Meet UR presidential candidates: RCSGA holds annual presidential debate

Juniors Sassan Fahim and Tim Khoh debated closed-floor voting sessions, unifying Richmond and Westhampton College and future goals for the Richmond College Student Government Association at its 110th annual presidential debate on Sunday night in the Current. 

Fahim and Khoh discussed their campaigns in a Q&A discussion moderated by seniors Alfie Price, RCSGA president, and Angel-Xavier Elizondo, RCSGA vice president of administration and chair of elections. 

The debate started with opening remarks from each candidate and a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go first. Fahim won that matchup. 

“I want to do what is best by all of you. I really want to be a president who will hear what you guys have to say and is able to hear what all groups on campus have to say,” Fahim said in his opening statement. “I’m not just for frisbee or [Richmond College]. I am here for everyone.” 

Fahim has served as an RCSGA senator for two years, the co-vice president of Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed service fraternity and Pi Kappa Alpha’s athletics chair, according to his Instagram campaign post. He is also a current member of the Richmond Spidermonkeys, UR’s men’s club ultimate frisbee team. 

Mental health days, enhancing Grubhub capabilities, improving Workday and the athletic ticketing system are at the forefront of Fahim’s campaign. 

“I’ve heard many issues with the Workday system,” Fahim said. “I know that all of these students work hard as students and then they have jobs and have to deal with this bummy system, for the record, that is difficult to work with.” 

Workday is a cloud-based platform implemented to streamline processes like tracking time for student employees. For student employment, Workday replaced Bannerweb earlier this year. 

Khoh served as the RCSGA class chair for three years and the Richmond College vice president of student affairs, according to his Instagram campaign post. Outside of RCSGA, he is a teaching assistant, writing consultant and the president of UR Lifts, a weightlifting club. 

“I’ve wanted to be president of RCSGA since I was a freshman. I saw the potential that the student government has and the great leadership of every single president,” Khoh said in his opening statement. 

Khoh’s top goals are implementing an AI orientation curriculum for first-year students and shifting SpiderDash to a charity event. 

“If the first-years all got the opportunity to learn a little bit more about what AI models are out there for them to use and how they can use them ethically and responsibly, it will help reduce cases of plagiarism with AI on Honor Council,” Khoh said after the debate. “Once we prepare our students for a workplace and education system that is becoming increasingly reliant on AI, we cannot be behind.” 

Khoh also added his commitment to harnessing Fizz for campus and student organization communication. 

“There’s a lot of potential there with that app when it comes to getting word out,” Khoh said. “You can get your org registered on Fizz. I think that encouraging more engagement on Fizz will help this campus when it comes to finding unity and finding things to laugh about, to join and do together.”  

When asked about a time the candidates made an unpopular decision, Fahim noted his belief in unifying Richmond and Westhampton College. 

“I’m doing that right now as a presidential candidate who believes that [Richmond College] and [Westhampton College] should be one,” Fahim said. 

Fahim thinks that Westhampton College students should have the right to vote in RCSGA elections and Richmond College students should have more accountability and openness to all students. 

“One thing I would love about the [Richmond College] awards dinner is if [Westhampton College] had a similar counterpart. I think that everybody should have the opportunity to be recognized for their contributions to campus,” he added. 

Khoh responded with his project as class chair to give ROTC cadets priority registration. 

“It took over a year of convincing people, convincing faculty senate, convincing student senates, why I felt that this was appropriate,” Khoh said. 

Khoh added that the unpopularity stemmed from rumors about what he was a part of on campus. 

“It was all about talking to people, making sure people fully understood where I was coming from with that decision,” Khoh said. “Why I felt that those certain those students deserve that.”

Khoh didn’t receive priority registration from the project. 

“I am not in ROTC, please make that very clear,” he said after the debate. 

Fahim and Khoh bounced off of each other's responses throughout the debate, noting their shared leadership styles and characteristics. But one difference is their stances on closed-door voting sessions. 

“One issue that’s been in RCSGA is that they have closed-door sessions and no individual knows how people on RCSGA actually vote for a lot of important issues,” said junior Kyle Giardine. “Would you guys commit to eliminating closed-door sessions?” he asked. 

Fahim believes it’s fair for all students to know how their senators vote. “Votes, at the minimum, should be open to everyone. If you’re going to vote for someone, you want to know what they stand for,” he said. 

Khoh believes holding RCSGA members accountable is important, but thinks the sessions should remain closed-door. 

“There’s so much value in closed-door sessions that really allow an internal dialogue of trust between the RCSGA body,” he said. 

After the Q&A session, both candidates were given time for closing remarks. 

“I stand before you as a candidate for the presidency. Not because I feel I gain from being president, but because I feel I have the opportunity to help all of you as president,” Fahim said. 

Khoh started his remarks by reflecting on his first informal leadership position in his first year at UR when he started a morning run club for Lora Robins Court residents. 

“I remember how great that feeling was, that I managed to create such a cool community out of nothing,” Khoh said. “I’d like to take a lot of those same philosophies with me into the presidency. I think my whole job as the president of the Richmond community is to foster this community with my passion, with honor, with comfort and discomfort.” 

Fahim and Khoh shared a hug after the closing remarks, marking the end of the presidential debate. 

The RCSGA presidential election day is Tuesday, March 4. All Richmond College students are eligible to vote. 

Contact news editor Ava Jenks at ava.humphries@richmond.edu.