In the heat of battle for seats in student government, candidates for the Student Union Executive Board and some college government boards were out in full force yesterday, pushing platforms and pledging promises to students.
Slates have set up camp in high traffic areas around campus, including the George Sherman Union Link, striving to reach out to the many students who pass through during the three-day voting period. Voting continues through Friday afternoon.
“As far as the students who listen, I think we’ve reached thousands,” said Matt D’Olimpio, president of Perpetual Motion, a slate vying for control of the Union Executive Board.
Perpetual Motion’s platform includes changing the guest policy and improving the Rape Crisis Center by getting a direct line connection number that will be printed on the back of the Boston University Terrier cards, though D’Olimpio stressed his slate would persevere even in the event of setbacks.
“If we fail, we don’t give up; we change, we re-strategize according to what happens,” he said. “We want to make students’ time here worth it by improving the quality of life. These are things that matter to us.”
Quality of life is a common issue among all three E-board slates. The Real slate hopes to unite the school’s governments, creating increased communication among groups who can address campus issues and improve them.
“Working together is the first step,” said Mike Moffo, presidential candidate for the Real slate. “The governments have never met all together and getting a sense of cohesion, of community, among the branches is our number one priority.”
Real candidates pushed students to vote yesterday, distributing cards detailing their platform. Campaigning efforts have paid off by the feedback they have been getting from students, according to their leader.
“People want to know details about our initiatives,” Moffo said. “Students support us because we’re going to go after the smaller, more realistic things.”
New Blood, the third Union slate, has been campaigning primarily through word of mouth and flyers.
“People are surprisingly excited,” said slate presidential candidate Jason Nadler.
Cable access for students and on-campus concerts are two principal points of the New Blood slate. Cable access is a carryover issue from the existing slate, though Nadler believes the current methods need adjustment.
“I don’t fault the current efforts. I just think we have a more effective means of getting cable for students,” said Nadler.
While the E-board slates continue campaigning, the two slates seeking control of the College of General Studies government, Lead and The Right Stuff, have been canvassing West Campus with their platform, familiarizing students with their ideas.
“We’ve made a lot of progress by being on the street handing out flyers,” said Lead presidential candidate Andrew Elkin. “I think the students are poorly represented, many don’t know what’s going on.”
Elkin, the treasurer of the current CGS student government, said more announcements, monthly Jacob Sleeper Auditorium lectures to promote awareness and a website posted with current activities will efficiently inform students.
Lead, endorsed by the Film Lovers, Philosophers Society and Umoja, according to the slate, said it has gotten the word out to enough people to “ultimately bring victory.”
Opposing the Lead slate is The Right Stuff, led by Anya Babbitt. The Right Stuff wants to implement a suggestion box to have more student input and campaigning has been going well, Babbitt said.
“I think campaigning is definitely effective by the number of questions we’re getting on what we’re doing,” she said. “We are also predominantly focusing on West Campus because it’s mostly CGS students.”
The College of Arts and Sciences battle is also among two slates, each of which is focusing on building communication with students. Affirmative Action plans to get freshmen more involved, make the students more aware of CAS policies, clean CAS and unite the school.
“We want to try to get the school together because it’s such a large University,” said Joseph Hardin, presidential candidate for Affirmative Action. “We’ll do this through events like Landsdowne Night, with ticket discounts.”
Hardin said fair campaigning is key in their platform. Two out of the three Union E-Boards have told Affirmative Action they will push votes for them, Hardin said.
“We’ve campaigned fairly,” he said. “We are concerned with getting votes for our issues and not for popularity.”
Velvet Revolution, led by Kyle Wackenhein, plans to create a website to increase communication between students and the board. Adding a nondiscrimination clause, recycling and improved message boards with glass casing are among the ideas promoted by Affirmative Action.
“The major difference there is between us and the other slate is outside experience. If you look around you can see that we know how to get things done,” said Rachael Garrett, the slate’s treasurer candidate. Wackenhein has been a key player in organizing a NATO rally at BU and is the founder of the University’s Green Party.
Velvet Revolution, which said it has been endorsed by the Environmental Students Organization, has been campaigning by approaching people individually and writing to the president of student groups for endorsements.
“The feedback is inspiring. You know when people are asking questions about your experience and platform that they are really interested,” said Garrett.
Voting can be done online at people.bu.edu/election/.
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