By Neeti Sabnani

A charged atmosphere, insightful questions, and passionate speeches set the stage for the SIPASA Debate Night. Candidates for various roles in the Student Association made their cases, promising many things from better communication to financial transparency. Here is a roundup of what went down and who’s in the running to lead SIPA’s student body next year.

Outgoing President Felix Wang kicked things off, reminiscing about his campaign days and thanking his board. In his signature humorous style, he quipped, “It takes a town and I enjoyed being the mayor of this town—or maybe not,” setting the tone for an evening of lively debate.

Mike Hatfield, Vice President of the Coalition of Civic Engagement, explained the democratic backbone of the event: ranked-choice voting. He also reminded everyone that voting will take place from 9 AM on Saturday, November 23rd, to 1 PM on Monday, November 25th. 

Tarunya Reddy, outgoing Career and Alumni Affairs Chair began the debate by sharing the rules. Candidates would compete for their audience’s preference through 90-second speeches, followed by Q&A sessions.

Debate Highlights 
Jin Park, running for MPA-DP representative, did not just speak—he played. Kicking off with a game to find commonalities between attendees, he emphasized, “We all want connection. I aim to build structured and unstructured ways to make that happen.” His interactive approach resonated, earning him extra time amidst cheers.

Key Question: How does a game tie into your campaign?
Jin’s Answer: “It shows the value of limited time and creating opportunities to learn from one another.”

Barnard 4+1 student Avisha Somu, running for Dual Degree representative spoke of the challenges dual-degree students face, including registration woes and building community. Her solution is to better collaborate with SIPA’s administration and tailor support for dual-degree students.

Rachel Cicila and Naz Hussein took the stage for the Communication Chair role, each offering a distinct addition to the role: 

Rachel: A believer in clarity, she promised to streamline updates, create infographics, and boost SIPASA’s social media presence. “No more digging through emails!” she declared.

Naz: Focused on straightforward communication and representation, she vowed to highlight student stories and navigate crises with brevity and openness.

Key Question: How will you streamline communication over WhatsApp chats so that students do not miss stuff?

Rachel’s Answer: “We will use the announcements feature on WhatsApp and visuals like infographics to make it easy for students to skim through information and not miss important information.”

Naz’s Answer: “I will make sure that we promote events on social media platforms like Instagram. Everybody uses Instagram so it will be unlikely to be missed and will reduce the pressure on WhatsApp channels for information.”

Inclusion Chair candidate, Garima Sahni set her sights on fostering safe spaces for international students and improving childcare support. On polarizing issues like the Israel-Palestine conflict, she stressed the importance of coffee chats and town halls to encourage understanding.

Key Question: How will you handle diversity of thought in such conversations?
Garima’s Answer: “By creating accessible, common safe spaces where everyone can talk and hear perspectives unlike their own.”

Maya Hartman and Shraeya Mittal ran a joint campaign for the social chair positions. They expressed their love for SIPA’s vibrant community, focusing on inclusivity and stronger event accessibility.

The highly contested Career and Alumni Affairs Chair saw five candidates put their best foot forward on how to get Seeples internships and job opportunities as soon as possible.

Lara Geiger: An international student who has lived all over the map, Lara knows how to navigate new environments—and NYC’s professional network. She wants job-specific career fairs and downtown office hours at places like KPMG and Bloomberg. Being tired of outdated internship Excel sheets, Lara promises a polished, updated roster to keep SIPA students ahead in the game.

Christy Yin: Christy plans tailored strategies for undergrads and postgrads, proposing a 2025 “Guaranteed Internship Scheme” for those without work experience. For those with work experience, she aims to strengthen alumni ties and create targeted opportunities, ensuring everyone feels supported, whether they’re exploring or already experienced.

Matheus Ferreira: With 10 years of consulting experience and a reputation as the wise “Grandpa” of the group, Matheus wants to revamp CAC communication and better integrate their database with student needs. His focus? Alumni connections, tailored outreach, and being a relatable mentor for SIPA students navigating their career paths.

Miriam Yousaf: Her goal is accessibility. Miriam wants SIPA Connect to go from 10 clicks to 2, making it easier to access resources and internship insights. She will poll students on their career needs and organize more first-year/second-year networking events. For smaller concentrations like Urban Social Policy and Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy, she suggests combining efforts with overlapping fields to increase opportunities.

