There are nine candidates running for the four Student Government executive board positions.
President
Vice President
Secretary
Comptroller
Photo courtesy of Louis Ryan
Candidate for President: Sasha Gilthorpe
Sophomore Sasha Gilthorpe is a candidate for Student Government president and chose to run for the position to advocate for student workers.
“This is really my area,” she said. “President is where I get to fight for issues that students are facing everyday.”
Gilthrope was inspired by a story told to her by a student who lost her financial assistance after working 30 to 40 hours a week as a resident assistant. She heard of students not getting the mental health resources they needed, and the more stories she heard about students not getting the aid they needed, whether it was financial or emotional, the more invested she becoming an advocate for students, she said.
“I want to give a voice to the voiceless, and power to people who feel powerless,” Gilthorpe said.
Gilthorpe has never been a member of the Undergraduate Senate, but she is currently director of student rights, a position in the executive cabinet of SG.
Photo courtesy of Bryan Paz
Candidate for President: Bryan Paz
Sophomore Bryan Paz, who is currently a senator for the Class of 2017, says that he is running for Student Government president to help support survivors of sexual assault, strengthen mental health resources and combat racism on campus.
“I firmly believe that if we empower and elevate our voices forward we can tackle the big issues like sexual assault prevention, improving mental health and combating racism on campus,” Paz said.
Paz hopes support mental health issues by working to improve wait times with the Counseling Center.
“Thousands of students on campus deal with serious mental health issues, like depression and anxiety, and the wait time for an appointment with the Counseling Center is unacceptably long,” Paz said. “Students with mental health issues can’t wait and neither should we.”
Paz wants to help strengthen the work done by SG on sexual assault prevention this year by supporting survivors and he also hopes to combat racism on campus.
“We must combat racism on campus by recruiting more students of color, hiring more professors of colors and finding ways to educate students on race more broadly,” Paz said. “A lot of these issues will be difficult to achieve but things worth fighting for usually are.”
Photo courtesy of Diane Roznowski
Candidate for President: Martin Slezak
As a candidate for Student Government president, sophomore Martin Slezak, wants to focus on creating a stronger voice for minority groups on campus, Greek organizations and club sports.
“My goal is to make sure that there is a level of student engagement with the Student Government and being able to be more dependable about carrying things out,” he said.
He also wants to create an environment where students feel the administration is listening, he said.
“Advocacy doesn’t happen overnight,” he said. “We need to continue these conversations with the administration where they are actually listening.”
Slezak was a senator in the Undergraduate Senate his freshman year and is currently director of campus beautification, a new position in SG. He produced a few pieces of legislation during his tenure as a senator, but some of them failed, which is something he is not afraid to highlight, he said.
“We should learn from our failures,” he said
Photo courtesy of Christina Howitson
Candidate for Vice President: Logan Billman
Logan Billman is sophomore senator for the class of 2017 senator in the Undergraduate Senate, running for Student Government vice president.
Billman said he wants to create a system where the Kennedy Political Union, which selects speakers to come to AU, and the Student Union Board, which selects the musicians that come to perform, interact more with student organizations and get their input.
“That way [decisions] will come from the community themselves, not an office on the second floor of [Mary Graydon Center],” he said.
He also wants to cut the current practice of clubs paying SG to promote club events.
Billman’s focus is engaging the student body, and sees the vice president’s role as a student leader and a programmer.
“I think VP needs to expand its advocacy, particularly on issues not addressed [often],” Billman said.
Photo courtesy of Jack Fitzpatrick
Candidate for Vice President: Jack Fitzpatrick
Junior Jack Fitzpatrick is running for Student Government vice president because he has seen issues in SG that can be changed.
“I have the fresh vision and the experience for this position,” Fitzpatrick said. “I have been involved on the programming side of Student Government since my freshman year as president of the Undergraduate Communication Association and more recently outreach coordinator for the Student Union Board.”
If elected into the position of vice president, Fitzpatrick hopes to increase collaboration between SG, the Resident Hall Association, Greek life and other organizations on campus by planning events.
