General Elections Campaign Statement

2/3/14 6:00pm

These statements were submitted to the SA Director of Elections. The Thresher has not altered them in any way.

 

Student Association President

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Min Ji Kim

"We are stronger together." Rice Athletics has the "Together" campaign rallying the Rice

community to support our athletes. It motivated us to achieve victories including the 2013

C-USA football championship. Using this great campaign as a model, I will focus on

bringing our community together to foster more discussion from the student body as your

SA President, but I can't reach this goal by myself. I need YOUR input.

 

Throughout my experience in the SA, I learned how to work with the administration

and how to reach out to my peers. Last year, as a SA Senator, I worked with Fondren

library to have its hours extend 24/7 during finals. This was only possible after listening

to a student's concern over the hours before the change. Currently, I serve as a SA

Student Life Committee Chair. A few of the projects that the committee is working on are

offering a shuttle service to off campus students and revamping the International Student

Association.

 

To be a SA President who gets work done, I need to listen to the student body and meet

with various people. I would implement an anonymous input system on the SA website,

which I would check daily. I would I go to cabinet meetings and have "office hours"

during meals at colleges to talk to my fellow Rice owls.

 

I have the experience and dedication to be an effective SA President, and I need YOUR

support so that we can work together to enhance the Rice experience.

 

Trent Navran

At Rice, I've been able to grow, challenge myself, and open my eyes to infinite learning, both academic and experiential. I take pride in being a Rice student, and from the start have sought to make a positive impact in the Rice community. As a New Student Representative in the SA, I collaborated with residential college leadership to evaluate how to foster a culture that stimulates intellectual curiosity and challenges students' worldviews, ideas, and aspirations. As a Senator, I formed the Entrepreneurship Collaborative, an entity that brings together student leaders, administrators, and key faculty to improve programs that foster leadership development and entrepreneurial opportunities. These experiences allowed me to deepen my love for this university and affect tangible change on campus.

 

I hope to be your SA President for one simple reason: I want to ensure that Rice students feel empowered to own their college experience and realize the positive changes they may hope to make. Be it alleviating parking concerns through construction of a parking garage or rethinking how Rice online courses can enhance academics, I'll ensure that students are involved in administrative planning. Valuing transparency, communication, and widespread participation, I'll expand and publicize the SA's new online petitioning system, which has the potential to magnify student initiatives, receive administrative responses and action, and hopefully put change in the hands of invested students. It would be an incredible honor to serve the Rice student body in this way, and I would be grateful to have your support.

 

Denis Leahy (joke candidate)

We must return the power to the people.  I am not asking for reform; I am demanding a revolution.  Rice is truly unique from similar universities in that its students play such an active role in the general functioning of the university, but there has been a recent and constant trend away from student control. Through my vast experience across multiple levels of student involvement, I have noticed a typical relationship between the administration and student body - one of overregulation and conflict.  In the process, the administration tears from Rice the exact sense of individuality and openness that was glorified when we applied.  Now, I'm just as much to blame as they are for propagating this lie that we use to continually reassure ourselves.  And that's what it is: a lie.  The lie that everything is perfect on this campus, that we're all happy, content, and contributing to the culture.  But that's why I'm here: to say "screw the system," to reach for that same desperate hope to be a part of something truly unique and not some pathetic imagination of the Ivy's.  Thus, I suggest a slew of administrative reform including the following: a complete inversion of the alcohol policy, the conversion of Leebron's house into the 12thresidential college, the replacement of fire drills with blackout drills, the establishment of a parking police police, and the official conversion of the post of Dean of Undergraduates to Dean of No Fun.  Stay tuned; we're in for a bumpy ride.

 

SA Internal Vice President

No candidate is running for IVP. There will be a special election later this semester.

 

SA External Vice President

Amritha Kanakamedala

The Student Association has the power to enact great change across campus. I believe that the SA has the potential to better the Rice community for current and future Rice undergraduates. Ultimately, I am running for SA External Vice President because I want to positively impact the Rice experience.

