CANDIDATES ON THE ISSUES

Student Association elections are being held this week. Meet the candidates and find out their stance on the issues here.

Transportation and Parking

Ryan Sorenson puts parking and transit issues at the top of his priority list, being a commuter student.

“One hour parking is unreasonable and we should contact our alderman and see how we can expand parking,” Sorenson said.

Sorenson is looking to expand Capitol and Humbolt parking space along with handicap parking on campus. He is hopeful that if we start now we can have changes in two or three years, especially because he already has connections with the Parking and Transportation committee.

Sorenson also wants to look into a bike share program similar to that of  UW-Madison’s.

Evan Braun agrees that Parking and Transit is a major issue on campus. He says that commuters may be the most under-represented group of students at UWM.

“We need to expand because 30 percent of our students are commuters, but we have some of the worst options for commuters,” Braun said.

The issue of parking is “tricky” according to Ryan Dresden.

“I visited colleges near my hometown in South Carolina and what I found is that no matter what city you’re in, parking is an issue,” Dresden explains.

Dresden also thinks that changing one-hour parking will be harmful to nearby residential parking.

Dresden’s solution to parking issues would be to build another parking garage, while continuing to try to encourage carpooling and use of the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS).

Lavelle Young wants to make sure students know their rights when it comes to parking issues.

“[We should] market that we do have a parking appeals process,” Young said. “A lot of students aren’t aware of that.”

Jachin Moore and Lavelle Young both think that getting a second MCTS U-Pass should be an option after losing a student I.D.

Academics

If elected Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Ari Stone is hoping to make changes in UWM’s classrooms to help students feel more welcome and increase retention for the University.

“When students feel like their voices are being listened to and things change, they are much more likely to stay,” Stone said.

Stone is searching for the most efficient way to find out about issues students have in the classroom. He mentioned experimenting with D2L to make a forum for students to bring light to problems they have.

“One of the things students do not know how to address is problems that come up in their classes,” he said. “I want to make something where students can come to us and/or go to their senator to help with the problems.”

Segregated Fees

Ryan Dresden finds refinancing segregated fees as one of his top issues.

“Efficiency and effectiveness in our segregated fees is something we really need to work on,” Dresden said.

One proposal that Dresden has is for the Student Association to “lead by example and not take  a salary.”

Lavelle Young wants to  figure out what is old and needs to be expelled.

“If it works, let’s keep it going, ” he said. “If it doesn’t, let’s save the students money.”

Young agrees with Dresden that Student Association salaries should be brought up to the table, but said that the SA is not the only organization with paid members.

Ryan Sorenson said that students spent $20 less in segregated fees than the previous year, thanks to surplus and financing from the Board of Trustees this year.

The Student Association

All of the candidates want to work to remove negative connotations associated with the SA. Many of the candidate believe they can do that with better communication with students and faculty.

“SA has become a dirty word among students,” Lavelle Young said. ” I want to make it not dirty any more. I want to make people want to work with us.”

Young wants to make sure student organizations can trust the SA will work with them to get things done.

Ryan Sorenson also believes that a key factor to getting students involved in the Student Association is through making strong connections with faculty and freshmen.

“One of my promises is to bring back town hall listening sessions,” Sorenson said.

“I don’t think that SA has a personal relationship with each org and that’s what I’m excited to do,” Jachin Moore said.

The Other Candidates

Lavelle Young and Jachin Moore have publicly come out endorsing each other, using the campaign slogan “Young ideas, Moore innovation.”

“I’m running with Young because we both believe in the same things, ” Moore said. “We both have a similar vision, and we can get things accomplished together.”

Evan Braun and Ryan Sorenson are not campaigning together, but seem to have paired up according to a member of the Board of Trustees.

“I think [the presidential candidates] all have very good intentions,” Braun said. “My choice would be Ryan Sorenson. He has the most experience and the most drive and has presented the more viable ideas for UWM.”

Ari Stone and Ryan Dresden both are running independently.

“I do endorse one [candidate], but I’m not going to say,” Stone said. “I think one of the best things this constitution did was abolish the party system. I think I know who I will vote for, but it could still change.”

All UWM students are eligible to vote April 15- April 17 via email or polling stations in the Union Concourse.