[votevotevote]

That's right, voting has STARTED on Blackboard and runs until 11:59:59 on Wednesday night!

I have prepared large quantities of colorful flyers, candy, and my personal dignity, all to be given away over the course of the next three days! I'm thoroughly excited about campaigning instead of going to my classes, eating, or sleeping. =]

In the meanwhile, though, I've provided some information about why you should vote for me!

To start, here's my election profile, my facebook group, a Retriever article about me and a video of the debates.

I have been endorsed by: Pre-Medical Society, Sports Club Council, Men's Rugby, Pagan Student Union, Tea Empire, and Michael "Steel Wolf" Castello, who ran for SGA President last year. I have also met with the National Pan-Hellenic Council, Freedom Alliance, Alpha Sigma Kappa, the UMBC Mama's Boys, and the leaders of many other organizations to gauge the concerns that face various groups on UMBC's campus.

Here are my stances on some hot topics, boiled down very simply so as to keep this post short. If you have any questions or have heard differently about my stances on these issues, please feel free to leave a comment or email me.

What's up with your views on GREEK LIFE? I heard a rumor that you're anti-Greek.
This rumor, like most election rumors, is just not true, and I have no idea who is spreading it but I wish whoever it was would stop. The half-truth behind the rumor is this: I am not in a sorority for many reasons. One is that I tend to have the most fun in co-ed environments and would not personally enjoy being in an all-female organization. It's just not for me. Despite this, however, I believe that every student should have the right to pursue things that interest them, which include participation in Greek organizations. Just because I personally am not in a Greek organization does not mean that I will not advocate for them. I would like to see increased funding and support for Greek Life, because all students pay the same activity fee and deserve access to the resources SGA can provide. I would like to connect Greek organizations with other student organizations with similar goals and interests to facilitate cosponsorships. I believe that this would both help Greek organizations get the funding they need and increase positive perceptions of Greek Life on the UMBC campus. I would also like to increase awareness about the positive service campaigns that many fraternities and sororities engage in and encourage campus-wide participation.

How do you feel about cupcakes?
They're amazing. Next.

I'm in a Sports Club and SGA doesn't do anything for me. Why should I vote?
You're right. SGA doesn't do much for you, but that needs to change, and if I win, it will. I attended the sports' club officer training session this past week and was outraged by the unneccesary hoops sports' clubs are forced to jump through in order to access their funding or plan events/trips. NO OTHER type of student organization has to go through this amount of red tape to organize trips or spend their own money, and there is no reason why sports' clubs should have to either. Fixing the system in place for sports clubs to give students more power will be an immediate priority of mine when I enter office, and I plan to work with Jake Steel and other sports' club leaders to develop a gameplan to address these problems as soon as I get into office. After speaking to Sports' Club Council about my plans to advocate for such changes, I earned a unanimous endorsement from the council. If you're in a sports' club, please vote for me and tell your whole team to do the same so that I'm able to help you guys out.

What are you going to do to fix the parking problem?
As VPSO, this really won't be my jurisdiction. I suggest you ask Yasmin and Jen about their stance on this issue.

What do you think about Referendum A?
I don't have a particularly strong opinion one way or the other about this one. I think that there are cuts that SGA should be making that this fee increase will be used to avoid. That being said, if SGA has more money we will be able to tackle bigger problems and do more for the student body. If elected, and Referendum A passes, I would like to try to work with SEB to see if we can make the Quadmania Carnival free for UMBC students next year. I would also like to see restricted funded organizations like fraternities, sororities, and sports clubs be given greater consideration for events that are open to all UMBC students. Lastly, I would like to provide a support package for new organizations so that they have the funds they need to advertise for new members and get a fundraiser or two going. None of these things can happen, however, unless the fee increase passses.

Who else should I vote for?
I encourage you to talk to candidates and make informed decisions. However, I have endorsed Yasmin Karimian for President and James McCauley for Treasurer. I have also endorsed Toby Le, Simmi Singh, Josh Michael, and Tim Mantegna for Senate and Emily Han for Finance Board.

Good luck to everyone else running, and don't forget to VOTE! =]