Student Government announces 3 tickets for office

Student Government (SG) has announced the eight candidates campaigning to be the next SG president, vice president and treasurer. The candidates are organized into three groups: Empower U, One Team, One U, and True To You.

The campaigns consist of three students running for the respective positions except “Empower U,” which consists of only junior Jacob Rudolph running for president and sophomore Austin Eng running for vice president. The candidate running for treasurer dropped out due to medical reasons. 

One Team, One U includes juniors Jason Goldenberg and Emeline Savidge running for president and vice president, and sophomore Andrew Weinstock running for treasurer. Their goal: establish a real connection and two-way conversation between SG and the student body. 

“We have very intelligent people on this campus with great ideas that we are not hearing because they are not reached out to for,” Goldenberg said.

In True To You, Vikesh Patel is running for president, Ashley Pittaluga is running for vice president and Morgan Owens is running for treasurer. Patel, Pittaluga and Owens are all juniors. 

“Each of us has our own reasons for deciding to run, but our vision is the same,” Patel said. “For us, it is not about doing this for ourselves, but rather our fellow Canes … each Cane has a voice that should be heard and reflected in our student government.”

Although Empower U is down one candidate, Eng said he thinks what he and Rudolph stand for will make up for not having a prospective treasurer. 

“Empower U inspires students to discover their potential to have a positive impact on themselves and our community,” Eng said. “Oftentimes, we ignore small injustices such as micro-aggressions against other races, violations of school policy, etc. because we feel powerless to intervene or prevent such actions.”

Filing for candidacy began on Jan. 11 of this year and ended on Feb 1. During that time, the candidates planned their strategies and reached out to other students to find out whether they would want to run together.

The SG president generally serves as a bridge between students and administrators, helping the student body with any initiatives that will benefit them and liaising the feasibility with higher-ups in the university.  The vice president mainly oversees the Freshman Leadership Council that molds freshmen into leadership roles, while the treasurer’s job is to help allocate funds and resources according to the interest of students.

As graphic campaigning – the official announcement of the campaigns through posters and images around campus – begins at 8 a.m. on Monday, students will have an idea of what policies each group brings to the table. In addition, the candidates will hold meet-and-greets in the Hecht-Stanford Dining Hall, the Rathskeller and the food court, and will speak to different student organizations about their platforms.

They will also have the chance to debate against each other at the Lakeside Patio at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The student body will then have three days to vote on Orgsync, beginning Monday, Feb. 15 and ending Wednesday, Feb. 17, when the results will be announced at 5:30 p.m.

Aalekhya Reddam, the Student Government executive at large-internal who is responsible for facilitating communication between the branches of SG and arranging SG-wide events, explained possible alternate scenarios with the voting process.

“If one team gets more than 50 percent, then they are the winners and there will be no run-off,” Reddam said. 

However, if a campaign receives less than 50 percent of the vote, the two leading groups will go into a run-off election, where candidates can be elected to individual positions, regardless of their party.

If no ticket gets the majority of votes tallied, then there will be a run-off election between the top two tickets the following week from Monday, Feb. 22 to Wednesday, Feb. 24. The result would then be announced at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 24.

"Empower U" is made up of presidential candidate junior Jacob Rudolph and vice presidential candidate junior Austin Eng. Hallee Meltzer // Photo Editor
“Empower U” is made up of presidential candidate junior Jacob Rudolph and vice presidential candidate junior Austin Eng. Hallee Meltzer // Photo Editor
Under "One Team One U", junior Emmy Savidge, junior Jason Goldenberg, and sophomore Andrew Weinstock are running for vice president, president, and treasurer. Hallee Meltzer // Photo Editor
Under “One Team One U,” junior Emmy Savidge, junior Jason Goldenberg, and sophomore Andrew Weinstock are running for vice president, president, and treasurer. Hallee Meltzer // Photo Editor
The "True to You" campaign is composed of juniors Ashley Pittaluga, Vikesh Patel, and Morgan Owens, running for vice president, president, and treasurer. Hallee Meltzer // Photo Editor
The “True to You” campaign is composed of juniors Ashley Pittaluga, Vikesh Patel, and Morgan Owens, running for vice president, president, and treasurer. Hallee Meltzer // Photo Editor