March 9, 2022

By Emma Flannery and Savvy Sleevar

Photo by Grace Miller

TW: This article contains mentions of suicide, sexual assault, hazing, violence and struggles with mental health. 

On Sunday, March at 6 p.m., Missouri Students Association executive candidates Samantha Hole and Daniel Daugherty of Maximize Mizzou, alongside Josiah Mendoza and Molly Miller of Show Me Mizzou, presented their respective campaign platforms side by side for the first time in the MSA debate. 

The slates tackled five topics: representing the student body, mental health for students, racism on campus, campus safety and achieving campaign goals. Each topic was allotted 10 minutes of discussion time; both slates were given two-minute periods to answer the initial questions, and the remaining six minutes were reserved for open discussion.

KCOU News Director Harshawn Ratanpal and Anna Colletto, a Multimedia Editor for The Maneater moderated the debate, held at Stotler Lounge in Memorial Union. Students, faculty and staff alike attended, and the debate was also live streamed on The Maneater’s Instagram and Facebook pages. 

Representing the student body

The first topic up for debate focused on how each slate, if elected, plans to represent MU’s student body. Colletto asked the slates about their plans to champion the interests of all students, even if some of those interests clash with their personal opinions. Samantha Hole from Maximize Mizzou answered first.

“If elected, [we want to] create an executive cabinet that is inclusive not only of race, ethnicity, gender … we really want to make sure that those voices are heard,” Hole said. “What we want to do is really represent what the students want.” 

Hole added that if her own interests differ from the collective student opinion, she is more than willing to set her beliefs aside to better serve the student body.

Hole also said Maximize Mizzou wants to work closely with identity-based organizations, particularly the Legion of Black Collegians, to consistently hear a variety of perspectives about students’ experiences at MU. 

Miller addressed Colletto’s questions for the Show Me Mizzou slate. Miller, a Democrat, is not politically aligned with her running mate, with Mendoza serving as the president of Mizzou College Republicans until February 2022. Miller said their ideological differences uniquely qualify them to effectively represent the diverse student body. 

“We are both really committed to being nonpartisan,” Miller said. “We think that [being nonpartisan] in itself will help us being able to represent the student body.” 

Speaking on MSA-LBC relations, Miller said: “as Senate Outreach Director last semester, I was working with student organizations on campus and obviously, LBC, it’s quite a large one and represents a large, diverse student body. We want to have continuity between [LBC’s] administration and ours and continue to build that relationship.”

During the open discussion period for this topic, Daugherty said that Maximize Mizzou would aim to diversify their MSA cabinet, not just in terms of racial and ethnic identities, but also in terms of the cabinet members’ majors. Daugherty said that currently, most MSA members are in political science-related majors, but that he wants MSA to represent all academic facets at MU.

Miller circled back to involving LBC in MSA activity during the open discussion period. She said both student governments have the opportunity to work together on issues that “go across all different identities on campus.” 

Mental health for students

TW: This section contains mentions of suicide and struggles with mental health. 

The first question for the candidates on the topic of student mental health came from the Mizzou Student Suicide Prevention Coalition, which asked how the slates would tangibly change or improve mental health services. 

Mendoza of Show Me Mizzou answered first. He emphasized the importance of “accessibility, availability and accommodation” when it comes to the issue of MU’s mental health resources. 

“Once we have a large amount of accessibility, availability and accommodation will naturally coincide with that,” Mendoza said, citing the current MSA administration’s efforts to increase visibility surrounding mental health through events such as Mental Health Week. 

Miller added that the pandemic exacerbated the mental health issues for the collective student body, and that it is vital to raise awareness so students feel less alone, especially at a large university. 

“A lot of students don’t know how to reintegrate into a normal college experience,” Miller said. 

Hole said she used many of the services that the MU Counseling Center provides, and she said she is very open about her mental health. Despite her use of these Counseling Center resources, Hole said they were “very difficult to access,” and she sometimes experienced wait times that lasted over two months.  

“A way that we can [increase accessibility to mental health care] is [by] making sure that the Counseling Center is not overwhelmed … so that they’re able to take in [a] higher capacity of students,” Hole said.

To increase Counseling Center capacity, Hole said other mental health resources, such as MU’s Sanvello app, which is free to all students and staff in the UM system, should be more heavily promoted. 

Daugherty also responded on Maximize Mizzou’s behalf, and he said there should be more focus on “preventative care instead of reactionary care.” He also brought to light his experiences in counseling as a queer man, highlighting his desire for more identity-cognizant mental health care on campus. 

The open discussion on mental health facilitated testimonies from both slates about how mental health struggles have impacted them, either directly or indirectly. Hole and Miller both said student suicide was a notable issue in their home state of Colorado. 

“I hope that people take comfort in knowing that, like, I struggled with mental health, [Daugherty] has struggled with his mental health … We have used these resources [and] we are in this fight with you as well,” Hole said.

Racism on campus

MU has experienced nationally covered instances of racism on campus, including vandalization of the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center in 2015. Colletto asked how both slates would support students of color at a predominately white institution.

“Being white students,” Daughtery said, referring to himself and Hole, “it’s really important that we’re getting those diverse voices and those different voices, rather than just from the white student population. We plan to be very, very intentional … to be the amplification of the voice of the students.”

Mendoza, a Latino student, noted that he was the only student of color on the debate stage. He said it is important that students of color have the ability to speak for themselves, rather than having their message diluted through MSA’s channels of communication.  

