Saturday, April 16th, 2011
A quarrel took place between campaigners for two presidential candidates at the Student Union (SU) elections debate. Some said the situation was on the verge of turning into a full fledged fight, while others described it as an argument between two friends.
“It wasn't a physical fight but it would have reached this if I and some others, hadn’t helped in controlling the situation,” Mohanned Gomaa, current SU president, said.
“Two friends campaigning for different candidates were teasing each other, there was no fight, no problem not even verbally, it was people’s reactions which made it seem so,” Amr Abaza, a member of the Student Judicial Board (SJB) said.The SJB is one of the entities on campus which is responsible for coordinating the SU elections and its debates.
In the debate, the Student Union candidates for the academic year 2011/2012, Ahmed Khalil, Mohammed Hussien and Ahmed Alaa, presented their platforms and described their visions for the future of AUC’s union.
“I think that the challenge for the new union will be reviving the members’ loyalty and regaining the trust between the general assembly and the Student Union as an entity,” Khalil said.
Khalil is the chair of the Public Relations Committee at the current SU and has had experience with different SU committees since joining the university in 2008.
Khalil downplayed the conflict which erupted during the debate, describing it as, “just a misunderstanding between two people, [which] has nothing to do with the campaigning process.”
On the other hand, Ahmed Alaa, another candidate in the elections and the current president of Theatre and Film Club, thinks that there was actually a clash between the campaigners, and if it wasn’t for the SJB, matters could have escalated.
“To speak for myself, I have no problems with anybody and my campaigners don’t either,” Alaa said.
Alaa has previously worked with the SU’s Academic committee, the Public Relations and Activities committee, as well as being involved with the First Year Experience program (FYE).
His main goals are to work on resolving academic issues, including registration, to encourage coordination between the SU and other clubs, and to spread political awareness inside and outside campus.
“I know these approaches have been introduced before by previous candidates and presidents, but it’s not about the approaches, it’s the execution of these approaches that differ,” Alaa said.
Mohammed Hussein, current SU vice president and presidential hopeful, has a vision for a responsive SU that will deal directly with students and cater to their daily needs on a large scale, as well as an individual level.
“I plan to have an open forum with the SU high board and the whole AUC community every week at the assembly hour in different places to get them to communicate with each other more,” Hussein said.
Current SU president, Mohanned Gomaa, said that despite time constraints, he was “proud because two of the candidates represent the union which means the continuity of the current SU, and that we made future leaders.”
Gomaa assumed his position last fall after the impeachment of former SU president Hisham Shafick. Shafick was accused of breaching the AUC code of ethics and student constitution and was impeached and dismissed after a campus-wide referendum.
This incident marked a dramatic shift in trust between AUC-ians and the SU.
“We need to regain the trust of the people, though we work hard, people don’t recognize that,” Hussein said.
The first in a series of debates may have gotten off to a tense start, but more debates are yet to be scheduled in the build up to election day, April 28.
