Candidates running for student body president, vice president, student senate president and treasurer debated topics related to diversity Monday evening, including racial, economic, and religious and LGBT diversity at NC State. 

Just one hour before polls officially opened, more than 20 people gathered in Harrelson Hall to hear the debates, including students, Student Government members and supporters of the candidates. 

The debate began with the three tickets for student body president and student body vice president, following a separate debate that included student body treasurer candidates and student senate president candidates. 

Each student body president candidate was asked how they planned on implementing diversity on campus. The candidates include Chris Becker, a senior studying philosophy and mathematics, Gavin Harrison, a senior studying biological engineering, and Khari Cyrus, a senior studying biological sciences. 

Becker said the key to fostering diversity is linking in with different student organizations and meeting with those student leaders. 

Harrison said the best way would be to host a diversity roundtable discussion. 

“If an organization feels marginalized, they can come and voice that issue,” Harrison said. 

Cyrus looks to expand the Respect the Pack slogan to include diversity. 

“We want to transform it into something that can address racial and gender tensions but also expand it to include things like mental illness and physical handicaps,” Cyrus said. “When you reach out to all students and give them a seat at the table, I think we can transform Respect the Pack into something that goes further than just respecting the Pack.”

In response to the Chapel Hill shootings that killed three Muslim students, Harrison said nurturing those affected is the best way to respond in a tragic incident. 

“It’s important to support communities they’re in,” Harrison said. “No student should have to feel like they can’t go to class because of fear of the religion they’re affiliated with.” 

Looking at affordability and making tuition accessible to minority groups, especially Native Americans, is part of Cyrus’ platform. 

“We have a wide variety of socio-economic backgrounds, and we need to look at what experiences they can bring the table, and bring those conversations to administration,” Cyrus said. “We need to take personal experiences into account and how their decisions impact NC State.” 

Becker said he is looking to create more gender equality on campus through a campaign similar to actress Emma Watson’s He for She campaign.

“By putting more emphasis on men, we can start to make the change,” Becker said. 

Student senate president candidate, Cody Long, disagrees that diversity exists at NC State, and said the university has a long way to go before achieving it. 

“We are a predominately white institution, and only 25 percent of Wolfpack members identify with another ethnicity,” Long said. 

Long stressed the importance of including the LGBT community.  

“I cannot even imagine the pain and sorrow that the members of that community go through,” Long said. “But members are not alone and they can stand shoulder to shoulder and know that they are always included on campus.” 

Zack King, the other candidate for student senate president agrees with the inclusion of the LGBT community, as someone who identifies himself as a member within it. 

The “I love diversity” T-shirts and implementing gender neutral bathrooms on campus are ways that NC State can support the LGBT community, King said. 

Student body treasurer candidate, Karli Moore, hopes to implement a financial literacy program to help students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Moore said this would increase diversity by reaching out to students who normally wouldn’t consider college and help students stay in college while they are here. 

With the $26,000 budget cut to Student Government appropriations, Josue Berduo, the other student body treasurer candidate, stressed the importance of managing that money effectively. 

“We’ve got to make sure that our money is used wisely,” Berduo said. 

As part of the budget cut, candidates for student body treasurer and student senate president were torn as to how they supported the funding for Wolfpack Pickups, a program that provides transportation to class for students with disabilities. 

King and Berduo believe that Student Government should not be the organization to fund the program.

“University Transportation should be taking the lead on this,” King said. “I don’t see why Student Government is taking the financial hit.” 

Long supports a fee increase to help fund the program and said it is one of the best campus initiatives NC State has ever seen.

“This is a student-led program that shows students we care and that we will give them a ride from point A to point B,” Long said. 

Students can vote for candidates until tonight at 8 p.m. A link to the voting website can be found on the NC State Student Government website.