By the filing deadline, another Executive hopeful had entered the race, and candidates had filed to fill all 19 open student government positions.
No position is uncontested, with six people running for one Programs Finance Committee seat and four running for the other. Eight people total are competing for two EMU Board Finance Senator positions, and 10 are vying for two Senate seats on the Athletic Department Finance Committee.
Richard Nile, an undeclared major, submitted paperwork to run without a running mate for ASUO President. Nile, a junior transfer student from California, said he was interesting in encouraging students to participate in student government. “I was talking to some friends and we didn’t really know who the president was or who any of the senators were and I just wanted to see if I could change that,” Nile said.
On March 13, Ty Schwoeffermann filed to run for ASUO Executive with Paul Kammerzelt.
Schwoeffermann said he wanted to run for president because he thinks the ASUO is a “great place” for students to organize and make the University a better place.
He said that if elected, he would help organize students to lobby the Oregon Legislature to increase funding for post-secondary education and would make the Programs Finance Committee more accessible to all students.
Schwoeffermann said he has been heavily involved in activism on campus, particularly surrounding diversity and discrimination issues.
“I feel I am extremely qualified to help organize students and defend the rights of students on this campus,” he said.
Programs Finance Committee member Matt Rose, who filed for candidacy on Feb. 26, is in the running to stay on the committee. Rose is currently serving as PFC at-large but is running for Senate Seat 1.
Rose said he will be on the PFC again next year whether he wins the Senate seat because he has a two-year seat, but he said he wants to be in a Senate seat because of the importance of keeping the lines of communication between the PFC and Senate open.
“I think if this reform movement is going to happen, it has to come through the legislative body,” Rose said.
Rose said he has been balanced in his voting and is easily approachable.
There are problems every year when groups come in and have to explain what happened the previous year if no one on the PFC remembers, Rose said. He said it will help to have someone who understands the process from the start.
“I think my voting record and my time on the PFC speaks for itself,” Rose said. “I feel very bad about the constraints we had this year, but I tried to work within the rules to make the best possible situation for everyone involved.”
In addition to the candidate filings, ballot initiatives have also been added into the mix. Student Senate Vice President Jonathan Rosenberg collected the required number of signatures for a measure that calls for the ASUO to explore creating a campus textbook exchange. If the ASUO Constitution Court approves the signatures, the measure will be on the ballot.
Students submitting ballot measures have until Friday at 5 p.m. to gather signatures from 5 percent of students, although the wording would have already been approved by the Constitution Court.
Elections Coordinator Dante Vivanco said that when students come back from spring break, they can expect to see all the candidates around campus handing out flyers and speaking to students.
Vivanco said the candidates will be wearing campaign T-shirts and talking to students trying to sell their ideas for how to improve the campus.
Students will vote using Duck Web in primary elections take place April 9 – 13 and throughout that week candidates will try to be accessible and conspicuous. A candidate fair on April 10 in the EMU amphitheater will give students the chance to meet candidates and ask questions in an informal setting, Vivanco said.
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