{"id":4642,"date":"2026-03-24T11:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/03\/24\/csg-hosts-2026-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T11:49:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:49:17","slug":"csg-hosts-2026-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/03\/24\/csg-hosts-2026-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates\/","title":{"rendered":"CSG hosts 2026 presidential and vice presidential debates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The University of Michigan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csg.umich.edu\/\">Central Student Government<\/a> held presidential and vice presidential debates Friday as a part of the upcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csg.umich.edu\/elections\">CSG elections<\/a>. The Michigan Daily provided questions for the candidates, which was moderated by a representative from the <a href=\"https:\/\/michigandebate.com\/\">Michigan Debate<\/a> team. The debate was<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/umcsg\/live\/17965340805047240\"> <\/a>livestreamed on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>LSA junior Hayley Bedell and Public Policy junior Luca Giobbio are the presidential and vice presidential <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/student-government\/introducing-the-empower-csg-2026-ticket-hayley-bedell-and-luca-giobbio\/\">candidates<\/a> for the incumbent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.empowermichigan.net\/\">EMPOWER MICHIGAN<\/a> party, which aims to promote a positive student experience on campus and build relationships between CSG and the student body. LSA sophomores Summit Louth and Naimah Perez are the presidential and vice presidential <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/student-government\/introducing-the-human-rights-party-csg-2026-ticket-summit-louth-and-naimah-perez\/\">candidates<\/a> for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hrpumich\">Human Rights Party<\/a>, which focuses on progressive advocacy and addressing affordability issues on campus. LSA freshman Isabel Kiiskila and LSA senior Tony Liu are running as independent presidential and vice presidential <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/student-government\/introducing-the-independent-csg-2026-ticket-isabel-kiiskila-and-tony-liu\/\">candidates<\/a>, whose <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1JXQTq8lPmR4CElIme8wciAh1vYb-f4IjHTRNhx1V1lw\/edit?tab=t.0\">campaign<\/a> revolves around elevating student concerns. Kiiskila was unable to participate in the debate due to scheduling conflicts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During opening remarks, Louth said he and HRP hope to advocate for student voices and opinions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m running for student president because I really don\u2019t think I need to do much explaining about the world we\u2019re living in today,\u201d Louth said. \u201cStudents fear addressing their political views in public, whether it be in the classroom or at a protest or at a picket line, whether it be in their professional papers. These are all things that concern me and they are things that concern the student body as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Bedell said she and EMPOWER MICHIGAN hope to improve affordability and address mental health concerns on campus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard to be a student in higher education right now,\u201d Bedell said. \u201cThere\u2019s a college mental health crisis, the cost of living is rising. Students don\u2019t feel safe expressing their beliefs on campus. Students are watching their own student experiences slip by every single day. That\u2019s why EMPOWER MICHIGAN is fighting for a campus where students get the support and agency they need to gain control.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In response to a question regarding how each candidate would address campus affordability issues, Bedell said her administration would work on an emergency loan program to help students struggling with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/ann-arbor\/amid-rising-housing-costs-city-council-addresses-hidden-fees-on-leases\/\">rising<\/a> housing costs in Ann Arbor, modeled after a <a href=\"https:\/\/cogs.msu.edu\/services\/loans\/\">similar<\/a> program at Michigan State University.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir student government has a loan program where at the beginning of each semester, their students can go to the student government and take out up to $300 in loans and spend that on whatever they need,\u201d Bedell said. \u201cIt\u2019s an emergency loan system, and then they pay it back throughout the semester. We\u2019re currently working with agencies at MSU to figure out what that loan system would look like and how to implement it on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Louth said a main goal in his platform is centered around increasing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/student-government\/csg-passes-revised-fall-budget-after-student-org-complaints\/\">percentage<\/a> of CSG funds that go towards student organization funding and pushing the University to subsidize laundry services.