 

This year I served on the SA Standing Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum. I had the opportunity to work with faculty, the Registrar, and the current EVP to produce a campus-wide survey on registration, add-drop, transfer credit, credit limits, and study abroad. This role allowed me to understand the inner-workings of the SA. Because I have not served in a formal leadership position within the SA, I can contribute a unique perspective by applying my previous leadership experiences in other campus organizations. This will provide me with the ability to bring new ideas on external relations to the SA. My goals as EVP are the following:

1) Increase student involvement and leadership in the SA by providing more sustainable leadership opportunities.

2) Empower students to take on their own projects and practice a proactive and independent leadership style.

3) Better campus-wide communication and SA-student relationships by facilitating open conversation between the administration and students. As EVP, I will be committed to hearing your opinion on SA-related topics. I would love the chance to work with each of you and to serve as your SA EVP.

 

Student Association Treasurer

Joan Liu

Hey guys! I'm a freshman from Jones college, and I'm currently an NSR on the SA's best practices committee for peer-to-peer mentoring. I'm passionate about all things Rice, especially the student body. I've loved being involved with the SA; it's incredible to see a group of people working to better the resources on campus for fellow students.

 

I'm running for SA treasurer in hopes that I can continue to be a part of this effort. I've always had a natural interest in finance, and I think I could take on the job of treasurer well. On top of performing the regular duties of treasurer, I hope to create new projects to expand the role of treasurer as well as the SA's financial resources. And let's be honest, who doesn't love swimming in money? So as you get ready for this election season, I hope you consider voting for me as your new SA treasurer!

 

Rice Program Council President

Aisha Jeeva

Hey Rice,

My name is Aisha and I'm a Martel junior from Cape Town, South Africa. I've been a part of RPC since Freshman Year and am currently this year's President, making it something truly important to me. It is one of the only organizations that has the ability to reach and serve every student at Rice, and often does so. That being said, there is always room for growth and I have spent the past year working to better RPC. We've been more active in both seeking and responding to student feedback (changing the date of Screw-Yer-Roommate to accommodate students celebrating Yom Kippur, revamping Welcome Back Day, etc.), we've brought back Rondelet for the first time since 2011, and we've worked hard to increase visibility in order to reach more students. Having accomplished many of the goals I set at the beginning of my term, I've developed several more during my tenure as President, leading me to run for a second term. I believe that continuation in leadership will ensure ongoing endeavors to enhance RPC are successful, and am excited about will be accomplished if I'm reelected. RPC ultimately exists to serve the students, and should always operate with this in mind . Thank you for your time and I hope I can count on your vote!

 

SA Secretary

Olivia Hsia

Hey Rice! I'm Olivia Hsia (pronounced "shaw" as in Shawshank Redemption, aka one of the greatest movies of all time!) and I would like to be your SA secretary. I am running because, in a world of emails, facebook, and group texts, it can be hard to keep track of everything that's going on.  I believe that the most important part of being a secretary is being a good communitcator, and although I can't keep your phone from buzzing every five minutes, I will do my best to make sure that you are always aware of what is going on in your community.

 

University Court Chair

Brian Baran

In providing a forum for students to interpret and apply the standards of conduct and policies undergirding the Rice community, thus directly engaging in the student judicial process,  University Court fits so well into Rice's tradition of student empowerment and self-governance that it is hard to believe it had virtually ceased to function as recently as 2011.

 

When I joined UCourt as a new student representative in fall 2011, I found myself in the midst of an organization in flux. Thanks to tireless and visionary leadership, UCourt was rapidly regaining its ability to play an integral role in the student judicial process. With the help of an extraordinary collection of dedicated officers and members then and since, UCourt is now well-established as an organization that can bring a valuable student perspective to the judicial process with fairness, integrity, and credibility.

