Isa Cruz

On Wednesday evening, Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) presidential candidates Alex Kruse ’26 and Max Payne ’26 debated on the stage in Jack Magee’s Pub. During the hour-long debate, moderated by Ava Moore ’27 and Margaret Unger ’27 of the Bowdoin Orient, both candidates focused on similar themes of transparency, laundry initiatives and student transportation.

Kruse previously served as BSG’s Chair of the Student Organization Oversight Committee for the 2023-2024 academic year, and Payne is currently Chair of the Student Activities Funding Committee, both recently renamed the Treasury Chartering Committee (TCC) and the Treasury Funding Commission (TFC) respectively.

The main goal Payne proposed was to expand break shuttle service that BSG brought back this year over Thanksgiving break and continued over spring break. The shuttles, sponsored by BSG, transported students to the Portland International Jetport and Portland Transportation Center at the beginning of both breaks.

“I’d like to expand it to both fall break and maybe even winter break or summer break. I think it’s a tall task, but the way we can do this is by planning ahead,” Payne said. “I think if we can get the groundwork done this spring for next year, we can actually make it happen.”

Kruse emphasized the importance of supporting and funding the TFC as a priority she would pursue if elected.

“I’m really excited to hopefully work on next year’s specific allocations within the TFC budget for affinity groups. [Affinity group events] are some of the biggest events at Bowdoin, and they’re also really essential for bringing students together,” Kruse said. “Having specific allocations in the TFC budget for those events just so it doesn’t have to be a specific worry for those groups.”

Payne commented on TFC regulations as well, especially in terms of remedying budgeting issues from this year.

“We did end up running out of money before the end of this year. And really why that happened is clubs have been doing more events, going to more conferences, going to more games. There have also been more clubs in general,” Payne said. “So one thing I will be trying to do if I win this election is increase that pot of money for Student Activities for the TFC to allocate in the next year so that we don’t run out of money.”

Though the BSG president oversees the entire budget, specific TFC budgeting falls under the jurisdiction of the Chair of the Treasury.

Both candidates repeatedly returned to topics like transportation and TFC budgeting throughout the debate, but they also discussed laundry sheets at length, agreeing that reimplementing the free sheets in laundry rooms, an initiative from previous years, was a top priority of both campaigns.

“I’m also really happy that whichever one of us wins, the promise is now, laundry sheets are happening next year. Laundry sheets are incredible, and they’re so much better for the environment,” Kruse said.

Another important topic raised, especially in light of the recent encampment, was BSG’s role regarding student protests and relations with the administration.

“I want BSG to tell students, we as a body should not be saying who’s right and who’s wrong, but we should be respecting students’ decisions to have their own opinion.… We are with [the students]. We are not just speakers for the administration. We are speakers [for students]. We are people that you trust and trust to help you no matter what you need help with,” Payne said.

Kruse echoed Payne’s point, emphasizing BSG’s responsibility in such events is to protect students.

“I think that another role of BSG is protecting students, protecting the rights of students, protecting students from potential issues. I think that it’s important that we are there for students, especially with the sort of things that have been happening in the past few months,” Kruse said.

Kruse further emphasized that at the end of the day, BSG speaks on behalf of the student body.

“We are the voice of students to the administration, not the other way around. We are in charge of really doing what [students] want. And I think that in a lot of ways, as president, the way to do that is really increasing transparency and student involvement in BSG,” Kruse said.

In the vein of transparency, Kruse pitched the idea of an online forum for students to submit questions and concerns directly to BSG. A similar format currently exists on the BSG website.

“I do want to have an online forum for people to submit what they want from BSG,” Kruse said. “But [I want] to also have those things answered, not just [students] submitting questions into the void, but very directly having someone answer.”

Payne also agreed that transparency was a significant issue, as he mentioned that many students do not know exactly what BSG does day-to-day.

“I think we need to, as simple as it may sound, send out more emails to students about what we’re doing. We need to increase the engagement on our Instagram posts,” Payne said. “We are only as strong as the students that support us. We’re only as strong as the students that know that we exist and know that we can help them.”

Following the presidential debate, voting is now open for all students as elections for president, vice president, chair of the treasury and charterer are all included on the ballot. Voting closes on Sunday evening.

Ava Moore ’27 and Margaret Unger ’27 are members of the Bowdoin Orient.