About Saad
This is not your usual campaign. After the Presidential Debate on Wednesday, many were left turned off by no clear front-runner in a six candidate race. So, a couple friends made an event for what initially was a sarcastic manner of dealing with the disappointment. Then it started to pick up. Some came to me asking if it was a real campaign, because they would love to see it happen. Soon, I found myself considering: Am I really going to run?
I had thought about it months before, but ultimately decided against it because of the time commitment. Grant and Melissa do so much for the organization and put in so many hours to make the organization what it is – I simply wouldn’t have had time to continue their legacy. |
But, if this write-in campaign is of any indication, people are legitimately dissatisfied by the current crop of candidates – even if they do have six to choose from. Having been in Students’ Association for a whole year, I was also dissatisfied with what I saw on Wednesday. Once I began to seriously consider the candidacy, and listened to what people were telling me, it became a bit clearer.
Thus, it is at this time, that I officially announce my unofficial campaign.
~Saad Usmani, President
~Saad Usmani, President
About Cindy
When I made my decision to run for senate, it was with the intention to bring change to the University. I wanted to represent the Latino Student Voice as well as the Transfer Student Voice here on campus, since there are so unrepresented. Through my experience as a Latin American and transfer student here at the U of R, I have encountered many difficulties that I wouldn’t want to see any other student have to go through.
After watching the presidential debate, I realized there are many deeper issues that affect this campus. I was disappointed to see, however, there was little done by the current candidates to directly address these issues. Instead of hearing a list of actions that would address the issues of diversity, inclusion, and underrepresentation within SA I heard the same ideas being repeated by various different candidates. Many of these ideas have already been discussed countless time throughout our campus, but its time we actually start taking action to address these issues. When Saad approached me with an invitation to run with him as his Vice President he not only explained his platform, but also mentioned a number of actions he would take if elected as President. I was thoroughly impressed with not only his commitment but also his passion for helping the student body. I 100% believe in the vision behind his platform, as I have seen myself as an Executive Aide for the Student Life Committee how hard it is to actually get anything done in SA. I believe that before we can help solve some of the issues that affect our campus we need to solve many of these issues that go on in SA internally. Therefore, the same motivations that encouraged me to run for senate are the same ones that are now encouraging me to run for write in Vice President with Saad. While I know how hard it is to make these decisions last minute, especially if you are running as a write in candidate, I refuse to let that affect my decision to run. Our campus community deserves more than just ideas being discussed. It deserves a list of actions on which they can rely upon, it deserves transparency to understand what is going on, and finally it deserves actual representation. Therefore, my candidacy is not about me, but about the students I intend to represent and understand. Thank you so much for your time and as always if you have questions you can always feel free to reach out to me through my email, [email protected]. ~Cindy Molina, Vice-President
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