“I want to promote celebration of all of the organizations on this campus that really define our experience here at AU,” Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick also wants to form mixed-use grants for arts organizations at AU through an initiative called Grant to Celebrate the Arts GCA, which will help fund arts organizations.
“This grant will help aid arts organizations that need financial support with items such as reserving expensive spaces on campus, affording production costs for performances, hosting workshops and generally engaging with the AU population through their art,” Fitzpatrick said.
Photo courtesy of David Stout
Candidate for Secretary: Martin Valderruten
Martin Valderruten, a sophomore in the School of Communication, is running unopposed for the position of Student Government secretary but will continue to run a full campaign, he said.
“I want to make sure people are aware of why I’m [running] and what I can do and what I can bring to the table,” Valderruten said.
Valderruten has been in SG since freshman year. He started as the senator for SOC and then became director of recruitment outreach, a position within the secretary’s cabinet.
He wants to let the AU community know what SG is doing by using Facebook and Twitter more efficiently, he said. He also wants to reach out to the bilingual community.
“For international students, maybe their English is not strong,” Valderruten said. “I want to partner with bilingual communication [networks] and reach a different audience.”
Valderruten also wants to focus on club sponsoring through personally interacting with student organizations and promote events by showing up and posting about meetings on SG’s social media, he said.
Photo courtesy of Matthew Wilson
Candidate for Comptroller: Lars Emerson
Lars Emerson is a sophomore running for Comptroller, hoping to increase club collaboration, student worker rights, priority registration for ROTC students and continue the fight for campus divestment from fossil fuels.
Emerson’s first priority is student worker rights, he says. He wants to create a position in the Comptroller cabinet called S.E.R.V.E: Student Employees Rights, Voice and Expansion. Emerson would appoint a student to the position, who would assist Emerson in creating job opportunities for students.
“They would advocate with me on behalf of student workers, so that student workers have good rights and get good paying jobs-to pay for tuition and debt while hopefully earning a little money on the side,” he said.
Emerson’s lunch date from history would be President Dwight D. Eisenhower, mostly because he saw his presidential library when he was visiting Kansas as a child, he said.
Emerson was a senator in the Undergraduate Senate, and was elected speaker of the Senate, but resigned a few months later, The Eagle previously reported. He considers his resignation an asset.
“My resignation and time outside the organization gives me an angle to know what the problems with SG are on the outside and inside,” he said.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Michael Levy
Candidate for Comptroller: Kevin Michael Levy
Junior Kevin Michael Levy is running for Student Government comptroller to be an active student advocate and continue to work closely with the SG president in advocating to the Board of Trustees and the administration.
“Continuing conversations on the status of the student activity fee through making the Budget Advisory Committee more open and public, increasing the amount of money allocated for Club and Club Sport Co-Sponsorships and work[ing] with the AU Committee on socially responsible energy and tech companies would be three main priorities for me as comptroller,” Levy said.
Levy has been involved with Undergraduate Senate since his sophomore year and is running for the position of comptroller to advocate for students and promote transparency in SG.
“I'm running for comptroller to finish the work that I and my predecessors started, to bring accountability and transparency to SG and real advocacy on behalf of the students,” Levy said.
Photo Courtesy of Jake Stone
Candidate for Comptroller: Jake Stone
Sophomore Jake Stone is running for the position of comptroller in Student Government to help build the community through handling the student government budget.
“As a transfer student, I immediately got involved in lots of groups that fostered in me that sense of community and I was able to find incredible people that do work that helps to make the world a better place,” Stone said. “As comptroller, I hope that I can make other students feel that way.”
Stone also wants to help students group be successful on campus and believes that co-sponsorships with SG would help groups get the funding they need.
“I want to help student groups be successful on campus. I care deeply for the social justice and inclusive space oriented groups and they often do not receive enough funding, nor do they have means of money making,” Stone said. “I also want to be a resource and provide for club sports, who are often underfunded.”