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cRight now, 57% of our budget is going toward funding student orgs, and 55% of it last semester was used for funding student orgs,\u201d Louth said. \u201cI can give you a guarantee right now \u2014 I will tell you that I will resign if I win and I don\u2019t propose a fall 2026 budget that allocates at least 60% of our funds to the Student Organization Committee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In response to a question on how candidates would respond to the potential presence of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ice.gov\/\">U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> on campus, Bedell said she aims to work with University administration to protect students.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne idea that we have to kind of tackle this is to ensure that our university buildings and our university remains a shrine, a sanctuary for education,\u201d Bedell said. \u201cWe\u2019re chatting with administration about making University buildings Mcard access only. Another way that we can tackle this is by providing intentional care for the students that are affected. So that looks like students going to a dedicated counselor in the Spectrum Center, for example, or a dedicated counselor with the (International Center).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Louth said CSG must take a stand against federal pressure to best advocate for the student body.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to say, \u2018Look, we understand that the interests of the federal government are their own thing and administrators need to have their own relationship with the federal government, but student voices need to be represented as well,\u2019\u201d Louth said. \u201cI feel like that has been eerily absent in administrators\u2019 minds.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>During the vice presidential debate, in response to a question regarding candidates\u2019 support or opposition to the <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1YSTEcObkWF9C62dAa7lNfzA4JuSVQV74qVa2dDANyrs\/edit?tab=t.0\">Divest for Humanity Act<\/a> \u2014 which was recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/student-government\/csg-passes-divestment-for-humanity-act-again-discusses-limiting-non-umich-speakers-at-meetings\/\">passed<\/a> again after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/news-briefs\/csg-president-vetoes-divest-for-humanity-act\/\">veto<\/a> from CSG president Eric Veal Jr. last semester \u2014 Liu brandished a piece of ginger root attached a metal stick and said the University\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/regents.umich.edu\/\">Board of Regents<\/a> were responsible for campus division over divestment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI come here today bearing this ginger root, because the root of the problem is that the regents are cowards,\u201d Liu said. \u201cI repeat, the regents are cowards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Liu then proceeded to eat the ginger root.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Giobbio expressed support for Veal Jr.\u2019s veto and said he believed it was too divisive for the student body.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been witness to multiple different iterations of CSG discussing this particular issue,\u201d Giobbio said. \u201cIn the fall, the divestment resolution was passed, and it was vetoed by Eric Veal (Jr), and he made a good point about how regardless of the intent of a resolution like this, in this nature, it leads to negative effects of the campus community. It leads to an increase in the division that we see between ourselves and our neighbors. It leads to a university experience where there are rising levels of hate crimes for multiple different types of students and groups of students on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Perez said she supports the Divest for Humanity Act and believes it is important for the University to acknowledge the impact global issues have on student life.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel that it is very important to be aware (and) politically cognizant of the issues that are going on around this world and be available to students, because students are our number one priority,\u201d Perez said. \u201cStudents want the support of the University behind them. They want to know that they are okay, that they are safe in a place where they are getting education. \u2026 We owe it to them that we hear them, that we are trying to work with them and we will continue to work with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Students will be able to vote in the winter 2026 CSG elections March 25 and March 26 at<a href=\"http:\/\/vote.umich.edu\"> vote.umich.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily News Editor Sarah Palushi can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/student-government\/csg-hosts-2026-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates\/mailto:sarpal@umich.edu\"><em>sarpal@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Michigan Central Student Government held presidential and vice presidential debates Friday as a part of the upcoming CSG elections. The Michigan Daily provided questions for the candidates, which was moderated by a representative from the Michigan Debate team. The debate was livestreamed on Instagram. LSA junior Hayley Bedell and Public Policy junior [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[324,4344,325,1447,4343],"class_list":{"0":"post-4642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-csg","9":"tag-debates","10":"tag-hosts","11":"tag-presidential","12":"tag-vice"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4644,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642\/revisions\/4644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}