The Student Government executive candidates will debate on Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Russell House ballroom. Ahead of the debate, they sat down with The Daily Gamecock and SGTV to share their plans with the student body.
Voting for the Student Body President, Student Body Vice President and Speaker of the Student Senate positions will take place from Feb. 22 at 9 a.m. to Feb. 23 at 5 p.m. Ballots will be available online.
The inauguration will be held on March 24, where those elected will take their oaths of office and officially begin their terms.
Candidates for Student Body President:
Gurujjal Roopra, Reedy Newton, Joshua Fair and Nicholas Marzullo are the candidates for Student Body President. Each of them said they will seek to reform parking, change building names on campus and collaborate with President-elect Michael Amiridis.
Roopra is running alongside Faith Gravley, a candidate for Vice President, as part of the Catalyst Campaign. Roopra said the reason she is running for Student Body President is to fix the disconnect she sees between Student Government's mission and how it actually functions on campus.
"The main thing that I want to do is to support student initiatives," Roopra said. "It's time that we take what the students want to do and move past kind of the political side of SG (student government) and advocate for what they want to see."
Newton is running alongside Maia Porzio, a candidate for Vice President, as part of the Newton-Porzio Campaign. Newton said she is running for Student Body President because of her love for USC and the Gamecock community.
"As a fourth-generation Gamecock, it just means so much to have the opportunity to be the face of the student body," Newton said. "I believe in a brighter future for all of the students here at Carolina."
Fair said he is running for Student Body President now because he didn't have the confidence to in the past. If elected, he said he wants to change the name of Thomas Cooper Library, reform parking on campus and lower USC's tuition.
"Trying to express equality throughout the campus could also help you in your own personal life and help you on campus," Fair said.
Marzullo said he planned to run with Lauren Young, a candidate for Vice President, but she dropped out of the race this weekend, citing mental health concerns. Marzullo said he is running for Student Body President to restore the community on campus and focus on mental health.
"Now, more than ever this campus needs someone who is truly willing to focus on restoring the community and leads by actual action," Marzullo said.
Read more about the presidential candidates.
Candidates for Student Body Vice President:
Faith Gravley and Maia Porzio are the candidates for Student Body Vice President. Each of them said they want to improve communication between the student body and the administration.
Gravley, who is running with Roopra, said she hopes to tailor Student Government programs and initiatives to what best serves the students.
“One of the things that I've learned and experienced through my programming initiatives is that every single year, the student body is different and the student body wants different things, and so we can't continuously stay in the same exact kind of mindset of ‘Okay, we'll do Key Week the same way we did last year and Stigma Free Week the same way we did last year,'” Gravley said.
Porzio, who is running with Newton, said a major point of her platform is to advocate for more space and funding for the university’s mental health services.
“I think that starts with us as students and being able to tell our executive boards that this is something that we need, this is something that we value and this is where we want our money,” Porzio said.
Read more about the vice presidential candidates.
Candidate for Speaker of the Student Senate:
Noah Glasgow is the sole candidate running for Speaker of the Student Senate. Glasgow is part of the "Meet the Moment" campaign, along with several other candidates for student senators.
Glasgow said he wants to improve accessibility on campus and within student government and hold the university accountable on issues such as sexual harassment.
"Whether it be combating sexual assault and holding our university to account when they protect abusers, treating sustainability, racial justice, menstrual justice of the equity issue that it is. This campaign — myself and my senate candidates — we're ready to move," Glasgow said.
Read more about the candidate for Speaker of the Student Senate.