Students campaigning to be on next year's Student Government Association’s (SGA) Executive Board shared their qualifications and initiatives on March 2. Campus-wide voting begins March 23.

The two pairs running for student body president and vice president are Zainar Naaz and Fatima Malik against Aiden Partenio and Jenna Lang.

The president and vice president ticket

Naaz and Malik are running for student body president and vice president with a focus on retention, community and improving campus dining halls.

Malik is the current SGA chief of staff, and Naaz is the director of operations. They are both resident assistants.

Malik said they want to focus on keeping students – especially international students – at Central Michigan University by giving them the level of engagement and involvement they came to CMU for.

As the president of the Muslim Student Association, Naaz said she would like to work with religious and community-building RSOs to make sure they have space to express themselves.

“We can have all these initiatives for our campaign, but at the end of the day, what matters is what everyone else wants,” Malik said.

They are open to hearing feedback from students about what they would like to see on campus, she said.

President and vice president candidates Partenio and Lang define their campaign by four pillars: advocacy, growth, integrity and transparency. Their slogan is “What can we do for you?”

Both are involved in several committees. Partenio is an SGA Senate leader pro tempore. As a freshman, he said it's important to have outsider feedback from those newer to SGA.

“I understand how hard it can be being a first-year student and not knowing where your place is and really just needing help finding that home, and that's what we want to do,” Lang said.

The pair wants to focus on getting more Registered Student Organization (RSO) representatives in SGA to grow the association, Partenio said. They also value transparency.

“We want to make sure that every student has access to every single document that we can possibly release to the public,” Lang said. “And we want to make sure that everyone knows what is going on in SGA and really be informed about it.”

Partenio said they want to lead SGA ethically, responsibly and sustainably.

Treasurer candidate

Lego club founder and President Sophia Laurain said she would like to continue the work Treasurer Christian Dunn began to better educate student groups on how to receive funding.

“I think there are so many ways that we can make this better, and I would like to figure out how to do so,” Laurain said.

She has finance experience as the academic coordinator for her sorority, Delta Phi Epsilon. She is the only candidate running.

Her initiatives include:

Improving RSOs' funding reform
Starting an emergency micro-grant program
Hosting workshops to expand students’ financial literacy
Creating a campus engagement fund
Implementing performance-based funding for RSOs
Prioritizing budget transparency

Associate justice candidate

Allison Vander Slik is running to be re-elected for her third year on the judicial branch as chief justice.

She wants to create clear appeal procedures and guidelines so the branch can have an easier transfer of power in the future. She is the only candidate running.

“I plan to continue to grow the branch as well as fine-tune things to ensure easier contributions to future associate justices,” she said.

SGA scholarship update

Student Body President Akua Achaempong announced the SGA scholarship will be open to all students, not just members of the association. Instead of an essay, applicants will need to prove how they are involved on campus.

Winners of the scholarship will be determined by the SGA Scholarship Committee, which will be made up of five students elected by the general student body. It will reside under the Office of Student Affairs and be advised by a university-appointed faculty advisor.

The committee will allocate and promote funds from the scholarship according to the guidelines it sets. Achaempong said it will also be responsible for facilitating donations for the scholarship.

Members serving on the committee will not be eligible to receive the scholarship.

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