President — Nicholas Ferrara

Ferrara is undoubtedly the most qualified candidate for this position. His approach to the job is solid and practical, with a strong focus on what he knows is possible to achieve during his tenure. Ferrara’s breadth and depth of experience — both in SUNY SA and Student Congress — far exceeds the other candidates. His plans to increase transparency between the SA and student body and make the student handbook more user-friendly are simple, but also very necessary. Ferrara is extremely knowledgeable and well-versed in SA policies and we are confident that he will be prepared to handle whatever the position may throw at him. Unlike other presidential candidates, Ferrara is opposed to using SA funds to build a lounge area Downtown that will be used for studying during the day and as a place for drunk students to wait for cabs and buses on weekends. He alone seems to see the liability issues for the SA that arise from a project like that, and acknowledges that pulling it off successfully is complicated and a long-shot.

And though we are endorsing Ferrara and believe he is the candidate for the job, both Adina Matos and write-in Steven Lazickas pitched solid platforms and are viable alternatives. Matos was one of the only candidates who wanted to transform “It’s On Us” into an active campaign and didn’t pitch it as a marketing stunt. Additionally, her plans to increase OCCT bus storage for the winter was an insightful and out-of-the-box look at another important responsibility that the president has. Lazickas’ perspective was realistic and similar to Ferrara’s, but he falls short in the experience category. We did like Lazickas’ idea for hosting a regular “breakfast with the SA president,” which we are sure would be a hit with student groups that might not always get as much face-time with the SA president.

Ruslan Klafehn is the weakest candidate of the bunch. When pressed about complaints that he did not spend enough time with multicultural organizations as VMPA this year, he explained that the reason for it was because he spent so much time working in the SA office. We can only imagine how much more of a time commitment being president is, and worry about how he would divvy up his time. In addition, Klafehn is strongly in favor of the Downtown lounge, which we view as impractical. However, he does have very good ideas for the future of Harpur’s Ferry, and understands the importance of taking good care of that very important system.

However, the elephant in the room is Klafehn’s recent DWI arrest. Just last month, the Editorial Board called for the past SA president to resign because he had lost the trust and respect of a portion of the student body. With that same sentiment in mind, we simply cannot endorse — let alone elect — a presidential candidate who endangered the safety of others by allegedly getting behind the wheel of a car while drunk. And though we hope Klafehn will learn from his mistakes, we do not believe he should be in a position of power and responsibility at BU.

Executive Vice President — Raaga Rajagopala

Rajagopala is the clear choice for executive vice president, and her plan to bring the intent-to-charter process online was enough to make her the front-runner alone. Any group that has recently tried to charter understands how painful the process can be, and Rajagopala’s plan has the idea to modernize the way the EVP office does business. She also plans to not only promote the “It’s On Us” campaign, like many of the candidates, but also grow it from reactive marketing campaign to proactive resource. Her intentions to expand marketing for the frequently overlooked Food Co-Op and Art Co-Op were original, and her goal to increase transparency by hosting frequent town hall forums is efficient and practical — though this is always easier said than done. With the exception of the rape crisis center she wants to bring to campus — which we highly doubt will ever get past the planning stage — Rajagopala has clear goals that we can see her accomplishing within her term if elected, and she will bring a fresh perspective to the SA.

Like other candidates, Justin Santabarbara plans to create an off-campus, student-only SA lounge as a resource for student safety. He also wants to help clubs better understand their budgets, which we are in support of. However, despite the fact that a major part Santabarbara’s platform is SA transparency, his own qualifications are unclear. When asked, Santabarbara said he’d been chief of staff to the SA president since August 2015, but the position became vacant in November when the previous chief of staff resigned. Santabarbara discussed the importance of sustainability — a term often used by E-board members when describing the importance of ensuring smooth transitions within the SA by hiring from within. However, for this year and this position, we’re not so sure that hiring from within is the way to go.

Vice President for Finance — Kate Tashman

In her current term as VPF, Tashman has done an admirable job streamlining the SA’s financial ventures and helping the SA transition to a new financial director. With the SA set to incorporate at the end of the academic year, it would be best if she continues in her role. Tashman is approachable, available and generally easy to work with. There is no doubt that her re-election will help in continuing to keep the office running successfully. While the proposal to help secure funding for a Downtown SA space seems unnecessary and impractical, Tashman’s idea to explore a limited use of an SA credit card seems promising, and combined with her success so far in the office, makes her the best candidate.

Meanwhile, Tashman’s opponent, Serena Tesler, is completely overmatched. She proposed some nice ideas — increasing funding to club sports, providing taxi vouchers for students who might need to visit the hospital after buses stop running and increasing bus routes to medical facilities — but provided little to no plan as to where that funding would come from. Her proposal to pay club sports teams per win seemed out of touch and the other parts of her platform seemed as if she was running for the EVP or VPAA positions.

Vice President for Academic Affairs — Adam Wilkes

It is unfortunate that there is no competition for the position of VPAA. However, Adam Wilkes is a capable candidate and we are comfortable endorsing him. He is experienced — having served as current-VPAA Amanda Baker’s assistant for the past year — and is an active, engaged member of Student Congress. Wilkes is knowledgeable about how the SA functions, and it’s refreshing to see that he wants to narrow the focus of his office next year to fewer initiatives so as to make sure they are all implemented thoroughly and correctly. Wilkes wants to place an emphasis on and expand the already-existing program for undergraduate guidance (PUG) initiative, a peer-to-peer mentoring program, which will help provide students with additional alternatives to receive advice on adjusting to campus life.

Vice President for Multicultural Affairs — Jermel McClure, Jr.

Jermel McClure, Jr. is our choice for VPMA. He brings to the table a slew of good, attainable goals that will help reform the VPMA position and positively impact multicultural relations on campus. Ruslan Klafehn’s tenure as VPMA saw complaints of a disconnect between his office and multicultural student organizations. McClure’s desire to be involved and present seems genuine, and this already puts him ahead of the game. He wants to showcase multicultural students through initiatives such as speaker series and a multicultural publication. It would bring multicultural issues to the forefront, making the SA less reactionary and more aggressive in taking on racial issues on campus. We feel confident that McClure is the right person for this job.

Write-in candidate Shruti Sharma has good experience on-campus, especially in her time as the president of Dickinson Town Council, but doesn’t have enough of a plan to take on many of the issues our campus community faces. Her write-in candidacy stems from initial doubts over whether she had enough time to campaign for the position, and we’re unsure if she will be able to manage the time commitment. That said, her idea to mandate cultural sensitivity trainings for student organization leaders is great. With a more concrete platform, she would be a strong candidate.

Vice President for Programming — Max Maurice

Maurice is running unopposed, but if he weren’t it probably wouldn’t be much of a contest. When it comes to knowing the ins and outs of the Student Association Programming Board (SAPB), Maurice is a clear choice. The goal of the VPP is so much more than just picking a good Spring Fling act — it’s planning festivals, dealing with budgets and working with various student groups, vendors, agents and more. Maurice has served on the concerts, insights, variety and festivals committee, and he’s worked closely with current-and-former-VPPs Bernadette Machuca and Stephanie Zagreda.

Besides his experience, Maurice has ideas that we can get behind. In his speech to Pipe Dream he didn’t focus on any flashy acts he wants to bring to campus or a new festival he wants to start. Instead, he had thoughtful goals to better the SAPB, like getting rid of the advertising chair and reallocating its responsibilities to the Student Association’s Marketing and Publications department. Maurice is focused on continuing the efforts to keep good financial records and ultimately eliminate the SAPB deficit.