Temple Tomorrow, led by presidential candidate Lourdes Cardamone and vice presidential candidate Janeese Hochstetler, is campaigning for Temple Student Government leadership on a platform of unity and increased student access to campus resources, the campaign announced in a Town Hall March 12.
“I felt really just inspired by my peers to continue to improve campus and continue to make it the best it can be for everybody,” said Cardamone, a junior political science and criminal justice major.
They will be opposed by TUnited, led by presidential candidate Yaam Malka and vice presidential candidate William Walker, in the election on March 26. Students can vote through UVote on both March 26 and 27.
Leading up to the election, Temple Tomorrow is aiming to increase student voter turnout — in previous years, only 1-2% of students cast a ballot, Cardamone said. Cardamone and Hochstetler have organized tabling events and visited different classes to engage voters.
This initiative extends to the campaign’s long-term goal of further engaging students in TSG operations, Cardamone said.
Cardamone and Hochstetler are looking into ways to increase campus safety like refining the FLIGHT shuttle service and walking escort systems and increasing maintenance on Temple’s blue phones, the emergency system available to connect students with police dispatchers on campus.
Temple Tomorrow’s platform emphasizes increased connection between student organizations through engaging different demographics at the university. They hope to further the relationship between on-campus Greek life and other student organizations to create a more unified campus.
If elected, Temple Tomorrow will require crisis response training for student organization leaders. That would include first aid and sensitivity training for situations like assault. A large portion of this would include making student organizers aware of already existing campus resources like the Wellness Resource Center and Tuttleman Counseling Services.
“We’re both in a sorority, recruitment is exhausting,” Cardamone said. “The amount of people that have panic attacks is insane, and not a lot of people know how to manage that. Or even just like, ‘What do you do if someone’s overheated?’ Like, ‘What are we going to do if someone had too much to drink, unfortunately,’ and so we would have that be just a very mandatory part of any student leader’s training.”
They will also instate accessibility requirements through Disability Resources and Services for club events on campus.
Cardamone and Hochstetler also hope to alleviate students’ financial burdens through affordability and sustainability programs. They want to implement textbook affordability acts, connect students with second hand graduation gowns and collaborate with initiatives like Too Good to Go, an organization that works to reduce food waste.
Hochstetler believes these kinds of programs are especially important in an urban setting like Philadelphia, where many face food insecurity.
The campaign also hopes to raise TSG’s diversity, equity and inclusion position in the Internal Affairs department to an executive-level position, which will allow for closer communication between university administration and the DEI officer.
Cardamone and Hochstetler feel the position is especially important in light of recent executive orders from President Donald Trump that target DEI initiatives within the Department of Education and other federal offices.
“[DEI policies are] up in limbo in general, which is arguably why it’s needed now more than ever, because students are always going to need representation regardless of how they choose to present themselves, regardless of their background, their identity,” Cardamone said.
Both Cardamone and Hochstetler have previous experience working in TSG. Cardamone is currently the organization’s chief of external affairs under current president Ray Epstein while Hochstetler served as director of outreach and engagement during the 2023-2024 academic year under then-president Rohan Khadka.
Their experience in TSG encouraged both Temple Tomorrow’s candidates to run because it has helped them to understand the ways they can help students, they said.
“We’re both student leaders in multiple different clubs in different areas, so we understand the weight that it can be to carry responsibility like this,” said Hochstetler, a junior advertising major. “And I think we’re both ready to take on that challenge.”
Cardamone and Hochstetler currently work together as members of Temple Democrats, where Cardamone serves as president and Hochstetler is communications director. Last November’s presidential election helped to prepare the pair for their TSG campaign, they said.
“This feels like light work compared to that, because that schedule was so vigorous,” Hochstetler said.
Temple Tomorrow and TUnited will participate in a debate moderated by The Temple News in room 234 of the Howard Gittis Student Center March 24 at 4 p.m. Temple Tomorrow has prepared for the debate by honing their campaign policies, Cardamone said.
“I’m so excited,” Cardamone said. “I am so excited. I love a debate. But I also just love, like Jan said, we did not create a policy that we do not have 100% confidence we can complete within our year term. So I’m also really excited to share with the student body exactly how we’re going to do that.”
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