The University of Michigan’s Central Student Government hosted Meet the Candidates in the Wolverine Room of the Michigan Union Tuesday evening. At the event, held in preparation for the upcoming CSG elections March 26 and 27, candidates could meet fellow students and introduce their platforms.
LSA freshman Maeli Peralta is a current ex-officio member of CSG representing international students. Peralta, a candidate for LSA representative running with the EMPOWER MICHIGAN party, told The Michigan Daily that commitment to safety and support for immigrant and undocumented students on campus is one of her top priorities for the position.
“What I’m most concerned for is the safety of immigrant and undocumented students on campus,” Peralta said. “I want to just make sure that students have sanctuary places, and that the (CSG) executive passes sanctuary policies for them, also to create different workshops so that students know how to deal with (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).”
Nursing junior Karen Menez is an independent candidate running for CSG nursing representative. Menez told The Daily she hopes to bridge the gap between the Nursing School and CSG to bring more opportunities to the nursing community.
“I feel like nursing is very much excluded from a lot of things, or there’s a lot of opportunities that CSG does, but that maybe are not applicable to nursing,” Menez said. “I’m mainly running to get more opportunities for nursing (and get the Nursing School) more involved in CSG.”
Engineering freshman Ashna Ganesan, an EMPOWER MICHIGAN party candidate for CSG engineering representative, also hoped to further connect CSG to the various schools and colleges on campus. Ganesan told The Daily that funding for engineering projects was one of her main goals for the upcoming term.
“I really just want more cross-campus connection and community built up,” Ganesan said. “I have a passion for inclusivity and building community and I feel like joining EMPOWER and joining CSG, you know, it accomplishes all that for me.”
Music, Theatre & Dance sophomore Chanhee Park is running for CSG Music, Theatre & Dance representative with the EMPOWER MICHIGAN party. Park told The Daily that he wants to increase resources for students on campus, especially those who live on North Campus.
“The main reason why I ran for CSG and with EMPOWER is to be able to allocate resources and draw more attention to North Campus facilities, campus health, as well as career development,” Park said. “I look forward to maintaining and upgrading SMTD facilities while maintaining safety for the student body, expanding career development opportunities, including networking career fairs and financial literacy workshops, as well as supporting student health by establishing a UHS office.”
LSA freshman Rw Cochran, who is running for LSA representative as a part of the CHANGE party, told The Daily that freedom of speech and club funding are key issues for his campaign.
“Some things that I’d like to accomplish if I’m elected as CSG is to protect the community’s freedom of speech, also the freedom of expression, and allow transparency within the community,” Cochran said. “(I want to) protect club funding as well, and increase it and not allow other organizations to take money from those clubs, and also just make the community cleaner and more open to others.”
CSG elections will be held on March 26 and 27. Students will be able to vote for candidates online at vote.umich.edu.
Daily Staff Reporter Sarah Palushi can be reached at sarpal@umich.edu.
