Editor’s note (4/7/2019): A request by the candidates to reword their second proposal was granted. The candidates believed the original wording was less clear and discredited ISAC, contrary to the candidates’ goals.
The Ticket:
Vlad Cazacu, Class of 2020
Kamel Awayda, Class of 2020
Experience:
Vlad
- No prior college SA government experience.
- Three-year Business Manager of the 2020 Class Council.
Kamel
- Two years of experience as an SA senator, one year of chair experience (Chair of Elections and Rules Committee), one semester of experience as Elections Coordinator.
- Sponsored Legislation:
- Bill Regarding Co-Sponsorships
- Continuing Bill for a Style Guide for SA Government Legislation
- Bill to Create Attendance Policy Guidelines
- Bill to Clarify Sponsorship Rules
- Bill to Establish a Standing International Student Affairs Committee
- Bill to Create an Amendment Process
- Resolution on Maintaining Open and Regular Communication with the Student Body
- Statement in Response to EEOC Complaint and Events Therafter
- Statement in Support of the Policy Recommendations Created by the Task Force to Review Sexual Misconduct
- Other Projects: Assisted with the early development of UR Stars in Service, ensured all governing documents were homogeneous and as consistent as possible.
Three proposals:
1) Creation of a Presidential Advisory Council (PAC):
Our platform calls for the formation of a Presidential Advisory Committee in order to ensure a diversity of viewpoints in decision-making processes. This council will be absolutely imperative during our presidency because it would prevent misrepresentation of diverse facets of our student body. Already, we have assembled a similar team within our larger campaign team, and we have learned immensely from them. We envision that this group would comprise of several individuals (~6-8) who are representative of the University of Rochester community. We also envision these council members as being able to liaise and quickly communicate with the organizations they represent, so that student groups have their voices heard before decisions are made. To build this council, we plan to gather feedback from different student organizations, especially those that advocate for underrepresented communities on campus. Implementing this council would require an update of the Executive Policy and Procedure Manual (PPM), and approval by a Senate majority.
2) Emphasizing and Continuing the Efforts of the International Student Affairs Committee (ISAC)
Historically (2014–2018), there has been an under-representation of international student issues in legislation passed by the Senate and its committees, with only around three pieces of legislation notably dealing with them. However, with the advent of ISAC in the 2017–2018 academic year, these issues are now receiving the attention they deserve, with an entire committee of hard-working members serving to resolve them. Already, this committee has laid the foundation to combat the lack of available jobs and future jobs for international students, to build on our alumni network for the benefit international students and the larger student body in general, to enhance winter break living conditions for students, to provide better programming within the city of Rochester for international students, and much more. Our international population comprises a huge portion of our student body, and it is necessary that we recognize these efforts, inform the student body of them, and persist with the projects being worked on. Thus, our proposal is as follows: we hope to continue and better broadcast the work of the International Student Affairs Committee. Our plan to achieve this is to empower the committee to produce legislation that informs the students and administrators of the projects they have been working on. Also, we plan to provide, in our monthly updates, specific and detailed summaries of the efforts of this committee to the student body, so that students are aware of the positive changes being made. We believe that continuing the great work done by ISAC will lead to changes such as the implementation of better on-campus ISO hours, greater resources for taxes and legal help for international students, more foreign companies and companies that sponsor H1B visas at job fairs, and the development of the Meliora Collective so that international students can benefit from it (in congruence with Senate Resolution No. 35). We are excited to intimately involve ourselves with this process!
3) The organization of a yearly SA Hackathon:
We believe that the UR student body is incredibly talented, intelligent and able to creatively solve big problems if given the space to do so. Historically, student involvement in the creation of solution has not been explored to its fullest potential and amazing projects, sometimes created as student startups, do not get the support necessary to make a change on campus. Recent initiatives such as the Greene Center’s Future of Work Challenge, iZone’s Water Crisis Challenge, Committee for Political Engagement’s Global Citizenship Initiative and the Dining Services Napkin Wall have proven the need for student feedback on both problems and solutions. By formulating a list of challenges to be tackled, and by getting innovators from all over the university to brainstorm and work on designing prototypes, we can achieve a new level of student engagement. This, along with a more proactive culture of SA, increased transparency about the progress of all projects, and constant outreach to all campus communities will ensure the change we so desperately seek and desire.
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/events/669402510145315/
Other candidate profiles:
