The
Minnesota State University Mankato
www.msureporter.com
THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017
Candidates weigh in on intensifying MSSA election
LUKE LARSON Staff Writer The 2017 student senate election is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing and complex in recent memory. The election is now twelve days away and the race is beginning to take shape. The Reporter spoke with both presidential candidates and vice presidential candidates yesterday. Mavericks Empowering Mavericks Abdulrahmane AbdulAziz and Kayla Cremers are the presidential and vice presidential candidates of Mavericks Empowering Mavericks respectively. Both are currently serving as senators in the 84th senate. Mavericks Empowering Mavericks was the first party to enter the race. According to its Facebook page (“Mavericks Empowering Mavericks”), Mavericks Empowering Mavericks is fielding a total of twenty-six senate candidates. Including the President and Vice President, there are thirty-two seats in the senate. AbdulAziz boasts of the diversity
of Mavericks Empowering Mavericks’ senate candidate lineup. Abdul-Aziz declined to comment on de Ruiter’s campaign, saying that he prefers to focus on his own party’s message. The core of that message, he says, is establishing a senate that reaches out to students. “We want to serve the students and we want to be able to say that we’re addressing your concerns,” says Abdul-Aziz. “We really want to change up the culture of how senate is. Usually students have to seek us out and we want to change it [so that] we’re going to come to you.” Abdul-Aziz says that the Mavericks Empowering Mavericks’ campaign strategy, which includes efforts to reach out to registered student organizations (RSOs) in order to receive feedback on the party platform, reflects this ideal. He also notes that Mavericks Empowering Mavericks is proposing the establishment of “Town Hall Tuesdays,” a biweekly or monthly event that would foster communication between students and their senate. At the core of the Mavericks Empowering Mavericks platform are three goals: improving academic advising, diversif ying
campus, and prioritizing environmental issues. Abdul-Aziz expanded on each aspect of his three-point plan. He says that MNSU students deal with numerous problems under the current academic advising system which he hopes to remedy through personalized academic advising. Diversifying campus means increasing enrollment rates for diverse students and fostering collaboration between student senate and international RSOs on campus, he says. In terms of specific environmental initiatives, he points to creating more green spaces on campus and starting a composting program. “It’s all within the name: Mavericks Empowering Mavericks,” says AbdulAziz. “We want to empower Mavericks for success. Being a voice for students—that’s what MSSA is about. We want to empower you. It’s your choice, it’s your money, you go to this university. It is your university—you should have a say in the things that happen on campus.” “We want to include everybody’s voice and make sure that their concerns are met,” says Cremers. “If anyone has any concerns, just reach out to me or Abdul.” More information on the party and its platform can be
found on its Facebook page. Support Our Students (SOS) MSSA Speaker Fred de Ruiter entered the MSSA presidential race this week, shortly after the Elections Commission’s decision last Friday to postpone the election from April 12 to April 25. Tuesday he named Jeremiah Kirch as his running mate. They are running on the Support Our Students (SOS) ticket. De Ruiter and his party have entered what was a single-party race. He says that Mavericks Empowering Mavericks should not have the election handed to them and that SOS is bringing an ambition to the race that Mavericks Empowering Mavericks lacks. De Ruiter was not hesitant to pit his campaign against that of Mavericks Empowering Mavericks. He says that while SOS’s platform is very similar to that of Mavericks Empowering Mavericks, there are several key factors that separate the two parties. He points to platform differences on two specific issues. SOS’s platform includes a plan to provide feminine hygiene products in all women’s restrooms and a commitment to keep the free lot free. The Reporter notes that, according to their Facebook
page, Mavericks Empowering Mavericks supports “better access to feminine hygiene products.” He believes the free lot question is especially significant. “It’s been a prominent issue in every platform of pretty much every party since the early 2010s,” he says. “Mavericks Empowering Mavericks is the first party that doesn’t have it, so that tells me something. I’m not saying they necessarily oppose it, but they’re skipping over a very important issue for a lot of students.” He also argues that he and the SOS senate candidates (now numbering roughly ten) are more qualified than Mavericks Empowering Mavericks’ candidates. De Ruiter says that he has more MSSA experience than both Senator Abdul-Aziz and Senator Cremers combined. He notes, however, that unlike Mavericks Empowering Mavericks, SOS is fielding many senate candidates that are not incumbent senators. De Ruiter argues that, because of this, SOS offers a mixture of both MSSA experience and “fresh eyes” who will help the next senate avoid a sort of senate “tunnel
ELECTION page 2
Letter to the Editor: Eberhart defends election unfairness claims MSU Students, I would like to start off by thanking you, the MSU community for the tremendous support I have received through emails, messages on social media, and people stopping me on campus that were happy someone was taking a stand against the MSSA Election “corruption.” I put corruption in quotes because Editor in Chief of the MSU Reporter, Matthew Eberline called it as he saw it in my letter last week
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and I couldn’t agree more. The current MSSA President Rayani came out strong against me in his response on Tuesday. President Rayani is quoted saying that “he (Rayani) objects to much of the tone and the content of the piece (Eberhart’s piece).” This is not a shock to me because Vice President Ruiz was quoted saying “MSSA president Rayani and I have tried to work with all parties involved and with the different commissions in efforts to have a fair
election.” Not one person on the Accountability Party’s platform was worked with by either President Rayani or VP Ruiz. It does not shock me that President Rayani didn’t like my tone because why would anyone want corruption that happened on their watch to be exposed? The excuses made by President Rayani embarrass me as a student of MSU because as the future leaders of our world we should look to solve the problems, not to deflect blame. President Rayani also
disagreed with my take on the campaigning guidelines being discriminatory. Head of the Elections Commission, Connor Martin, said these rules are “set by the Department of Residential Life.” In an email with Vice President of Student Affairs, David Jones, I was told that these rules were developed in partnership with MSSA. I encourage President Rayani to look at where the rules come from before making statements lashing out at my tone and content. On a
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side note, it was brought to my attention that the MSU Reporter was accused of publishing my letter due to the fact that they had their budget cut. This is absurd and out of line. The MSU Reporter is an independent paper and should be treated as such. Any speculation otherwise is uncalled for. We the students have a voice and we won’t be shut out. Thank you again for the support. –Aaron Eberhart
Have a story idea or a comment? EMAIL
News Editor Nicole Schmidt nicole.schmidt-3@mnsu.edu