Interested in running for Student Senate? The election packets are now available for anyone interested in running for a set position next school year.

The Senate is electing the entire Executive Board, Class Officers, College Representatives and all other student-body positions, including Fraternity and Sorority Life, International Students, Athletic Affairs, Diversity and Inclusion and Veteran/Military Connected students.

The packets can be found on the Student Senate’s social media (instagram: @au.student.senate, twitter @AUStudentSenate), on the Student Senate website and on the Portal and in the Eagle Newsletter that was released last Monday.

Applications and packets are due back to [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] by 12 p.m. on April 21. The Senate is asking for an electronic copy, attached with a one-page, double-spaced personal statement regarding what the candidate wishes to accomplish while in office.

The positions available are: Executive President, Executive Vice President, Executive Officer of Academic Affairs, Executive Officer of Finance and Facilities, Executive Officer of Student Affairs, Executive Officer of Judicial Affairs, Executive Officer of Activities Budgets and Charters, Executive Officer of Residence Life, Senior Class President, Senior Class Vice President, Junior Class President, Junior Class Vice President, Sophomore Class President, Sophomore Class Vice President, College of Arts & Sciences Representative, College of Business and Economics Representative, College of Education Representative and College of Nursing Representative.

The Officer positions available are:
Fraternity and Sorority Life, Religious Life, Athletic Affairs, International Students, Diversity and Inclusion and Veteran and Military Connected Students.

Anyone is welcome to run. There is no requirement for majors or minors, and commuters can apply just like resident students.

If a student is interested in running for a specific group or class, the requirement is that they have to be in that group.

One thing that will be different this year is the necessity for social media in campaigns. If a student wishes to spread the word, it has to be done over social media, or through other means like video, call and email.

The current President is Sabrina Maristela, a graduating senior, who has pushed for bigger topics of discussion and policy change this year along with the current Board.

Maristela wrote in an email:

“The Student Senate is supposed to be an accurate representation of the student voice to university officials, administration, faculty, staff, and even other students, and when we have a diverse Senate, it does this so well! You can be a part of making real decisions that will effect change campus wide. The Student Senate was the driving force behind getting our Alcohol Paraphernalia Policy changed, and our Executive Officer of Res. Life, Jacob Nestle, led that charge. The Student Senate extended library hours a year ago. The Student Senate pushed for those student parking spots by the Student Center. The Student Senate revised the Student Conduct Trial policy to make it way more fair, and we’re still working on perfecting it now! We were even the ones who got a microwave back in the Nest! We’ve tackled everything from medical amnesty, to alcohol on campus, to changes to the University Core and the Registrar’s Office. The University really listens to us and has given us the amazing opportunity to help make AU the great place we know it can be.”

With the long list of accomplishments that the Senate has achieved this year, Maristela hopes to extend that ambition and voice for reason into the fall semester.

“The biggest topics I expect the Student Senate to tackle next year are: a new grant-based funding system for student orgs (in addition to the regular funding system) so that they can apply for funding for special events throughout the year; looking at whether students support or reject the University’s consideration of going tobacco free; re-considering the University’s alcohol policy again; helping AU decide what the print click ratio will be (right now it’s 2:1 for colored prints, but remember when it was 10:1 for a bit? Yeah, we got it back down to 2:1 for now, but more discussions need to be had about this). Basically, we’re here to use the student voice, and the University really does listen,” she said.

“If you’re interested at all in helping with any of these things, consider running. The time commitment isn’t necessarily small – we meet every week on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., you’ll probably have some office hours, and you’ll go to a student conduct board training – but it’s not too much either,” Maristela said. “You don’t need to be perfect, or know a ton about campus, or have leadership experience- you just have to be a student with a voice.”