Zhiqi Zang: With six years of HR experience and a background in campus recruiting, Zhiqi knows what employers want. She plans direct-hire events and tailored employer programming, focusing on mutual benefits to save recruiters time and land SIPA students more opportunities.

University Senator Candidate, Eden Kaduri sees the role as a privilege and a chance to advocate for SIPA students. With a focus on active listening and compassion, she aims to address key issues like financial aid, her top priority, and establish a mentorship program to better support students. Her goal is to use policy to make meaningful change and make SIPA a stronger, more supportive community.

Treasurer Candidate, Palash Gajbhiye is committed to bringing clarity, efficiency, and inclusivity to SIPA's financial decision-making. He aims to keep students informed with regular updates on financial planning while considering more student input on key financial decisions. One of his ideas is to create an oversight committee to ensure all decisions align with the interests of the community.

In response to questions, he explained that he plans to seek external sponsors to strengthen SIPA's university presence. He also outlined how he intends to improve financial performance, noting the shift from a deficit to surplus at the start of the year by the outgoing treasurer Pallavi Balakrishnan, and plans to make the budget more performance-based moving forward.

General Secretary Candidate, Rechelle Rumawas is focused on delivering on her promises and ensuring accessibility for all SIPA students. She plans to keep everyone informed by tracking the progress of SIPASA initiatives with a shared document and collaborating with the communications chair to streamline updates across different channels. Additionally, she proposes monthly surveys to gather feedback on both student concerns and SIPASA's performance. In terms of her experience, Rechelle believes her background in project management will be key to successfully navigating the role. She aims to be the anchor of SIPASA, efficiently problem-solving, maintaining detailed records, and providing strong knowledge management during times of crisis.

In the penultimate round of speeches, we heard from our Vice-President candidates on how they would like to support the new President within the board. 

Aaliyah Khwaja aims to improve accessibility and communication at SIPA, focusing on bridging gaps between first-year and second-year students. With her unique perspective from having lived in the U.S. and holding three nationalities, she plans to celebrate and spotlight students while advocating for intellectual freedom and fostering connections. Aaliyah is also committed to ensuring that students have the resources to easily access opportunities and support, particularly when it comes to navigating curriculum changes. She believes in simplifying information for students to help them make informed decisions about their academic paths.

Pedro Villa, a former lawyer, views the Vice President role as a bridge between the student body and the president. With strong communication skills, he believes in making SIPA more accessible for everyone, especially given the diverse languages spoken within the community. He aims to work closely with the board to improve student engagement, offering initiatives like professional upskilling and cultural immersions such as language coffee chats. Pedro's approach to the new curriculum involves ensuring that students understand the changes and align their academic choices with their career goals. He emphasizes the importance of translating complex information into student-friendly language to ease decision-making.

Key Questions

Q: What are your concrete proposals for improving SIPA?

• Pedro: Professional upskilling, cultural immersions, and aligning the administration’s objectives with the students' aspirations.

Q: How will you address the issue of student groups not having access to board member contacts?

• Aaliyah: She believes students should have direct access to board representatives, either through a platform like WhatsApp or a centralized directory.

Q: How will you help students navigate the new curriculum?

• Pedro: By aligning academic choices with career goals and providing clarity on available options.

• Aaliyah: By ensuring that SIPASA members digest the information and present it in a way that is easy for students to understand.

The night culminated with the Presidential candidates speaking on their campaigns, and answering questions from the audience and each other.

Arthur Vryghem promised to make every day and week at SIPA count. He highlighted his commitment to student organizations, including being the only presidential candidate to attend the LASA debate and one of two to attend the EUSA debate. Arthur focused on making SIPA a place where both professional and social needs are met, ensuring that every interaction is valuable. His vision for leadership revolves around actionable change and creating a feedback loop that ensures accountability.

Matty Flower emphasized the importance of connecting SIPA to NYC through regular volunteering opportunities and networking with professors. He draws from his background as a policy student and his strong belief in starting initiatives early. Matty wants to leverage SIPA’s international community to create deeper connections and cultural understanding within the community, and he plans to actively work with the board to make SIPA more accessible.

