From April 1 to 4, the University of Massachusetts Boston Undergraduate Student Government held their elections. Standing tall and talking to the students during dinner hours, nine candidates campaigned in the East Residence dining hall: USG presidential nominee Sam Zeno and her vice president, Alex Killian; Kush Patel, student trustee nominee; and five student senator nominees. The group gave out red, white and blue cupcakes and popsicles. Right next to their table was the opportunity to vote and to get a Dunkin’ voucher for a free doughnut.
When asked what she wants the UMass Boston community to hear, Zeno stated: “More than anything else, we want to push the UMass Boston community that, as candidates, going into next year that one of our larger priorities are to make sure that students are the priority on campus. To make sure that in our—we work a lot with administrators—we meet regularly with the Chancellor, the Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs and other administrators, and to push the needs and the concerns that students have. In making sure that concerns are truly being met and addressed. I just think there’s so much more that we can do to make the student government be a better resource for students; and to make sure that we’re really reaching out. We have such a large and widespread population to really be reaching out to more students.”
Out of the 31 student senator nominees, five were able to head to the residence hall and support their campaigns. Ashley Ross went into how she had originally got involved with USG. “I saw a bunch of advertisements everywhere and on UMBeInvolved, and just like around campus and thought why not?” Erin Noel bounced off Ross and said, “Same thing. I did student government in high school; I was president of my class and thought I should do something like that in college.” Both agree on wanting more students to get involved on campus and bring more school spirit. Ross talked about getting more community service opportunities on campus. “I’d like to see a lot more involvement as well. But I’d like to see maybe community service around this campus. There’s not as much as I’d thought there would be. In high school I did a lot of volunteering and I was a part of every club you can imagine. I really liked getting out in the community and giving back. I’d like to see this campus do that more; maybe give back to the community of Boston and community here on campus.”
Another student senator nominee at the table, Farrin Khan, said, “I’m grateful to have been allowed the opportunity to represent the interests of the student body. I am eager to begin my duties as Senator, always with my peers in mind!” The other candidates talked about their ideas and plans for the future of UMass Boston as well.
New candidate positions go into effect Fall 2019. Final results are on umassmedia.com.