It’s campaigning season at Aquinas as the campus gears up for this year’s Student Senate elections, scheduled for March 23 and 24, in which student voters will choose the new chair, vice chair and secretary for next year.

Six candidates — two for each position — are formally in the running: John Kalinowski and Brandon Sexton for chair; Brad Bosserman and Sam Granger for vice chair; and Kasey Baker and Amanda Chatel for secretary.

This year, the Senate has introduced electronic voting and students will cast their votes online via a secure system on The Moose. On Wednesday, the Senate held its first public debate in the Donnelly Center, where the candidates introduced themselves and took questions from an audience of students, faculty and staff.

The battle for chair pits two Senate veterans against one another, with Kalinowski serving as co-director of the Political Affairs Committee and Sexton serving as vice chair for the past year. In laying out their visions for Aquinas, the two struck upon similar themes that would be echoed throughout the debate by all of the candidates.

Communication, as they say, is key.

“I want to make Senate more well known and break down those barriers,” said Sexton, responding to a question regarding the image of Senate on campus.

He noted that he brings a distinct “level of honesty” to Senate.

His opponent also stressed the importance of better communication and emphasized the need to act with responsibility.

“The chair is sort of a figurehead,” said Kalinowski. “The chair needs to keep that in mind, that he’s a representative of the Student Senate and the student body.”

Sexton concurred, adding that the chair must have “a sense of direction,” and “be willing to take it up a notch.”

Asked by a member of the audience what kind of legacy they would like to leave behind, Kalinowski and Sexton offered slightly contrasting answers.

“I would like to build tradition at Aquinas,” said Kalinowski, who added that he would like to see a greater emphasis on our namesake, St. Thomas Aquinas.

Sexton focused instead on making the campus more attractive and strengthening retention rates. He also affirmed his commitment to the sustainability initiative at Aquinas.

Among the candidates for vice chair, there was similar agreement, although the debate was more striking in its tone. Current co-director of Political Affairs Brad Bosserman spoke at length of his accomplishments and what he intends to do as vice chair, and was more than once cut off by the moderator due to the length of his remarks. Among his goals are reevaluating the meal plan system at the expiration of the current contract, and improving the alumni network to better serve former graduates and current students.

Bosserman’s opponent, Sam Granger, expressed concern that the Student Senate is viewed by many on campus as “a kind of game that political science majors play.” He expressed his desire to increase access to Senate officers and resources, and “improve campus life with more programs on the weekends,” a suggestion that was echoed by Kalinowski.

Nearly all of the candidates said that facilities on campus could use a face-lift and all spoke on the need to advance diversity on campus.

The candidates for secretary struck a congenial tone, with both Kasey Baker and Amanda Chatel praising the value of “open-mindedness” and creativity, and assuring those present that they take good notes.