Associated Students of the University of Arizona senate candidates Jonah Soble and Enrico Trevisani sat down with the Daily Wildcat for a Q&A on what they plan to do during their terms in office.

Soble is running for senate, representing the College of Public Health, and Trevisani is running for senate representing the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Daily Wildcat: What do you hope to accomplish during your time in office?

Enrico Trevisani: As an ASUA Senator, I will stand firm while representing the students at the UA on issues such as sexual assault prevention, improving mental health programs, lowering the cost of education and making student government both transparent and effective.

I hope that in my time in office, we will see increases in student-driven activism and a lessening of apathy with regards to relevant political and social happenings on campus as a direct result of policies enacted by myself and my colleagues in the senate. I happen to believe that our generation has the greatest potential to effect real change and I will do everything in my power as a senator to harness that potential in ways that will benefit all students.

Jonah Soble: During my time in office, my main goal would be to make access to campus health services such as CAPS cheaper and more available to all students. I want to allow for every student at the UA to be able to have a certain amount of CAPS appointments per year regardless of insurance.

DW: When you are senator, what will be the first project you work on?

Trevisani: My first projects as a senator will be geared towards shifting the political dynamic on campus in preparation for the 2016 presidential election in November. I want to provide more opportunities for young Republican, Democratic, Independent and undecided voters to participate in the political process. As the senator representing the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, I will work with clubs that promote action campaigns and student activism in order to coordinate organizations that have similar values to create large-scale campus wide events that bring in students and community members alike.

Soble: My first project, I will focus on implementing a system for greater bike and pedestrian safety on campus, as well as trying to make a certain amount of CAPS appointments, one to three per year, free for tuition-paying students.

DW: Students complain that there are too many clubs on campus but not enough recognition. How would you change this issue?

Trevisani: As the current president of a club on campus, I can certainly empathize with students who feel that there are many options but few university-led efforts to highlight the accomplishments of those organizations. As senator, I want to see clubs coalesce around similar ideas to promote sizable events that bring in far more students and I hope to push for the allocation of ASUA funds towards those joint efforts. By increasing the scale of these events, we can bring more community and media attention to the amazing work being done by our student organizations.

Soble: As someone who has held two different positions in the Clubs and Resources Center, I feel as though it is up to clubs to follow the guidelines presented to them in order to maintain the recognition they’re looking for.

DW: Students complain that food and items purchased at Highland and Park Student Union market are too expensive. How can you contribute to providing students food at a cheaper cost?

Trevisani: I will work with the other senators and the university itself to see what can be done to drive down costs for students, without stifling the UA’s ability to provide quality services. As the current senate is revealing right now, sometimes efforts have to be made to send a message to the politicians in this state whenever the students are directly affected by policies that we just don’t agree with. Fighting to increase our state funding while cutting unnecessary university spending is possible and such efforts could potentially lessen the cost of food available to students on campus.

Soble: In order for there to be more student employees on campus, I think it’s necessary to have items to be higher priced than usual.

DW: Students complain that there isn’t a place to purchase fresh fruits and veggies on the daily, would you change the food options available and propose an idea for healthier choices?

Trevisani: I would definitely support a joint-senate effort to provide our students with healthier food options each day. Here the focus would be not necessarily on removing fast food options, since I believe students should be able to make the decision to eat however/whatever they choose, but rather on promoting healthy living and creating more options for our students to choose from.

Soble: I do think the UA needs a healthy-eating initiative and that we need a restaurant that provides cheap and accessible ways for students to get healthy fruits and vegetables without breaking the bank.

DW: How can you contribute to making the UA campus a more sustainable environment for students?

Trevisani: I believe that we need to embrace new technologies regarding renewable energy and water conservation, and work with our talented faculty to implement these technologies in ways that will produce a more sustainable environment. Furthermore, empowering residence hall staffs to lead by example and improving our sustainability training programs will have the most direct result among students living on campus. Having worked as a resident assistant this past year, I believe I have the ability to work with Residence Life to give weight to student input while utilizing the latest technologies in our dorms.

Soble: To make UA more sustainable, I would create a program that focuses on the importance of recycling and explain what is and is not appropriate to recycle.

DW: With bike and skateboard transportation being an issue with so many accidents, how would you make campus a safer environment for students to get to and from class?

Trevisani: I think improvements can be made to make campus safer in this regard, such as installing newer, larger and more visible signs on our bike paths. Other than that, revamping our focus on student safety during freshmen orientation so that students are more aware of these kinds of accidents and will be more aware of their surroundings while walking on campus.

Soble: To make things safer for bikers and pedestrians, I would outlaw listening to music while biking and make it known to students that they must look before they cross the street if they are listening to music.

DW: How would you increase the service of SafeRide, as students complain that SafeRide is always busy or drops students off in inconvenient areas.

Trevisani: As SafeRide has been fairly successful since its implementation, I would support efforts to expand SafeRide as a service to students. I would like to see not only more cars available and students interested in participating, but also an increase in the radius in which SafeRide is allowed to operate to reflect a growing number of students and a wide range of housing options that Wildcats travel to and from every day.

Soble: My goal would be to see if we could double the amount of SafeRide drivers around campus.

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