate Travis Klein, an economics freshman, captured the attention of the crowd when he cited his "free parking for students" plan and called for the downsizing of the UA administration, especially in the Parking and Transportation Department.

"A government position is not a real job," Klein said.