UGBC presidential and vice presidential candidates squared off on their differing priorities and visions Wednesday night, making one final push to present their case before students cast their votes on March 20.
The three tickets are Jack Adams and Chase Gibson, both MCAS ’26; Andrew Cimino, MCAS ’26, and Brody Whetzel, LSEHD ’26; and Cami Kulbieda, LSEHD ’26, and Reagan Marino, MCAS ’26.
During the debate, moderated by the Elections Committee, candidates answered questions about their experience and background, academic success and student support, mental health, and student representation and advocacy.
Candidates kicked off the debate by explaining why their leadership qualities and experience make them the best fit to represent the Boston College student body.
According to Whetzel, his and Cimino’s broad range of leadership experience, including his roles as a resident assistant and Freshmen League captain, will enable them to approach their positions with a fresh perspective.
“Andrew and I take pride in the fact that we are the same person before this, during this, and after this,” Whetzel said. “I think as far as leadership experiences go, Andrew and I have a wider lens than most non-UGBC affiliated tickets would have.”
Kulbieda and Marino, both current student senators, highlighted their experience with UGBC and explained how they plan to use it to lead the organization forward.
“We’re not going to be playing a game of catch-up,” Kulbieda said. “There is nothing for us to learn foundationally. Those foundations have been set for us through the last couple years of forming these relationships with administrators, knowing who’s in charge of who, and knowing the work it takes to do an initiative.”
When asked about the policies his team would pursue to increase academic flexibility and support, Adams said they plan to hold the administration accountable.
“We do believe that the Murray Center created is a good idea, and we want to make sure that they actually carry through with the promises that’ve been made,” Adams said. “So, that’s why it’s important to have transparency and accessibility with your UGBC President—to make sure that that actually is going as it should be.”
In response to Adams’ comment, Whetzel reiterated the importance of collaborating with the administrators.
“In order to make real, longstanding change, administrative support is required,” Whetzel said. “Andrew and I have deep personal relationships with a long list of administrators, and through those relationships, we feel we’d be in a really strong spot to be able to get the work done.”
Next, candidates were asked how they would ensure that all students, particularly those facing additional barriers, have access to mental health resources.
Adams and Whetzel used their responses to emphasize that improving UGBC outreach overall would be key to addressing these needs.
“On a broader point about UGBC outreach, I think what’s important to understand is that UGBC’s outreach has been pretty abysmal as of late,” Adams said. “The UGBC website, if you went to it a day ago, still had Jonah Kotzen as the president of UGBC. It has not been updated until actually today, which is ironic. The fact is that UGBC needs to be a lot better when it comes to accessibility.”
Kulbieda countered Adams’ comment about updating the website, pointing out that UGBC members have asked administrators to update it.
“Those in UGBC are aware that the website cannot actually be updated by students, it can only be updated by one administrator on this campus,” Kulbieda said. “There has been a group of UGBC students advocating for the website to be updated for the better part of this academic year.”
When asked what his vision is to continue to support the LGBTQ+ community, Cimino emphasized that students have already pushed for Adams’ proposal to establish an LGBTQ+ resource center.
“The unfortunate fact of the matter is that it has been pushed forward heavily and unfortunately did not work,” Cimino said. “Instead of saying ‘Let’s go fight an already fought fight,’ there’s an intermediate step we can take on the road to an LGBTQ resource center, and that is getting an IgnatianQ conference here at BC for queer students.”
Kulbieda also noted that administrators have repeatedly shot down students’ attempts to create an LGBTQ+ resource center.
“I’ll emphasize Andrew’s point that an LGBTQ+ resource center has been a tried-and-tried initiative for over 20 years,” Kulbieda said. “Only in the last three years—less than that—has the BAIC even accepted LGBT resource centers.”
Adams responded to Cimino and Kulbieda by doubling down on his campaign promise to allocate a portion of UGBC’s budget and office as an LGBTQ+ resource center.
“We’re not going to give up on the fight for the LGBTQ resource center,” Adams said. “We intend to spend part of our budget on hiring peer counselors and graduate assistants to actually assist LGBTQ+ students.”
Ending on a positive note, the final question asked candidates to share what they admire about the other candidates.
“I really admire that everyone here is spread across all different spheres of Boston College, just in terms of involvement,” Marino said. “I think regardless, everyone here wants to make UGBC better, but also Boston College as a whole better.”
