It all kept coming back to student input.

Wednesday afternoon, the two tickets running for Student Senate president and vice president in next week’s election went head-to-head at an hour-long debate in The Cabin of Davies Center.

Presidential and vice presidential hopefuls Tim Lauer and Meghan Charlier; and Emily Mattheisen and Caroline Wee answered a series of questions put together by the campus community, while current Senate President Ray French moderated.

Questions ranged from tuition increases, to a new arts center, to campus dining to diversity, but one thing remained the same. Both tickets couldn’t stress enough the importance of Senate listening to what the student body wants and getting more input.

“Student Senate is not getting enough face time with students,” Wee said.

Mattheisen said she thinks her ticket can build on what’s already been done.

“Students aren’t getting what they want and most certainly not what they need,” she said.

Charlier, the current vice president, said she thinks more can be done, too, and, if elected, her ticket plans to contact students through emails at various times throughout the semester and hold roundtables so the students can get to know the governing body better.

“It’s difficult in finding the one good way that works,” Charlier said. “Students don’t know what we do and we need to change that.”

Regarding a new performing arts center, both tickets had differing views of what would be best.

“This would be a great opportunity to not only support one of our biggest majors . but also work in the community,” Lauer said.

Mattheisen and Wee, on the other hand, said they’d rather renovate Haas.

“We can bring in a lot of really great performers and we can really utilize the space on this campus,” Mattheison said.

Lauer agreed, but said he wants to take it a step further.

“Just refurbishing it wouldn’t necessarily cut it,” he said.

Lauer and Charlier both serve on Senate’s executive board. Lauer is the current Chief of Staff, and Charlier is Vice President.

Both Mattheison and Wee serve as off-campus senators, and Mattheisen is also the Student Life and Diversity director.

Lauer and Charlier said they think they’re passionate about serving students.

“Meghan and I have been very receptive to student needs. We also have good working relationships with administrators,” Lauer said.

Mattheisen and Wee said they would work to not only ensure that every student’s voice is heard, but also valued.

“We want to make sure that Student Senate is here to represent students and not the administration,” Mattheisen said.

Junior Katie Reimer attended the debate to learn more about the stances, and she said she is still deciding.

“I thought both groups talked a lot about how they wanted to reach out to students more but they didn’t talk about how they planned to do that, and I wish they would have done that more,” she said, adding she thinks more student input is needed. “I honestly don’t feel that I understand . Student Senate that much.”

The election takes place Monday through Wednesday and is entirely online.