By Deanna Krokos, For The Miami Student
Miami students will be able to cast their ballots in the Student Body General Election on April 16 and 17. On the ballot will be six candidate teams running for student body president and vice president. The candidates are as follows:
Mark Cialone, Alex Dunlap
Kevin Krumpak, Amy Berg
Kevin Murphy, Joseph Roulier
Joey Parizek, Matt Kovesdy
Jake Rosebrock, Ian Young
Dan Stewart, Jess Robinson
Each of these candidate teams are running on different platforms that encompass issues they think are the most important and realistic to tackle if they are elected.
The team of Kevin Krumpak and Amy Berg believe they are set apart from other candidates because of the experiences and perspective they can bring to the positions.
The team is focused on fixing common student complaints with the recreation center, advising and student organization funding. They are interested in establishing an institutionalized system of peer advising; which would allow underclassmen to seek advice from older students regarding class registration and organizational involvement.
"Students would be able to have conversations that wouldn't necessarily happen with a [professional] adviser," Berg said. "This could be an additional resource for students."
The team also wants to advocate for additional space in the recreation center and purchasing more equipment to alleviate some of the main issues with the rec center.
Both of these candidates serve on ASG, with Krumpak as secretary for off-campus affairs and Berg as cabinet's chief of staff.
"We've both built relationships over the last year," Krumpak said. "With us, there'll be no learning curve."
The team of Jacob Rosebrock and Ian Young hope to use their different experiences and unique perspective on student life to create a diverse culture at Miami.
"We're trying to create a more diverse and inclusive environment on Miami's campus" Rosebrock said. "We want to make Miami into a place where everyone can be themselves and still be at home."
Their main running points concern promoting better advising and counseling services and restructuring a global buddies program to help international students feel more at home on campus.
Though neither candidate has served on ASG in the past, they believe their experiences as resident assistants give them insight into student life and concerns.
"We have a shared vision," Young said. "We have a clear idea of how we want Miami to change, and we know how to get there."
Current President of Student Senate Dan Stewart and former Senator Jessica Robinson have a platform centered on addressing known student complaints.
They are in favor of exploring greater use and promotion of inexpensive open-source textbooks across the university to save students money.
"The next student body president and vice president need to address the issue of textbook costs," Stewart said. "We have a way to improve textbook costs, and we want to make it happen."
Additionally, they are concerned with the size and capacity of Miami's recreational facilities, especially in light of the forthcoming demolition of Withrow Court.
This team believes that their extensive involvement in Associated Student Government throughout their Miami careers make them qualified to hold these positions.
"The ultimate reason why we're running is that we love Miami, and want to leave it better than when we found it," Stewart said.
Juniors Mark Cialone and Alex Dunlap are running on a platform of pragmatism.
"We won't make promises we don't know we can complete," Cialone said. "Looking at the past, what got done off of the platforms was nothing."
Cialone and Dunlap are mainly concerned with improving the culture around student safety and engagement.
"We really care about students, and we want them to be in an environment that is safe and promotes safety," Cialone said.
Another issue this team wants to address is student engagement and unity on campus. A lot of this is centered on athletics, and getting diverse groups of students to attend the games.
"We need to create an environment that people want to be engaged in," Cialone said.
Also running are the teams of Joey Parizek and Matt Kovesdy, and Kevin Murphy and Joseph Roulier. They were unavailable for comments. Hard campaigning starts March 29, and elections will be held April 15 and 16.