Students on their way to class might notice less red on campus in the coming weeks, instead turning to the colors green, orange and yellow to show their allegiances.
On Saturday morning, candidates for the Associated Students of the University of Utah elections spread these colors across campus on Posting Day, which also kicked off Dialogue Week, in which candidates can approach students about campaign issues.
Parties unveiled their logos and colors with signs and banners across campus to recruit students for their campaigns.
“We want our picture to be everywhere, as well as our platform,” said Katie Kormanik, the vice presidential candidate for the Synergy Party. “We want people to know what we are all about, and talk about what they see.”
To try to stir conversation and get students involved, each party is using a different color and slogan to draw interest. Synergy’s color is orange, the Revolution Party’s color is green and the GO Party’s colors are yellow and black.
Revolution’s shirts carry the slogan “Are you ready?”
Tayler Clough, the party’s presidential candidate, said the slogan is intended to get students to ask questions about the campaign.
“We want students to come and ask us about what we mean,” Clough said. “Are we ready for what? In the process of answering that, we can engage students to talk about the issues8212;we can find out about them individually. Then we can figure out how we can best help them.”
Synergy is using orange to symbolize its inclusion of people from a variety of backgrounds. The party’s shirts and posters reference its party Web site and feature the slogan “Come Together.” Kormanik said unity is one of the party’s core philosophies.
“We want students to feel a part of ASUU,” she said. “We want them to be a part of government, and have a say in their future, regardless of their background. If we can all come together behind a single cause, imagine the impact we could have.”
The GO Party is using yellow and black, and its materials carry the slogan, “Taking you where you need to GO.”
Jeff Sbaih, the vice presidential candidate for the party, said its philosophy is like riding in a taxi.
“We want the students to be sitting in the back seat, telling us where to go as their leaders,” Sbaih said. “Then we make it happen. We want their feedback. After all, we are here to serve and help them.”
Parties began gathering in the Union as early as 6:30 a.m., helping their candidates understand how and where they could post banners in each building across campus. For the next three hours, small groups from each party left the Union to prepare to hang the posters and begin talking to students.
Each of the three parties has more than 60 candidates, resulting in thousands of posters displayed across campus.
“Dialogue Week is very important because it allows students to see what we are all about,” Sbaih said. “It is exciting to finally be able to talk to students about how we want help them.”