College of Arts and Sciences Student Government slates for the spring 2012 election were released Saturday on the Boston University Student Elections Commission website.
SEC listed profiles for two slates, CAS New Directions and BAAAM, which announced their candidacy.
CAS students running in BAAAM include junior Alexandra Michel as president, sophomore Avia Bui as executive vice president, sophomore Melissa Chua as vice president of financial affairs, junior Ashley Vineyard as vice president of internal affairs and sophomore Robert Patrovic as vice president of student affairs.
Winning the election would allow BAAAM to reach out to students whose voices are otherwise not heard, Michel said.
“I’ve basically volunteered to hold events just because I know students wanted to do it,” Michel said. “Throughout the course of this year, I’ve been watching different members of the student government of CAS, and there’s a lack of volunteering to hold events, to do extra shifts at the [George Sherman Union] Link, basically just not a lot of motivation from the students.”
As junior class president, Michel said she listened to students’ concerns about not having enough non-carbonated beverages in CAS, and she was able to get two additional vending machines placed in the building.
CAS students running as CAS New Directions include junior Blyss Buitrago as president, junior Abigail Ridley-Kerr as executive vice president, junior Marcos Villarreal as vice president of financial affairs, junior Megan Ware as vice president of internal affairs and sophomore Nicolas Pantages as vice president of student affairs.
CAS New Directions’ platform promotes a greater outreach to the student body and better communication between student groups and college governments, Buitrago said in an email interview.
“My slate and I have been involved with CAS Student Government since our freshmen year, so we definitely feel that our experience and perspective on how CAS has been run allows us to take what has and hasn’t worked in the past and the see how we can raise the bar,” she said.
Buitrago said she has deep-rooted relationships with administration and a number of student groups on campus.
Though Student Union has recently changed its election cycle and will hold elections again in the fall, CAS Student Government will continue to run on a semester year election cycle, Buitrago said.
“I do believe that switching to a calendar year cycle is definitely something to consider as it has many pros and cons,” she said. “Yet, the decision to switch or not stems from what cons are worth dealing with in order to benefit from the pros.”
Elections will take place from April 16 to April 24, and students in any college can vote via the Student Link.