Students will have the chance to choose who they want to represent them next year when voting for the ASUA general election begins tomorrow. The polls close Wednesday at 8 p.m.
In the past students have had to choose between two or more presidential candidates, three or more vice presidential candidates and three or more executive vice presidential candidates.
This year, aside from the senatorial candidates and president, students will vote only to eliminate one executive vice president and one administrative vice president.
Only 10 senators will be elected out of the 13 on the ballot.
Sarah Rivers, an engineering senior, was on the primary ballot for senate last week but has since dropped out, said Amy Adamcin, elections commissioner for the Associated Students of the University of Arizona.
President
Tommy Bruce
Bruce, a marketing junior, is running unopposed to be the 2008-2009 student body president. He plans to continue his work on the textbook legislation moving through the state Legislature, and on the tuition task force. He plans to create a new cabinet position focusing on student safety and rearrange the position structures in ASUA in order to get more students involved. He’ll focus on reforming ASUA elections so that campaigning and informative efforts begin in August and increase student voice at the local and national level through efforts like UA Votes 2008.
Executive Vice President
Jessica Anderson
Anderson, a junior majoring in business administration and marketing, plans to work to establish stability and expand club funding and the types of outside fundraising available to clubs.
Chasen Tyler Moses
Moses, an aerospace engineering senior, seeks to reorganize the way clubs are assigned to ASUA’s five club advocates, so that advocates can be more knowledgeable about restrictions to their clubs’ funding. He also wants to make sure the Senate candidates stay accountable for their platforms.
Administrative Vice President
Seema Patel
Patel, a microbiology junior, is currently an ASUA Senator. She plans to work to make campus sustainability better by implementing additional programs like recycling and working to get a “”green fee”” on the next ballot. Money from the fee would go toward environment-minded resources on campus, especially in the student unions. She also looks to increase programming to celebrate diversity and better representation of marginalized students on campus.
James Pennington-McQueen
Pennington-McQueen, a senior majoring in history and political science, is currently an ASUA Senator. He plans to strengthen student programs and services by creating additional directors for community development and bringing back the A-Town social justice and leadership camp. He wants to add a grocery service to the UA’s SafeRide program and expand the locations it covers. He also wants to create ASUA databases aimed at improving the quality of Wildcat JobLink, an online job listing, and evaluating evaluate off-campus housing options for students.
Senators
Bryan Baker
Baker, a sophomore majoring in history and international studies, is currently on the executive board of ASUA’s Freshman Class Council. He plans to place cameras in the entrances of all residence halls to increase safety and prevent potential sexual predators from roaming inside. He wants to work with Residence Life to increase student retention at the UA and move the student section in the McKale Center so that it spans the horizontal length of the court.
Michaela Davison
Davison, an undeclared freshman, works as an ASUA Senate aide for Jared Cohen, a pre-communication junior. She wants to improve UA spirit among students and make it easier for them to keep track of their grades on a daily or weekly basis. She seeks to expand student service opportunities and create a child-care avenue on campus.
Matthew Ellis
Ellis, a freshman majoring in optical science and engineering, said his main platform is student advocacy and making sure ASUA represents the needs and desires of students. He also wants to enforce the checks and balances system within ASUA so elected officials can’t abuse their powers. He believes online homework sites such as D2L, Blackboard and Turnitin.com should be consolidated into one location to save students time and help them stay organized.
Emily Fritze*
Fritze, a political science freshman, seeks to re-evaluate the club expo at orientation and turn part of the destroyed parking lot next to the Student Recreation Center into a tailgating and recreational area for students.
Nick Macchiaroli
Macchiaroli, a sophomore (major could not be verified), intends to get healthier foods on campus and create a transportation system to and from grocery stores for students who don’t own a car. He wants to promote every sport on campus and increase student involvement and spirit with Arizona Athletics.
Jimmy MacKenzie
MacKenzie, a freshman (major could not be verified), wants to be the student representative at the Tucson City Council and for neighborhood associations so he can advocate for student needs with issues like off-campus housing.
Jason Mighdoll
Jason Mighdoll a pre-business sophomore and currently ASUA’s executive vice president chief of staff, said he will work as a student advocate to develop ASUA’s Teacher Course Evaluations Review Committee, a resource intended to help students choose professors and courses. He also wants to make flu shots more accessible to students and expand their distribution at the Campus Health Center.
Samantha Morriss
Morriss, an anthropology sophomore, wants to work to strengthen the relationship between mainstream and multicultural organizations on campus, conserve water on campus and promote social justice programs and organizations.
Kayla Patrick*
Patrick, a pre-pharmacy sophomore, will focus on increasing awareness of self-defense classes on campus, as well as making students more aware of the Disability Resource Center and the services it provides.
Rosie Reid-Correa
Reid-Correa, a geological engineering sophomore, seeks to make the Women’s Resource Center and Pride Alliance independent of ASUA, each with fully functioning resource centers and a paid director. She wants to represent minorities and keep weapons off of campus.
Jacob Schmidt
Schmidt, a pre-business freshman, said he would work with the Pima County Recorder to increase voter education and involvement on campus, and work to make the UA a polling station for the national elections. He also wants to create a student marketplace for students to exchange textbooks amongst themselves, getting rid of the expensive middleman. He also promised to compile a housing guide that rates off-campus residencies.
Stephen Wallace*
Wallace, an undeclared freshman, will focus on the Internet broadcasting of classes and implementing a class for science majors that involves dissecting cadavers to give students a better idea of how the human body works.
Gabby Ziccarelli
Ziccarelli, a sophomore majoring in communication, history and Italian, wants to create a student-rating database to allow students to influence what food is offered on campus and increase student input on issues like housing. She seeks to create a full-time paid staff director at the Women’s Resource Center and make the center a permanent member of the university.
*These candidates didn’t post official platforms on the ASUA Web site.
Fees
Also on the ballot is a $1 fee referendum that could determine the fate of KAMP Student Radio. The fee is used to support the general upkeep of KAMP, from paying for use of the studio in the Park Student Union to improving equipment and broadcast technology.
Students will be asked to approve an additional dollar for the Arizona Students’ Association, bringing its refundable student fee up to $2 a year. It will fund the Strengthen the Student Voice initiative, which is aimed at increasing student voice in the state Legislature, in Arizona’s three universities and in the community.