“We want to make sure we can adequately represent our message, but ultimately, we don’t want it to be where there’s another non-POC dominating the conversation,” Mendoza said.

Miller stressed the importance of developing a better relationship with LBC, saying, “We can maximize that [relationship] to make a better student experience.”

Coletto asked both slates what they would do if administrators make decisions that “are not in the best interest of marginalized students.” 

“I’m not going to be quiet about it,” Hole said. “[The administration is] going to have to deal with me. I will be very, very annoying.”

Daugherty added that Maximize Mizzou would not hesitate to “do the heavy lifting” — which includes building relationships with students of color — if elected. He noted that it would be “almost irresponsible” to allow students of color to have to tirelessly advocate for themselves, rather than putting the obligation of advocacy on the MSA executives. 

“Our [slate’s] logo is the megaphone because we do want to be that unadulterated, unfiltered megaphone that [students of color] can rely on,” Daugherty said. 

Campus safety

TW: This section contains mentions of sexual assault, hazing, and violence. 

Next, Ratanpal asked the slates about the multi-faceted issue of campus safety, citing hazing within Greek Life, concerns of sexual assault and inconsistent MU Alerts when violence occurs across Columbia, specifically in the downtown area. The slates were asked to explain their plans to mitigate each of these issues impacting MU. 

“So this is something that I feel has become my life over the last six months,” Miller said. As a member of MSA senate, Miller serves on the vice chancellor [Bill Stackman]’s task force on sexual assault. “[Serving] has really given me a little bit of a trial run to be vice president.” 

As a member of the task force, Miller said she has personally spoken with administrators and campus organizations. The task force itself has developed many initiatives to improve campus safety, which Miller mentioned. 

“For example, training. Most of you [in the audience] probably know that [with] online training, [students] probably didn’t pay that much attention to it,” Miller said. “So how can we make sure that’s a continual experience, especially for the student leaders on this campus and members of student organizations like MSA, where they’re supposed to be representatives of students?”

Miller added that whether or not she is elected, she will continue to work to improve safety measures on campus.

Hole, the only member of Greek Life on her slate, said many incidents of hazing, drugging and other matters of campus safety are “frequently associated with Greek Life.” Hole said she supports the continuation of the sexual assault task force, but she added that she wants to get to “the root of the problem”  by working with the Panhellenic Association, the Interfraternity Council, the Pan-Hellenic Council and the Multicultural Greek Council.

“The current Greek system is not operating in a way that it should be.” Hole said.

Daugherty specifically focused on the controversy surrounding MU Alerts, as many students feel as though the system fails to properly alert them when there is violence in downtown Columbia.

“I was able to meet with [MU Police Department] Chief Weimer … it was a couple weeks after [a] shooting downtown. His insight was really helpful,” Daugherty said. “I think that we would like to tackle, specifically with MU alerts, redefining [what requires an alert]. Anywhere where students are mingling with the rest of [Columbia], we would like to know about the safety and the reports and anything that’s going on in that area.”

Achieving campaign goals 

For the fifth and final issue-based discussion of the evening, Colletto asked the candidates if they were both prepared and able to implement their slates’ campaign platforms, if elected. 

“One common thread throughout all of our four platforms is communication. Whether that is communication with administrators, communication with student orgs, communication just with students — it’s communication.” Hole said. 

She emphasized the importance communication plays in the first few months of their administration, if elected. 

“The first part of this administration is going to be over the summer, and that’s when we will work heavily with the administration, and so our priorities are getting those lines of communication built,” Hole said. 

Mendoza said Show Me Mizzou’s platforms are “tangible [in] nature.” While their slate’s platform features three key pillars, they would prioritize student safety.

“If you’re not safe, then on an underlying basis, the other [platforms] aren’t as significant as they would be,” Mendoza said. 

However, Mendoza similarly stressed an emphasis on communication. 

“Not only communication between different student groups, but communication between ourselves and the administration,”

Mendoza also said that, with communication, the slate is in “a much better place to achieve optimal solutions to things.”

Closing statements

Maximize Mizzou’s closing statement recounted the various MSA resolutions Hole and Daugherty helped create. Hole said her bond with her running mate is strong, and together the slate has “vast experience across campus.” 

“We have already put in the work this past semester in the positions that we have been in to write legislation, make change on campus [and] and work with administrators,” Hole said. 

Hole concluded by highlighting her belief that Maximize Mizzou can tackle clearly defined issues head-on.

“[We’re not] being wishy-washy, not being ambiguous — you know what we stand for, you know what we’re going to work on,” Hole said. “Administrators are [going to know] exactly what students want and exactly what we are advocating for.”

In Show Me Mizzou’s closing statement, Mendoza stressed the campaign’s commitment to non-partisanship. 

“We feel that given our personal differences … we are … in a good position to not only work on behalf of different student interests but to find the interests that are collective [among the student body], disseminate information and achieve … policy on behalf of these collective opinions,” Mendoza said. 

Mendoza briefly mentioned the campaign’s signature tangible policies.

“We are not giving any direct promises to any of these associated platform points because we don’t want to be a typical slate that comes up here and says they can do these things, but ultimately, they either don’t have the resources, they don’t have the organization or they simply are lacking the analysis of their policy points,” Mendoza said. 

Polls for the MSA election will open on March 14 and close on March 16. To cast your vote, visit www.vote.missouri.edu
Edited by Namratha Prasad and Emmet Jamieson | nprasad@themaneater.com and ejamieson@themaneater.com