Four pairs of candidates are running for the Executive Alliance positions in this year’s Student Government elections.
The candidates for president and vice president are government seniors Kallen Dimitroff and Jesse Guadiana, economics junior Jonathan Dror and journalism junior Delisa Shannon, neuroscience and psychology senior Kevin Helgren and marketing junior Binna Kim, and economics and mathematics senior Daniel James Chapman and English senior Austin James Robinson, respectively.
Campaigning began at 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 17.
Dimitroff said the most important characteristic of her and Guadiana’s platform is that it is feasible.
“It’s one thing to have ideas, but it’s another to have done the research and have the experience to make those ideas a reality,” Dimitroff said. “My biggest goal is to restore the student body’s faith in SG. Right now students don’t think SG can help them. SG can work for students but it needs a lot of work, more perspectives in the conversation and people who have enough care and experience to see it through.”
Dimitroff said she and Guadiana have built a platform with leaders from across the 40 Acres and have picked points they feel could best serve every student, including promoting affordable off-campus housing options, providing free transcripts for students and supporting survivors of sexual assault.
Dror said the theme of his and Shannon’s platform is engaging students in various activities on campus such as athletic events and lectureship series.
“We also want to foster conversation and bridge the many gaps across UT,” Dror said. “It is easy for students to get stuck in their own niche, but we want to give students the opportunity to branch out amongst cultural and ethnic lines.”
Dror said he and Shannon want to simplify the process of class registration, provide later and healthier food options on campus, extend the hours at the Student Activity Center to 24/5, enhance career support within each college and improve transportation options from North Campus and Riverside.
Helgren said the Helgren-Kim campaign is centered around the power of storytelling.
“We believe that each and every story that each and every student brings to the table can — and should — spark positive change on campus,” Helgren said. “We hope to address five key issues that we consider to be of importance and relevance.”
Helgren said his and Kim’s campaign wants to address the problem of sexual assault and bring conversations about this issue to the national stage, help new students build a home at UT, provide more options for physical wellness, eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health struggles and represent all the different identities and types of UT students.
Chapman said his and Robinson’s campaign is humorous and satirical, but their platform has serious and realistic goals.
“I think the most unique aspect of our platform is our emphasis on making UT-Austin’s institutions more democratic,” Chapman said. “We want to increase transparency within University of Texas Investment Management Company — UT’s main investment company. We want to create an online dashboard showing where exactly our tuition dollars go.”
Chapman said his and Robinson’s campaign would also focus on strengthening mental health resources on campus, fighting sexual assault, making UT more affordable and “ensuring that there is real inclusivity, not the buzzword kind — within UT.”
The University-wide election will occur on March 2 and 3 online at utexasvote.org.
