On March 31 and April 1, Binghamton University’s Graduate Student Organization (GSO) will be holding elections to pick the 2015-16 E-Board members.

The GSO represents graduate students to the rest of the University. According to current GSO president Alison Coombs, this includes offering a proposed set of doctoral advising guidelines to ensure students get support from faculty advisers, opening a graduate student-only study and printing station in Bartle, and hosting social events.

The organization comprises graduate student representatives from each academic department on campus and seeks to draw students together across disciplines, according to the GSO’s website.

GSO’s E-Board positions are president, vice president, assistant to the president, vice president for multicultural affairs (GSVPMA), treasurer and office manager. The positions for president, vice president and GSVPMA are up for renewal for next year, which graduate students can vote for on Blackboard.

Three candidates are running for president. One is Samantha Fox, a graduate student studying sociology, who was GSO president for 2013-2014 but lost last year’s election to Coombs. Her platform focuses on giving graduate students more of a voice at BU, facilitating relations between graduate students of various departments and improving what she says is the isolation of graduate student from the rest of campus.

“The position of graduate students on campus needs to be stronger with a stronger presence in administrative positions that impact graduate student life,” Fox wrote in her platform. “This only works with a committed grad body and a committed E-board.”

Fox said she had made strides while president in the 2013-2014 school year, like creating the position of GSO treasurer, and would continue to implement programs to make GSO run smoother.

Mohammad Shokrollahzadeh, a doctoral candidate in Binghamton University’s Translation Research and Instruction Program (TRIP), is also running for president.

Shokrollahzadeh spent three years on the Senate of the GSO as an academic adviser. His platform includes plans to work with law and policy administrators on the issues facing the graduate community and connect graduate students more with University organizations.

The third candidate is Shengsheng Zhou, also a doctoral candidate in TRIP. She said she has been a part of numerous projects at BU, including GSO’s Employment and Labor Committee and by acting as senator and treasurer for TRIP. She said she would continue with both programs, advocate for more funding for TAs and adjuncts and increase the GSO’s visibility, as many students she had spoken to are not aware it exists.

“One of the top priorities for the next administration is to shed a reasonable amount of publicity of GSO’s future affairs as well as increased publicity for all projects currently running,” she said. “With increased publicity, graduate students will further understand that GSO is a place where they can ask questions, voice opinions and receive help they require.”

According to Coombs, a fourth-year doctoral candidate studying philosophy, the vice president has a variety of responsibilities to make the organization run efficiently, including overseeing GSO committees, meeting with campus organizations and adjusting the GSO constitution and bylaws.

Ben Marley, a graduate student studying sociology, is running unopposed for the position of VP. His platform addresses the gap between the students’ education as researchers and competitiveness for the job market, and strengthening interdepartmental communication to more efficiently address graduate students’ concerns.

Sarah Marcus, a graduate student studying biological sciences and the only candidate for GVPMA, has a platform of allocating funds for GSO programs more efficiently. While treasurer on the Jewish Graduate Student Network E-Board for two years, she noticed that the group failed to follow budgets, and is running on a platform utilizing spending plans and efficiently spending the money allotted to them by Socio-Cultural and Multicultural Organizations (SCMA), a collective of GSO-chartered groups.