The Student Assembly presidential debate last night turned to bitter accusations and counter-accusations between supporters of incumbent Janos Marton '04 and supporters of his challenger, Brett Theisen '05.
In his opening speech, Marton emphasized on his own accomplishments and "huge works in progress," but his speech also attacked Theisen, who he called inexperienced, unknowledgeable and uninventive.
"Brett may be a good football player, but what makes him qualified to run a student government?" he asked.
Marton finished by saying "I'm a fighter who knows what people want, who will go to battle for it, and will never give up, and Brett, you beg the question: Why not me? Why not now?" The packed Tindle Lounge erupted in cheers.
Not to be outdone, Theisen's supporters cheered their candidate as he stood to make his opening remarks.
"I'm not going to rip him apart for five minutes," Theisen said on Marton. Instead, he said, he would talk about practical measures in his platform.
But because Marton had already assailed parts of his opponent's platform as "nave and completely unrealistic," Theisen often found himself on the defensive in responding to Marton's accusations.
Sometimes Marton and Theisen seemed to be using the same rhetorical points with completely different perspectives on what the principles they expounded meant.
For example, Marton called himself "a man of the people," explaining that he had mobilized different campus organizations for a single purpose, like getting environmental organizations to support a return of kegs at parties.
Theisen made a similar claim, saying that it is important to include the whole College in Student Assembly.
"There are 30 guys from the football team who probably wouldn't be here if I weren't running," he continued. "You may be saying, 'oh, he's only talking about athletes,' but what you might not know is that one-third of students here are varsity athletes."
The questions period of the debate quickly degenerated into bitter accusations and passionate arguments, seemingly bringing up every issue debated in Student Assembly over the past year.
At one point, a question posed to Theisen from moderator Jason Ortiz '03 touched off a debate for a full five minutes on T-shirts featuring the College's former unofficial mascot, the Dartmouth Indian.
Throughout the question period, each candidate faced pointed questions on his record or his platform.
Ortiz and other questioners questioned Marton about his work on the alcohol policy, his commitment to student athletes and even -- in a question from Ortiz -- his campaign posters.
Theisen faced similarly strong accusations about the mascot question, his proposed changes and information about vending machines and the Committee On Standards and his Greek record.
Asked about what he meant by remarks about not alienating alumni over the Indian mascot issue, Thiesen answered "It's unrealistic to think it will ever come back as an official mascot. It was never an official mascot. I don't think we should ever pass a resolution condemning the Indian mascot -- SA shouldn't take a stand either way."
Marton answered questions about his stance on the T-shirt issue by quoting a friend of his who said that although "everyone has the right to wear a Dartmouth Indian T-shirt, there's no reason why anyone on campus should be wearing a shirt that offends other people."
Asked by Ortiz to make his stand on the alcohol policy more clear, Thiesen answered "I'm not an expert on the alcohol policy. Part of being the leader of any organization is delegating to people who know more than you."
Marton answered a question about how he could claim credit for the revival of the swim team when he was off-campus while the drama played out, Marton said he had taken a long-scheduled trip but was in contact with Assembly members on campus and had stayed on campus earlier that term for Assembly business.
Thiesen took issue with Marton's characterization of his policy propositions as uninformed and unrealistic.
"I'm pretty sure I can sit across from an administrator and not poop my pants, so to speak," Thiesen said.
Ortiz asked Marton about the "cheap shots" he had taken at his opponent in his speech.
"I don't know if they were cheap shots," he said. "Administrators are not going to acquiesce because what you say sounds good to us. They're going to acquiesce because you answer every argument they have and you present them with an alternative."
The debate, which also featured candidates for several other positions including Student Body Vice President, comes ahead of elections scheduled to begin next Wednesday.