Sarah Matthew focused on opening dialogue through monthly student diversity panels and strengthening faculty-student relationships. She aims to use social media to highlight student achievements and opportunities, while also ensuring students’ voices are heard through a variety of platforms and events. Sarah is committed to creating spaces for students to engage meaningfully with one another and the faculty.

Janhavi Chanda envisioned an AI-driven platform that helps students navigate their academic needs, while also emphasizing the importance of collaboration and clarity in information. She believes in empowering students through regular coffee chats and office hours, and she aims to create a dedicated resource page with real-time updates. Her goal is to make SIPA a place where students feel confident and supported.

Rory Callison, with a background in student government, focuses on transparency, inclusivity, and social justice. Having worked with administrators across different universities, he plans to build a bridge between SIPA and the administration. Rory emphasized the importance of having both heart and head in leadership and wants to create a safe space for students to discuss issues openly.

Janvi Manek believes that leadership is about ensuring every student feels heard and supported. She champions candidness, collaboration, and inclusion, with a focus on providing students with the resources they need to succeed. Janvi views the election as a collective effort and is committed to building a system that champions these values.

Key Questions 

Q: What would you do to support and strengthen associations?

• Arthur: SIPASA should support, not compete with associations. The role is about empowering and providing resources.

• Matty: Curate and elevate student groups, making space for them to shine and ensuring they're visible.

• Janvi: Empower student organizations by providing adequate resources and continued support.

• Janhavi: Collaboration is key—ensure SIPASA works with student clubs, not against them.

• Rory: Lead by coordinating with student leaders and finding ways to collaborate on initiatives.

• Sarah: Promote events and initiatives via SIPASA’s social media channels.

Q: How will you manage hate speech or controversial discussions on WhatsApp or group chats?

• Matty: Establish community guidelines and enforce them, allowing free discussion without harm.

• Janvi: Provide alternative spaces for open discussion, instead of flooding group chats with unproductive debates.

• Janhavi: Proactive mechanisms for sharing opinions while maintaining respect and inclusivity.

• Rory: Acknowledge that activism can be passionate and direct, but ensure dialogue stays respectful.

• Sarah: Create safe spaces for students to learn and have constructive conversations.

• Arthur: Take controversial discussions offline and focus on creating spaces where they can be addressed more thoughtfully.

Q: What qualities do you share with today's ideal leaders?

• Janvi: Excellent listening and execution skills.

• Janhavi: Delivering tangible solutions.

• Rory: Head and heart in the right place, with leadership driven by passion.

• Sarah: Teachable, open-minded, and striving to learn from different perspectives.

• Arthur: Be the person your family and dog believe you to be.

• Matty: Real ideas with a commitment to improving people's lives.

Q: Would you consider setting specific goals and providing end-of-term updates?

• Janhavi: Transparency is essential; regular updates should be a priority.

• Rory: Regular updates help measure progress and make adjustments as needed.

• Sarah: A SWOT analysis before and after a term would be helpful for reflection.

• Arthur: Implement actionable change throughout the year, not just wait until the end to report back.

• Matty: Open to periodic feedback sessions, and would like to see more participatory committees.

Janvi: A constant feedback loop is more valuable than ceremonial end-of-term reviews.

In his closing remarks, Felix thanked everyone for their valuable comments and participation, noting that the feedback would be instrumental in shaping future improvements, and reminded everyone to vote over the weekend. 

However, when asked about their thoughts on the debate, students expressed dissatisfaction with the event format, criticizing the 30-second response time as too brief for addressing serious issues. One student said, “There seems to be no diversity in the answers of the candidates to important questions which is not reflective of the diversity of our cohort.” Students also mentioned that they would have liked to hear more concrete examples in their responses, as many answers felt too theoretical. While the answers may not have satisfied everyone, students appreciated the efforts of the candidates and the audience to engage in a democratic debate on important issues faced by SIPA. “It was great to see so many people engage in the debate and participate actively.”, the student noted.

Neeti Sabnani (LSE- Columbia MPA '25) is a CEE and DAQA student. She holds a B.A. in Psychology, Sociology and Economics from Christ University, Bengaluru and has worked with Teach For India.