Editor’s note: This is part of a series of Student Government executive alliance candidate profiles before the election on March 2 and 3. Read the rest of the profiles and submitted columns from all of the candidates here. 

Executive alliance candidates Anagha Kikkeri and Winston Hung are emphasizing student engagement in their run for student body president and vice president.

“We want to make sure we’re interacting with the student body,” government junior Kikkeri said. “Everyone (says) Student Government has so many promises and follows up on virtually none of them, and that’s due to a giant lack of communication between Student Government and the student body, and that’s something we just want to eliminate right now.”

If elected, Kikkeri and Hung said they want to focus on specific issues within student safety, sustainability, and inclusion and equity. They said their plans include creating a committee for students living in Riverside, establishing culturally centered study spaces, increasing the number of confidential advocates in the Title IX office and implementing an orientation program on Title IX resources. 

Kikkeri became involved in SG her freshman year and then became the first vice president of diversity and inclusion for the University Panhellenic Council, the largest affiliation of UT sororities. She said her experience with breaking down systemic barriers in sororities taught her how to work through bureaucracies. 

“I had to work to undo years and years and years of rules and regulations that are outdated,” Kikkeri said. “That required me going into a bureaucracy and working around the red tape, but then also at the same time communicating with my peers and getting a whole population of thousands of women to understand and work with me and trust in me.”

Hung, a chemical engineering and finance junior, has never been involved with SG but has participated in organizations including the Guides of Texas and Texas THON. Hung said he wants to engage all student organizations with Student Government because many groups do not pay attention to SG.

Kikkeri said they uploaded policy papers to their website to provide a more in-depth view of their ideas. She said the alliance also wants to send biweekly newsletters about SG proceedings to increase student involvement.

“When I talk to people that I was friends with freshman year (about SG), (they said) they’ve never voted before,” Hung said. “They don’t even know how to vote or when to vote. That’s a big reason why I’m running with Anagha is because we’re trying to rally all of those populations and make it matter.”