On Friday, February 19th, the University of Virginia’s Board of Elections officially opened the 2016 student elections. Every student will have the opportunity to vote for Student Council, Judiciary Committee, and Honor Committee Representatives in their school of enrollment. Additionally, the student body at large will be able to vote for Student Council Chairs and two honor constitution amendments. The voting period runs from February 19th-25th, with ballots submitted online at www.uvavote.com. To help orient our readers, the staff of WUVAonline has reached out to all candidates running for Student Council Representative for their school of enrollment. The following 2016 Voters’ Guide conveys, in their own words, what each candidate believes he or she will contribute to Student Council on behalf of their school.COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Clara Carlson
“I’m running because there are so many students passionately advocating for causes who aren’t heard by the University administration. As an activist on Grounds, I’m looking to work inside the system of “student self-governance” as Student Council Representative to instigate the Council itself to take a stand on issues that our administration has failed to address.”
Alexander Citron“I am running to be a Representative in Student Council because I wish to address issues that I think can be solved by the time I leave UVa. Some of my major initiatives include exploring the possible implementation of gender-neutral housing and remedying the concerns of students who go through the RA application process. I believe Student Council needs pragmatic problem-solvers and that’s why I’m running.”
Bryanna Miller“I am running for Student Council CLAS Representative to increase diversity in decision-making, and to strengthen student leadership. I believe that together we can design effective solutions that improve the experience of all students.”
Jocelyn Huang“After 1 term, I’m seeking re-election to return simplicity to Student Council by breaking down it’s bureaucracy. Ultimately, we’re people representing other people, and I’m currently implementing an action-based process that actively reaches out to students and solving their concerns through delivery and doing, not just talking.”
Other Candidates: Laura Cross, Michael Horth, Brett Curtis
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
Joshua Gritz
“I am running for Architecture Student Council Treasurer and well as Student Council Representative. The A-school is such a small, tight knit community that the change we make on StudCo is very tangible and exciting. My projects over the past year have included working with dining to implement meal exchange at the Fine Arts Cafe as well as enhancing our relatively new SarcSibs program, a big-little system between first and second year students. If I am elected, I will continue with these projects as well as ensure that StudCo is working in the best interests of the entire School of Architecture, listening to concerns from students and readily acting on them due to our small size.”
SCHOOL OF NURSING
Katie Young
“Oftentimes, especially as such a small school, the Nursing School gets overlooked by the rest of the larger schools at the university. As Nursing Student Council Representative, I want to be the liaison to ensure that the Nursing School has a voice in making decisions and allow us to be heard within the UVA community.”
The McIntire School of Commerce and the Batten School of Public Policy and Leadership do not have candidates running for Student Council representative. The sole School of Engineering candidate John Polzer has yet to comment.
Campaign photographs courtesy of the candidates. The candidates included in this post do not reflect individuals endorsed by WUVAonline.
