Five students plan to run for president of the Associated Students of the University of Utah this semester.
The filing deadline for president and vice president was Friday afternoon. Candidates for the General Assembly, Student Senate or senior class president must file by Wednesday afternoon.
“We thought we would run primarily to challenge the other candidates to let people know why they should vote,” Steven Paradise said, explaining why he and Rodney Earl chose to form the Apathy party.
Paradise said the apathy of the student body prevents student government from doing many positive things it’s capable of.
“We also need to show the students their lack of involvement is hurting the student government,” Paradise said.
Paradise and Earl chose to name their party Apathy because “it’s good for a laugh.”
Paradise said his campaign will satirize the ideas of students, the lofty campaign promises and the “silliness” of the campaigns.
“We’re not expecting to win,” Paradise said.
Both AnnMarie Allen and Colter Hammer recently resigned from their positions within the ASUU Executive Cabinet to run for office.
“We feel that we have the experience necessary to take ASUU to the next level,” Allen said. “ASUU can do more than has been done in the past.”
If elected, Allen and Hammer would like to address the issues that are “most important to students.” These issues include parking and tuition increases, but Allen and Hammer would also like to see and increase in student services such as the student discount card and the Student Advocacy Office.
“We’re in this to serve students, that’s our core desire,” Allen said. “We wouldn’t do this if our primary goal wasn’t to serve the students.”
“We feel like we have a lot of good campus experience,” said Randall Lloyd, explaining why he and Bill Edwards are running for office. “We feel like ASUU has been doing a great job.”
If elected, Edwards and Lloyd wish to address the issues of parking and campus communication. Through improving communication, they want to get more students “involved.” They support what ASUU has done this year to address the parking issue, and hope to continue to seek for long- and short-term solutions.
Edwards and Lloyd chose the party name Impact because they want to have an “ASUU of impact.”
According to Lloyd, they also want to “eliminate apathy,” and make ASUU “a very proactive organization.”
“We want to be able to look back and know that we made a difference,” Lloyd said.
“There’s some things that I’m upset about on campus,” the presidential candidate from the Probable Cause party, Steve Rinehart, said.
According to Rinehart, many students encouraged him to run for office after he filed a lawsuit against Transportation and Parking Services.
“We are targeting the 97 percent of the students that do not vote,” Rinehart said. “We’re ASUU outsiders, but plan on empowering the ASUU with perspective and approach they don’t have.”
Both Rinehart and his running mate, Annie Deprey, are second-year law students who got their undergraduate degrees at the U. “We want the support of everyone, but are not trying to cater to Greek Row, ASUU or LDSSA,” Rinehart said.
“I’ve been here for four years, I’ve taken so much from the U, this is my ultimate stage to give back to the U and improve it,” said Marcus Lopez, explaining why he wished to run for vice president with the What? party.
Lopez hopes What? would be able to unite the campus and make it “more like a community” if his party was elected.
“If you can get the whole campus to make a decision together, you can make an incredible impact on this campus in a short time,” Lopez said.
Lopez is heavily involved in the Residence Halls Association, and Corey Peterson, who is running for president, is president of the Interfraternity Council.
“There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Lopez said, explaining his party name. Those questions include the issues of a commuter campus and parking, according to Lopez.
The five parties may not begin campaigning until Saturday, March 23. Primary election results will be announced March 28, and final voting will conclude April 4.