Nine races are unopposed in the upcoming Student Union Senate and Allocations Board elections. With 13 open seats on the Senate, six seats have more than one person running to fill them and one A-board election has more than two candidates.
The elections for the Student Union Senate, which represent the student body on a number of issues, and the Allocations Board, which controls the university’s club funding, will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 11 from 12:01 a.m. that morning to Wednesday night at 11:59 pm. Election results will be released the next day.
The most competitive races in the senate and the allocations board are for Massell Quad Senator, Senator for Off-Campus Students and for the two seats as the Two-Semester Representative to Allocations Board.
Six students are running for Senator for Off-Campus Students: Clara Alexander ’21, Alison Liebowitz ’20, Yoko Hsieh ’22, An Lee Johnson ’23, Mengmeng (Lena) Xie ’22 and Zengmao Sheng ’22.
Alexander is a midyear student who wants to “share the virtues of living off campus to any students who may be interested,” she wrote in her candidate’s biography. Liebowitz transferred to Brandeis from Oberlin College and wants to increase off-campus student contact with the rest of the Brandeis community.
Hsieh wants to improve transportation for off-campus students and make the BranVan reservation process easier. Xie also wants to improve transport and strengthen contact with the Brandeis community, as well as expanding meal plan options.
Four students are running for Massell Quad Senator: Jason Walter ’23, Dariel Jimenez ’23, Lucian Dobroszycki ’23 and Helen Lin ’23. Walter wants to improve quad kitchens, add common room fans and expand Student Union presence at orientation week. Jimenez wants “to better shape our shared spaces” to make Massell Quad feel more like a home. Lin wants to hear ideas from Massell Quad residents, and discussed her past as president of her high school student government in her candidate biography.
Five students, Emma Fiesinger ’23, Vicky Liu ’23, Jordy Piñeiro ’23, Bob Corpening ’21 and Steven Luo ’21, are running for two seats as the Two-Semester Representative to Allocations Board.
Fiesinger wants to make sure clubs receive the funding they need to function properly and Liu wants every club on campus to have an equal and fair chance at receiving funding. Piñeiro wants to use his experience in treasury in high school to serve on Allocations Board at Brandeis.
Corpening wants to put more power in the hands of the students and help clubs be more ambitious in requesting funds. Luo wants to efficiently distribute funds and reduce the amount of work needed to go through marathon — how clubs apply for funding at Brandeis.
There are three additional senate races that have two or more students running for the positions: Class of 2023 Senator, Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program (MKTYP) Senator and Senator to North Quad.
Three students, Hannah Taylor ’23, Yitong (Skye) Liu ’23 and Janice Huang ’23 are running for the two open seats for the Class of 2023. Taylor wants to hear from students about what needs to change at Brandeis and served as vice president for her high school student council. Liu also served in student government in high school, and promises to fight for the student body. Huang wants to improve the facilities in Massell and North Quads and represent her class’ voice.
Two students are running against each other for the MKTYP senator seat: Zayquan Lewis ’23 and Erik Lambrecht ’23. Lewis wants to be a voice for MKTYP students on campus and Lambrecht wants to foster more engagement between MKTYP students and the Brandeis community, and spread awareness about the program, which offers program courses aimed to help students transition to college.
Three students, Krupa Sourirajan ’23, Ido Dinnar ’23 and Tyler Blake Carruth ’23, are running for Senator to North Quad. Sourirajan wants to implement fun-focused and community bonding quad events, revamp communal spaces and improve shower spaces and water pressure.
Carruth wants to support student needs, saying in his candidate’s biography, “when the showers break, as the upperclassmen assure me they will, I will be there to demand they be fixed the same day.” Dinnar did not submit a candidate’s biography. The following races are uncontested.
In the Allocations Board there are two uncontested races. For Three Semester Representative to Allocations Board, Rebecca Sharr ’21 runs unopposed. Marshall Smith ’21 is running for the Two Semester Racial Minority Representative to the Allocations Board.
There are seven uncontested races in the Senate. Joyce Huang ’22 is running for Racial Minority Senator. Priyata Bhatta ’22 is running for Senator for East Quad and Leah Fernandez ’22 is running for senator for Rosenthal Quad and Skyline Hall.
Sagar Punjabi ’21 is running for Senator for Ziv and Ridgewood Quad, and Cindy Yao ’22 is running for Senator for Village Quad and 567 South street.
Oliver Price ’20 is running for Senator for Charles River Apartments and Trevor Filseth ’20 is running for Senator to Foster Mods Quad.