Elections for positions on DU’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) are taking place this week. Campaigning started April 19 at 10 p.m. and lasts the entire week.
A debate between candidates running for President and Vice President will take place on April 22 at 7 p.m. in Davis Auditorium in Sturm Hall.
“Voting begins at 8 a.m. on Wednesday [April 22] and runs until [12 p.m. on Friday, April 24],” said Jack Jensen, Senior Senator and Chairman of the Senate Affairs Committee. “Students will be emailed a personal link to vote.”
Students can only vote for certain positions, depending on their credit hours. “If their credit hours reflect a grade different than the years they have been here and are not able to vote for their class representative, they can email Carl Johnson at carl.johnson@studentlife.du.edu and he will record their vote for their proper representative,” said Jensen.
Jensen believes the elections are important to the student body because they allow students to have their opinion voiced. “By choosing their representation they [students] are choosing the voice they want to speak on their behalf to the upper administration of this school,” said Jensen. “Sometimes it seems like things happen behind closed doors here, which is true to an extent, but often the student body doesn’t realize that we have a say in a lot of proceedings with administration through the student representation of USG.”
“Many of the USG Senators and Secretaries are involved at a high level on various committees to make sure the students are considered when decisions are being made,” said Jensen. “Voting is the only way to ensure your aspirations for the future of our campus is taken into account.”
More information about USG can be found on their website.
The Presidential Candidates:
Candidate: Cam Welch
Major: Marketing
Hometown: Rumford, Maine
Running Mate: Tara Collins
Major: Business Information and Analytics
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
- Improve campus safety
- Improve student safety
- Increase awareness of sexual assault
- Increase school spirit
- Connect student body
- Increase alumni involvement
Why did you decide to run?
“We became extremely passionate this year when we saw how invested Chancellor Chopp was to truly changing this university for the better. Over the past few weeks we have met with several student orgs, Greek houses, and DU athletic teams, and listened to their concerns. There were several overarching themes throughout our results, which helped us realize the prominent issues on DU’s campus. This ignited our passion to enact positive change for our fellow students in the DU community.”
More information can be found at: http://cam51794.wix.com/welchandcollins
Candidate: Cam Hickert
Major: Physics and International Studies
Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Running Mate: Jess Davidson
Major: Political Science and Public Policy
Hometown: Fort Collins, Colorado
- Increase school spirit
- Increase social media presence
- Connect student body
- Rethink alcohol incident prevention and discipline
- Improve campus safety
- Increase sexual assault awareness
Why did you decide to run?
“During our second year at DU, both of us were in USG—Jess as the Sophomore Senator and Cam as Secretary of Communications. Our time in USG was enjoyable, but more than anything it left us with itchy feet, like we could be doing a lot more to improve DU. When we came back from studying abroad this year we began to speak to student groups across campus about what they wanted to see from USG next year, and we realized that a lot of groups who feel they have extremely different identities actually want to see similar things from their DU experience. We felt that because of our experience, balanced teamwork and grassroots approach, we were two of the best people on campus to partner up and help connect all of these students to the things they were asking to see. We have a vision to build bridges across campus to create meaningful action, and we would love nothing more than to use our experience and leadership to bring that vision to fruition.”
More information can be found at: http://davidsonjess2012.wix.com/hickertdavidsonfordu
Candidate: Nick Stubler
Major: International Studies
Hometown: Grand Junction, Colorado
Running Mate: Osa Aihie
Major: Finance
Hometown: Oakland, California
- Connect DU with the greater Denver community
- Improve cultural awareness
- Improve DU social life
- Decrease environmental impact
- Increase transparency of tuition costs
- Increase access to physical/mental help
Why did you decide to run?
“First and foremost, we seek to represent the student body. Far too many students feel disconnected from our student government, a reality we believe is unacceptable and hope to rectify. We plan to ASK for students’ opinions, LISTEN to their ideas, and REPRESENT everyone’s interests. We are committed to running an open and welcoming undergraduate student government with the mission of genuinely representing the student body. Second, we realize that the most valuable asset for each of our students will be their diploma. Consequently, we hope to lay the foundations for DU to evolve into a top tier institution, an evolution that will benefit all students past and present. Our six main initiatives are designed to effectively lay this foundation, and fall into the categories of Public Good, DU Community, Education, Inclusive Excellence, Sustainability and Health and Wellness.”
More information can be found at: http://www.stubleraihie.com/home.html
Candidate: Carter Eckerline
Major: Finance
Hometown: Plymouth, Minnesota
Running Mate: Mansfield Middleton
Major: Finance
Hometown: Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- Increase sexual assault awareness
- Increase transparency from administration
- Increase funding for club sports
- Increase attendance at varsity sports
- Improve recycling and composting
- Improve internet bandwidth
Why did you decide to run?
“Carter and I decided to run because we have been at DU for four years and would like to be more involved and give back to the community. Carter and I have been very active on campus since we were assigned as roommates in Centennial Halls freshman year, Carter taking active roles in Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity and myself with the Club Ski Team. We both attend many social, philanthropic and athletic events on campus, but have yet to take a leadership role within USG. We see running for USG President and Vice President as our opportunity to do so. We see many aspects of the community that we feel we can improve upon and change for the better; being elected to USG would give us the chance to improve upon these things.”
More information can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/eckerlineandmiddletonfortheworld
Other Candidates:
Senior Senator (2 available):
- Jack Arrix
- Nicolette Smith
Junior Senator (2 available):
- Tess Greenwald
- Rory Moore
Sophomore Senator (2 available):
- Eli Friedland
- Julia Arnett
- Margaret (Margaux) Boles
- Tiffany Vo
- Josie Major
- Jennifer Hsu
- Alex Yun
Performing Arts Senator:
- Scott Ullman
On-Campus Senator (2 available):
- Alejandro Garcia
- Clay Soper
Off-Campus Senator (2 available):
- Parya Mahmoudi
- Aagil Anwar
- Zane Sanchez
- Nicole Pancheri-Paulson
- Julia Richards
AHUM Senator:
- Peter Graham
- Brandi Arndt
- Tim Longfield
- Sarah Yaffe
International Studies Senator:
- Aaron Hinds
Daniels Senator (2 available):
- Mitch Ritz
- Cory Hott
- Jake Lotwin
- Tyler Linnebur
- Justine Gildea
Natural Science and Math Senator:
- Yingyot Arora (JD)
- Ben Murray
- Jessica Sedhom
- Kaela Martins
- Anne Skelton
Engineering and Computer Science Senator:
- Cameron Mismash
- Hannah Bettinger
Hospitality Management Senator:
- Re’ahna Ray
Social Sciences Senator:
- Jillian Martinez