 

With the last of us who witnessed UCourt's incredible transition set to graduate this spring and next, UCourt now enters another critical period in which it must solidify its accomplishments and ensure they are sustainable for decades to come even as members and leaders cycle through. After two terms as secretary and one as vice-chair, I now seek to sustain and refine-as chair-what I and others have helped to build.

 

With this in mind, I ask and hope for the trust of the student body and the Rice community in leading UCourt's efforts to preserve and further its accomplishments in filling its vital role in the  Rice community.

 

RSVP Chair

Cathy Hu and Pooja Yesantharao

Hey Rice!

 

We're Cathy Hu and Pooja Yesantharao and we're excited to be running for RSVP Co-Chairs. As a team, we have experience in all areas of the organization and embody the mission of RSVP. As the current RSVP Secretary, Cathy has extensive experience with the organizational and administrative aspects of the organization, planning and running campus-wide service events while Pooja, the current Health Committee Chair, is experienced in the interpersonal and volunteer aspects, working with volunteers and service organizations and raising awareness about service events both on campus and beyond. We are dedicated members of RSVP: starting as volunteers during our freshman years, becoming college representatives, and now serving in officer roles.

 

This coming year, we hope to accomplish certain objectives to foster the culture of service at Rice. First, we want to make service opportunities more visible and easily accessible for busy students through greater publicity and feasible service projects (on campus or at more convenient times). Secondly, we plan to develop close working relationships with other organizations on campus to organize joint service events that cater to a wide variety of interests. Lastly, we aim to provide resources and guidance for what individual students are looking for in service opportunities.

 

With our experience in diverse RSVP leadership positions, proven dedication to the RSVP community, and fresh ideas for the new year, we look forward to working with all of you to take service at Rice to the next level.

 

RSVP Internal Vice Chair

Joann Pan

As RSVP Children's Committee Co-Chair this year, I have loved working with RSVP and how it promotes service learning in a variety of areas. I believe I could help the Committee Chairs with their service projects and initiate more campus-wide volunteer projects.

 

Thresher Editor-in-Chief

Miles Kruppa

As Rice Thresher Editor-in-Chief, I promise to uphold the highest standards of journalistic integrity, publish news that is both relevant to the Rice community and timely, expand the coverage and reach of the Thresher website, and act as an advocate for student journalism.

 

RTV5 Station Manager

Rachel Gray

Hi, my name is Rachel, and I have been a member of RTV5 since spring semester my freshman year. This past academic year, I served as Programming Director for RTV5. I believe I have the qualities and experience to be successful in this role. My plans as Station Manager would be to increase the quantity and quality of our videos, recruit and retain more members, rebrand and expand the focus of the club, develop a better presence on campus and online, continue to film student performances and original content, and host campus wide events for all students. I would greatly appreciate your vote!

 

KTRU Station Manager

Sal Tijerina

My mission is synonymous with that of KTRU: To promote new, local, and underexposed music in an eclectic background, while keeping KTRU relevant to the Rice student body with free concerts and musical acts on campus.

 

General Elections referendum:

 

Student Association Committee on Constitutional Revisions

Campaign Statement in Support of Ratification of New Constitution

The Student Association's governing document is broken, but we can fix it. The Committee on Constitutional Revisions scoured the current constitution and bylaws, salvaging valuable ideas and principles of student governance, pruning pointless bureaucracy, and cleaning up the mess made because the document had languished so long without a big-picture rethinking of its structure and content.

While we might disagree on what it means, we should all agree better government is a goal worth striving for. The committee believes our proposed constitution would preserve the core mission, purpose and spirit of the SA while allowing it to function more openly, smoothly and reliably. We believe usable and clear procedures will be followed, and a government that follows its procedures is more credible, consistent and effective.

We have merged the constitution and bylaws into a single document; grouped information by topic with clear references to relevant sections; and fixed issues like outdated procedures, contradictions and ambiguities.

The new document is unlikely to be perfect, and we will always be looking for ways to improve it further, but one thing is certain: It is a huge step forward.

 

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