James Franco and Tyler Rossi, the two candidates for Student Association president, will square off in Maxwell Auditorium on Monday night in the second and final debate of the 2017 SA election season.

Franco’s and Rossi’s running mates — vice presidential candidates Angie Pati and Roy Tin, respectively — will also debate on Monday, along with the candidates for SA comptroller. As the candidates prepare for the debate, officials from both campaigns said they are hoping Monday’s debate will stick to policy ideas and campus issues.

“Students, from who we talked to, said they really liked when we kept it to what the ideas were,” Franco said.

At the first SA debate last week, Franco and Rossi discussed mental health, campus safety and community outreach but clashed over the “sanctuary campus” issue and their respective running mates. Rossi said Pati’s on-campus experiences were not as good as Tin’s Goldman Sachs internship, while Franco questioned how Tin’s work at Goldman Sachs would help SA.

After the debate, Rossi apologized for his comments about Pati. Tin said officials on the Rossi campaign have been talking to Rossi about how to better his ability to lead and talk and that a formal apology to Pati will be “the first priority” at Monday’s debate.

“We hope to apologize and distance ourselves from the comments made at last week’s debate, and engage in a healthy discussion with our opponents over the future of this campus that we all love so much,” Rossi said in an email.

Rossi said his focus in the next debate will be on getting students to know him and Tin better as candidates.

Tin said Monday’s debate will be about how each candidate plans to implement their policies. On Monday, he and Rossi want to discuss their plans to draft a sexual assault and hazing reform bill, improve the internal structure of SA and promote inclusiveness among the student body at Syracuse University.

Franco and Pati said they plan to elaborate on some of their campaign goals, including the creation of a peer listening service, a comprehensive campus safety plan and a diversity committee.

In the weeks leading up to Monday’s debate, Franco and Pati have been embarking on listening tours, visiting student groups to get an idea of the different student experiences at SU. Franco said it’s good to get face-to-face time with voters and that he and Pati value the feedback they receive from students.

The listening tours have only strengthened his campaign’s platform, Franco said. And while he said it will be important to communicate that platform at Monday’s debate, Franco added that he wants the debate to be more of a conversation with the audience.

“For me, it’s not getting too wrapped up into it, not making it like it’s a presentation,” Franco said.

Pati and Tin will also participate in the debate on Monday — an opportunity they didn’t have at the first debate.

Tin said he welcomes the opportunity to appear on the debate stage.

“One of the biggest things that the debate talked about was basically the credentials and the experience of both VP candidates,” Tin said. He said he hopes to add on to how his personal experiences in business will help bring a strong organizational culture to SA.

Pati said it’s important to have her voice heard because she and Franco bring different experiences to the ticket. Pati is more experienced in health and advocacy issues, while Franco has previous SA experience.

“If you are asking one individual, that being the presidential candidate, to be reflective upon the entire student body, that’s really difficult and pretty much impossible,” Pati said.

Pati said although Franco’s and Rossi’s campaigns have similarities and differences, she’s looking forward to channeling positive energy at Monday’s debate.

“We’re just looking forward to having a good conversation. That’s all we’re in it for,” Pati said.

Published on April 9, 2017 at 9:38 pm

Contact Jordan: jmulle01@syr.edu | @jordanmuller18