The 2018 Temple Student Government election season will begin on Wednesday, with three tickets running to represent the student body for the 2018-19 academic year.
The three teams running for TSG’s executive branch are VoiceTU, UniteTU and IgniteTU. Each team announced the three main pillars of its platform on Monday at TSG’s General Body meeting and will begin campaigning on Wednesday, per the elections code.
The students running on each ticket are:
IgniteTU
- President:
Gadi Zimmerman, junior financial planning major, president of Challah for Hunger - Vice President of Services:
Trenton Reardon, junior public health major and TSG’s promotions manager - Vice President of External Affairs:
Cameron Kaczor, sophomore psychology major and TSG’s secretary
IgniteTU’s student leaders said on Monday that they want to continue the fight against on-campus food insecurity, “amplify” North Philadelphia community voices and raise awareness for mental health resources. They also want to empower student organizations and Parliament by giving them more autonomy, reform TSG’s weekly General Assembly meetings and enhance campus safety and sustainability efforts.
UniteTU
- President:
Daniel Borine, junior political science and criminal justice major - Vice President of Services:
Venise Salcedo, junior public health major - Vice President of External Affairs:
Adrienne Hines, junior political science major
UniteTU’s student leaders said they want to support students, improve services and hold TSG accountable, but purposefully kept further details about their platform “short.”
“We’re here because we want to make a difference,” Borine said. “We’ve all had a great experience at Temple, and we want to give back.”
VoiceTU
- President:
Tyler Lum, sophomore political science major and TSG’s director of Government Affairs. - Vice President of Services:
Almas Ayaz, junior supply chain management major and TSG’s director of Campus Life and Diversity - Vice President of External Affairs:
Bridget Warlea, junior legal studies major and speaker of Parliament
VoiceTU wants to unite Temple and North Philadelphia by increasing understanding between students and community residents. It also wants to expand resources for underrepresented students.
The team members want to enhance sustainability efforts and improve the use of campus space. The campaign also wants to advocate for more affordable on-campus housing, increased mental health resources and campus safety efforts for active-shooter scenarios.
Parliamentarian Jacob Kurtz announced at Parliament’s Monday meeting that he will step down from his position to run for the 2018 election. Jordan Laslett, the former Speaker of Parliament, will act as Parliamentarian until Kurtz returns.
CAMPAIGNING
Starting Wednesday, campaigns will be allowed to advertise and host promotional events every day until voting begins on April 4. The first TSG debate will be held on Thursday, and the second on April 2.
The winning campaign will be announced on April 6, said Daritza Santana, the TSG elections commissioner and a senior criminal justice major.
Last Tuesday, Santana was appointed elections commissioner after Matthew Diamond, who previously held the position, resigned amid the Senior Leadership Team’s efforts to impeach him. This staff change occurred eight days before the tickets’ campaigning were set to begin.
Many of the impeachment accusations — which Auditor General Morrease Leftwich determined were not credible — were based on disagreements between Diamond and the Senior Leadership Team regarding edits to the 2017 elections code, which caused confusion during last year’s election. Diamond attempted to draft a new code, but decided to use the 2017 code again after the Senior Leadership Team did not vote to ratify his suggested edits.
Although the code wasn’t altered and Santana was appointed at the last minute, she said she believes the elections will still be successful.
“I want to conduct a clear and fair election, and I want to avoid cheating,” Santana said. “Our goal is to also have a high turnout for elections.”
Last election, 5,180 students voted.
Thursday’s debate will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. in Room 217AB of the Student Center and will be moderated by The Temple News and Temple Update.
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