I attended the GPAC debate and thought that it was very well organized. In addition, the Smith/Hayes team was very well organized in their responses to the questions. I am not a part of the Greek community, but it was obvious even to me, as any outsider, that the aforementioned team knew their questions and answers well in advance.

Even this preparation could not help them with their lack of originality in their responses. Many of the ideas and points that were made seem to have come from other sources.

Several of my friends attended the University Leadership Summit and have often shared the groups’ ideas and plans with me. My friends were excited about implementing the ideas that their groups had come up with. Apparently, unbeknownst to them, these ideas have already been “thought up” by the Smith/Hayes campaign. I am sure my colleagues will be disappointed to find that their groups’ ideas have been stolen. I feel that the Smith/Hayes campaign is trying to take credit for ideas and programs that are not theirs.

New Student and Parent Programs have been working on a campus-wide mentoring program for several years now. There are also many groups that participate in first-year mentoring programs such as the Honors Program, AMSTEMM and the College of Arts and Sciences.

When I am voting for the next president and vice-president of Student Government, I am looking for individuals who have the knowledge to come up with their own ideas. Student Government president and vice-president should represent and support student organizations.

Obviously, Smith/Hayes feels like the only way to do this is to steal other groups’ ideas and call them their own. I don’t call that a team of potential leaders, I call that a team of plagiarists.

Paige Damron

undecided sophomore