Marquette Student Government’s spring elections take place tomorrow, and Sunday night the presidential tickets debated the direction they would like to take the university next year.

Joey Ciccone and Trent Carlson faced off against John Heflin and Kirsten de Guzman for more than an hour in the Alumni Memorial Union, fielding questions from both election coordinator Erin Shawgo and the audience.

Heflin, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, stressed that he would like MUSG to have “unfiltered” dialogue with students by inviting students to speak in committee and executive meetings.

Ciccone, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said next year will be an important transitional period because the university will be changing presidents. He said he and Carlson will work with incoming University President the Rev. Scott Pilarz to show him what students lack here compared to those at Scranton University, where Pilarz currently serves as university president.

Heflin disagreed. While it is important to work with Pilarz to promote student input in administration, Heflin said, “there is no need to have this idea of hand-holding.”

Heflin also said MUSG needs a “new vision” which brings student government back to the students. He said he and de Guzman would engage students on a one-to-one level.

Ciccone also said he would look to bridge the gap between student organizations and MUSG, especially multicultural organizations. He said he would create an ad hoc (temporary) committee to hold MUSG accountable to student organizations.

Both tickets said they were happy with the progress MUSG has made this year in recommending a new recreational facility and reforming the student organization allocations process. They also said they will look to continue with these projects next year.

Carlson said next year he and Ciccone plan on working toward both short-term and long-term goals for MUSG. He said shorter term items are especially important because current students likely will not benefit from longer term plans such as the building of a new recreational facility.

De Guzman said she would like to see more consistency about which student organizations are getting funds from MUSG. She said she has had experience working with a budget as an administrator within her sorority.

Looking at new ideas for next year, Heflin said he would like to create some sort of grievance process in which students could confidentially report either an assault or harassment by a faculty member.

He also said he would like professor candidates to meet with students, saying this may make the potential professor more comfortable with coming to Marquette.

Ciccone said he would like to see students seated on administrative boards, noting that other universities such as Scranton have students on several different boards.

Online voting is from midnight until 10 p.m. tomorrow. Students will receive an e-mail directing them to musg.mu.edu/vote.

Other open positions include RHA president and vice president, MUSG academic senators and senior speaker for the commencement ceremony in May.