Ashland University’s Student Senate will soon hold its election to determine leadership roles for the upcoming school year.
Aspiring members of Student Senate for 2025-2026 could start campaigning for their role on March 26, and the actual election will take place on April 8 and 9.
All Ashland undergraduate students will be sent a form through their email to fill out, choosing the senators.
“While I am graduating this Spring and will not be returning as the Student Body President, I have no fears about the incoming Student Senate,” said Aidan Nayak, current student senate president. “Each of them are passionate about their roles and capacities on campus…I’m only looking forward to seeing what initiatives they will take up next,” he continued, highlighting his confidence in Student Senate continuing to provide the campus with strong student leadership.
“This year, we have a small team, and I look forward to seeing the collaboration that will occur next year to enhance the student experience!” said Kara Crum, senate vice president, agreeing with Nayak.
Currently there are only two contested positions, president and vice president, and both are running as tickets: David Maloney and John Keim as president and vice president respectively, and Aubrey Stepanik and Emilee Fletcher as president and vice president.
The Maloney and Keim campaign have several core goals, should they be elected.
These include prioritizing the voices and concerns of the student body, advocating for further improvements to housing plans and accommodations and working to establish new student events on campus.
“One of our key policies, first of all, is focusing on the voices of our students,” said David Maloney. “We’re trying to hear the voices of our students and figure out how we can create workable strategies and achievable goals to achieve solutions to concerns or questions students might have,” he continued.
Additionally, they plan to offer a wider range of options for a diverse range of students. For example, they will advocate for fish being available in Convo every Friday during Lent for Catholic students, and work to provide more private places on campus to pray for Muslim students.
The Maloney and Keim campaign encouraged students who visited their table for marketing to fill out a survey talking about their overall campus concerns.
Meanwhile, the Stepanik and Fletcher campaign also has strong goals should they be elected. These include an emphasizing on club and organization collaboration, access to mental health resources and improved campus safety.
“One of our biggest things that we’re going to do is organization collaboration. That would be getting groups together and really uniting the campus,” said Aubrey Stepanik. “Mental health is another one of our big initiatives. We’re looking to introduce The Green Bandana Project…You can attach a bandana to your bookbag, and somebody can approach you and say, ‘I’m in need of some help,’ and that’s really another way to unite our campus and make it a safer place,” she continued.
Stepanik also talked about how her campaign would improve campus safety, working with Safety Services to make necessary improvements. Her campaign has the goal of helping students to be able to scan into buildings using their phones.
Aubrey Stepanik, who is currently Sophomore Class President, has already shown initiative as a leader in Student Senate by bringing up the idea of replacing the outdated AU Bucket List poster in the Center for the Arts. The new poster was recently posted.
Other students running for Senate include Dashia Lanai for Officer of Diversity and Inclusion, Drake Crumley for Executive Officer of Finance and Facilities, Aidan Haggard for Executive Officer of the Activities, Budgeting and Chartering Committee (ABCC), Mary Anderson as Executive Officer of Academic Affairs and Maksym Polianskyi as Executive Officer of Student Affairs.
To find out more about Student Senate, visit its Instagram page @austudentsenate.
