The three executive slates on the ballot for the Government of the Student Body president and vice president confronted each other Thursday evening in the final debate of the election.

The slates included Mike Banasiak and Ben Albright, Shawn Faurote and Vicky Lio, and Matt Denner and Jonathan Mullin.

About 50 people attended in Room 244 of Carver Hall.

Tim Kearns, former GSB senator and Daily staff writer, moderated the debate. Peter Englin, dean of students; T.J. Schneider, GSB president; and Myron Batsa, former GSB director of diversity, served as panelists.

Although the three slates expressed similar platforms, they quickly distinguished themselves by their different approaches to attaining their goals.

The candidates agreed a lack of communication between GSB and the student body and overwhelming student apathy have been problems in recent years.

Lio said she and Faurote plan to sit down with students and communicate with them face to face, even sharing meals with them on a regular basis.

“One of the things Shawn and I hope to implement is a brown-bag lunch,” Lio said. “We would make ourselves accessible to [the students].”

Faurote said he and Lio will take different approaches to GSB initiatives that have failed in the past.

“We need to go through and potentially take a different approach,” he said. “We want to give students a way to empower themselves.”

Mullin said he plans to reach out to students beyond those involved with GSB.

“We would walk around, and we would stop and talk to people,” Mullin said.

Denner said one of his main goals is to have a student member on the Ames City Council with voting rights.

“We’ve already lined up some students who would be willing to run for City Council next November,” he said.

Although Denner has made this promise, it is his competitor, Banasiak, who will serve as the first ex-officio student member of the Ames City Council.

“We are working for students, not the other way around,” Banasiak said.

Schneider gave the slates a quiz testing their knowledge of ISU history and current administrators.

The Banasiak/Albright slate answered three of three questions correctly. The Faurote/Lio slate answered two of three questions correctly. The Denner/Mullin slate answered one of three questions correctly.

Candidates also presented their platforms at the Inter-Residence Hall Association meeting Thursday.

IRHA members told candidates students were concerned about the purpose of a non-voting member on the Ames City Council. Albright said the representative needs to prove to the council that students can have an intelligent voice, before they can gain voting rights.

Denner disagreed. “It is ridiculous we have to prove ourselves to city council; we are adults,” he said.

After the candidates left, IRHA President Keith Twombley asked if parliament would care if he gave his comments earlier on the agenda, so he could go to the debate at 8 p.m. Objections from members were raised and Twombley left the meeting.

Jessi Raim, IRHA vice president, read Twombley’s notes and announced Twombley would like to be the GSB write-in candidate for president and Matt Newcomb for vice president. He stated in his notes they would get rid of Fresh Start, the 75/25 ratio policy, the door locking policy and other issues residence hall students are concerned about.

Polls for the election will open at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, March 10 and close at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, March 11. Students can vote online at www.vote.iastate.edu. To find out more about the GSB election, visit the GSB Web site at www.gsb.iastate.edu/elections/homepage.shtml.