By Dan Garrett

The Greek Political Action Committee gave its endorsement for Student Government president to candidate Ryan Smith after a debate Tuesday night.

Smith, president of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and his running mate Kelsey Hayes won the GPAC endorsement over fellow candidates Tyler Owen and Colby Khoshreza after an hour of debate. After the debate, representatives from fraternities and sororities cast ballots for which ticket they wanted to endorse. Smith won the endorsement 61-21.

“It really means a lot to us.” Smith said. “Eighteen out of the last 19 SG presidential candidates who won the GPAC endorsement went on to win the election. This speaks not only to the Greek community, but to the whole campus at large and their desire to seek progress in Student Government.”

Hayes went on to say it was really encouraging to win the first debate of the week.

The debate began with opening remarks from each of the candidates, followed by a series of questions that touched on each candidates’ experience and what they would do regarding the Greek housing problems as well as preferred recruitment — which would eliminate any fraternity and sorority recruiting in the fall.

The issues of tuition increase and campus safety were also addressed.

Owen said if elected, he would vote to not increase tuition in his role as a Board of Trustees member. However, Jimmy Uebel, Owen’s running mate, said paying more tuition is the only way to prevent more pay cuts for faculty members.

“We don’t want a tuition increase, but sometimes there must be one,” Uebel said.

Of the three candidates, only one has held an elected or appointed position in SG — Smith, currently the SG Board of Trustees Advisory Board chair and the National Politics Advisory Board chair.

The only candidate of the three that is a member of a Greek organization is Smith.

Khoshreza and his running mate, Laura Newton, tried to reach out to the Greek community. He mentioned the need for a specific plan for Greek organizations that have their homes taken away.

After the debate, candidate Owen said he was impressed by all of the candidates that participated in the GPAC debate.