TSG slates announced

Temple Student Government’s April 22 and 23 elections draw closer as three slates discuss their plans to improve Temple.
The three slates are Owl Opportunity, Temple Reloaded and Owl V.O.I.C.E.S.

OWL OPPORTUNITY
Dusha Holmes, a junior organizational leadership major, leads the Owl Opportunity slate. His slate members are Shiv Sethi, candidate for vice president of external affairs, and Colin Emilius, candidate for vice president of services.
“The past TSG slates have made very convoluted plans and only like two things get done. We plan to be a very student-focused and direct slate,” said Sethi, a junior finance major.

Owl Opportunity plans on having a transparent administration if elected. The key points in their platform address concerns with housing, safety and academics, specifically with advising, the core curriculum and career services. But their most important point is to increase campus involvement.

Opportunity hopes to address both the commuters and the on-campus residents in their active advertising campaign. They will advertise at specific transportation points to truly try and connect with the commuters. They are working with the Fox School of Business to find the best ways to reach people.

“We’re going to be more than just flyers,” Holmes said. “It’s about interpersonal communication.”
Increasing student involvement is a common theme in the three platforms.

TEMPLE RELOADED
Temple Reloaded developed a specific initiative called G.I.F.T.S. – Gaining Involvement for Temple Students – to enhance student involvement at campus activities and games. If enacted, the program will reward students for their attendance at activities. One possible reward is a full reimbursement for a semester’s worth of books.

The members of Temple Reloaded are presidential candidate Jeff Dempsey, Steve Brooks, candidate for vice president of external affairs, and Michael Thom, candidate for vice president of services.

Temple Reloaded intends to work on increasing communication among students, helping build a stronger Temple identity and advancing student services.

They also have a strong commitment to building a community with diversity.

“There are a lot of components to diversity, not just the traditional forms,” Dempsey said.

According to its Facebook group, Temple Reloaded says that diversity comes in different forms such as “religious affiliation, cultural backgrounds, campus accessibility and educational endeavors.”
“Our goal is to be receptive to all groups,” Thom said.

OWL V.O.I.C.E.S.
The principle of addressing diversity also comes up in the Owl V.O.I.C.E.S. platform.

Owl V.O.I.C.E.S. stands for Vision and Opportunity Introduce Change to Ensure Success. Nadine Mompremier, currently the vice president of student affairs, leads this slate as the presidential candidate. Her running mates are Farzad Firoz, who is the candidate for vice president of services, and Nexus Cook, the candidate for vice president of external affairs.

Owl V.O.I.C.E.S. said they are the most experienced slate. Both Mompremier and Firoz are members of the current executive board, and Cook is an active member of TSG.

“We’ve seen all the changes that past administrations having been moving toward and we want to make sure the changes go through,” Firoz said.

Some of those changes include the two new branches of TSG: the Senate and the judicial board. TSG has also rewritten their Constitution and their elections code.

V.O.I.C.E.S.’s main goal is to bring student voice back to TSG. They plan on using their diversity to reach people and increase student involvement.

“Our diversity is one our biggest points. We are the epitome of Temple. We represent the different voices,” Mompremier said.
V.O.I.C.E.S. emphasized the importance of “bridging gaps” among different students and getting more people involved. This idea has shown up in all three platforms.

Along with bring the student voice back to Temple, V.O.I.C.E.S. intends on working to increase school spirit, improve student services, make Temple a green campus and help students utilize more of Temple’s resources.

The TSG debates are scheduled for April 16 and April 21. All three slates will participate. The first debate will be in the Student Center Atrium at 4 p.m. The second will be in the Student Center, Room 200C, at 4 p.m.

All Temple students are eligible to vote in the elections.

Rebecca Hale can be reached at rebecca.hale@temple.edu.