Left to right: Joshuah Marshall, Jordan Klute and Heidi Blissenbach present plans for 2005 at the CSU debates Tuesday evening in the Skutt Student Center.

Photo by Kevin Coffey

CSU candidates face off

By Tim Schulte
News Editor

Looking more like siblings than opponents, fair-skinned, red-headed Business juniors Heidi Blissenbach and Jordan Klute each made a case for the office of Creighton Students Union president during the CSU debate held Tuesday night in the Skutt Student Center.

Following opening remarks, Blissenbach and Klute each fielded questions from debate moderator Sarah Horner, Arts & Sciences senior and editor-in-chief of The Creightonian. Joshuah Marshall, Arts & Sciences junior, the lone candidate for vice president for Student Affairs, also took questions to elaborate on his goals for the vice presidency before the audience of about 40 students.

Business freshman Breana Adamus was originally on the ballot for the vice president position but withdrew.
Blissenbach, a native of St. Paul, Minn., opened the forum by stressing her convictions about the skills needed to carry out the role of CSU president.

“ I believe in order to be an effective leader, experience is key,” Blissenbach said. “You would not follow someone who doesn’t have the experience or has not gone through the system. I have, and I possess CSU experience that is essential to this position.”

Blissenbach currently serves as CSU representative from the Business school.

Hailing from Bradshaw, Neb., Klute told the crowd of how he has worked to prepare for the possible role as CSU president.

“ I have done my research on the election by focusing in on the role of president, voluntarily going to CSU meetings and surveying the student body for what they would like to have done,” Klute said.

Both candidates’ platforms address campus unification and dealing with the parking situation. Klute’s goal is to unite the campus through increased communications among organizations. Blissenbach plans to do so through joint activities, interactive gatherings and more cooperative events.

If elected, Blissenbach plans to relinquish the faculty parking pass the CSU president possesses one week at a time to students who give her feedback about CSU or offer suggestions to help the organization.

Campus organizations were the focus of both candidates’ ideas on how to make students’ experiences better at Creighton.

“ You need to add value to a student’s experience, otherwise there is no reason we should have this organization,” Blissenbach said.

The ambition incoming students have to become involved at Creighton is something Klute plans to address if elected.

“We need to provide opportunities for them to get involved,” Klute said. “The best way for that is to develop more organizations, more clubs, find new programs that are going to help them have a good time here at Creighton.”

Both candidates agreed that students and organizations need to capitalize on the money available for students from CSU.

Marshall, who attentively listened to the presidential candidates between his few speaking opportunities, admitted he did not plan to speak.

“I think forums need to be created that encourage open dialogue between various organizations on Creighton’s campus because these organizations are actually what the students are involved in on campus,” Marshall said.

The elections will be exclusively online at a new Web site, vote.creighton.edu. The new site, built by the Division of Information Technology, will require students to log in with their Net ID and password. Once logged in, students will be given the ballot for their respective school. Each school will vote for president and vice president for Student Affairs, as well as CSU representatives from their school.

“ One of the primary reasons for this was the geographic location of students,” said CSU President David Black. “For a large population it was difficult for them to get to the polls.”

A test vote on Monday went without any mishaps.