Student Senate elections will begin at midnight on Wednesday and end at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Students can vote by going to smu.edu/elections.

President slot has two candidates

Juniors Patrick Kobler and Stephen Reiff are running for Student Body President.

Kobler is the current Student Body Vice-President. His platform is broken up into four different groups:

• Student Life: reforming the social registration process, preventing and reforming the current organization responsibility provision

• Academics: publishing teacher evaluations, handing out diplomas at graduation, reforming the guidance curriculum, reforming the General Education Curriculum

• Safety: bringing a crosswalk to Sorority Row, building funding for Mustang Rides

• Student Senate: reinstating the Diversity Committee, making Student Senate accessible to all students

“Currently I am proud to be serving as your Student Body Vice-President, and two years ago I served as the Student Concerns Chair,” Kobler said in an e-mail and on his Facebook group. “Both of these positions have afforded me a great deal of experience, a passion for student issues, and a drive to ensure that students have a voice on campus. As many of you have probably noticed, SMU is changing. I vow that if I am elected our voice as a student body will not be lost in this change.”

Reiff is a former Senate Organizations Committee Chair, for which he was recognized as Chairperson of the Year. He has worked as the men’s basketball team manager and is a SMU tour guide.

Reiff said on his Facebook group that he wants to actively seek input from students and student organizations, as well as increase the visibility and role of Student Senate. Reiff also wants to make scholarships adjust proportionately with tuition increases.

“I’m running for Student Body President because I am passionate about our school and I want to serve my fellow students as we work together to better SMU,” Reiff said in an e-mail. “My main goal as student body president is to listen to the students and gather their inputs to then present that information to the administration while also working to ensure that students know their Senators so that more voices will be heard.”

Five students vie for Vice-President

Junior George Enriquez, junior Alex Linn, junior Allison Reyes, sophomore John Steitz and sophomore Jake Torres are running for Student Body Vice-President.

Enriquez wants to work with the administration on fees for the use of McFarlin Auditorium, Hughes-Trigg Student Center and the Dedman Center for Lifetime Sports. He also wants to work with students who have paid internships and have suffered a loss in their financial aid package, as well as financially support programs like SMU Rides. Enriquez also wants to improve the relationship between Student Senate and faculty.

“It would be my pleasure to work on your behalf with Student Senate, Faculty Senate, and the SMU Administration in order to leave the University better suited to serve the student body than ever before,” he said on his Facebook group.

Linn is campaigning to make SMU a better place through diversity, safety, quality of education, student life, facilties, administration and athletics. He wants to improve advising and publish teacher evaluations, as well as work on a sorority crosswalk, parking and diplomas.

“I chose to run for Vice President specifically because the position allows me to make the overall greatest contribution to SMU,” he said on his Facebook group. “As Vice President, I will be in charge of Student Senate. My job will be to motivate senators to work with the rest of the student body to figure out 1) What do students really want and 2) How can we accomplish that. I will then work with the administration to ensure that these initiatives are accomplished.”

Reyes said on her Facebook group that she wants to address communication between Senate and the student body, parking, more information about Senate meetings, advising, and minority organizations.

“In running for Student Body Vice President I aim to make sure that everyone who passes through SMU has the best experience possible and that our university continues to elevate its level of selectivity and prestige as an academic institution,” she said on her Facebook group. “My experiences this past year have given me a great overview of every position in Senate and having this insight I KNOW that I am the best candidate for Student Body Vice President.”

Steitz wants to create an online roommate-matching survey, expand the time for parking appeals, lessen parking fines, send out parking fine e-mail notifications, get a discount at the SMU bookstore for students, establish an academic hearing panel and add a service component to the GEC.

“The main goals I have for next year are to improve student life and to increase student involvement within the SMU community,” he said on his Facebook group. “I want to ensure that the opinions and views of the student body are heard now more than ever at our school.”

Torres is focusing on improving Senate-organizations relations, parking, recycling, and adding a community service component to the GEC.

“As Student Body Vice President I would like to address four issues. First I want to help struggling organizations recruit and retain new members,” he said in an e-mail. “Next I want to clarify parking rules on campus and provide an alternative to stiff fines for students who accidentally violate parking rules. I would also like to see a community service class added into the general education curriculum. I want students to be able to take a course that is community service oriented as a perspective or in the place of a cultural formation. Finally I would like to see the Recycling program at SMU be restructured.”

Three students hope for Secretary position

Sophomore Peter Goldschmidt (a member of The Daily Campus staff), freshman Austin Poynter, and freshman Michael Sizemore are running for Secretary.

Goldschmidt hopes to increase Senate’s transparency, work to make upper-level GEC requirements pass/fail, reform social registration and better SMU’s academic standing by adding new language majors and minors.

“As Student Body Secretary, I hope to be a liaison,” he said on his Facebook group. “Increasing Senate’s transparency is crucial, because the decisions that Senate makes affects the entire student body. I want to work with every organization on campus to hear their concerns and make sure their needs are meet. Furthermore I plan to make Senate’s minutes and legislation accessible to everyone, and I plan to have a comment section on everything that we pass.”

Poynter hopes to improve communication, recycling, the organization liason program, as well as parking. He also agrees with Kobler regarding fraternities. Poynter does not have a Facebook group.

Sizemore wants to improve the student organization liason program, increase Park ‘n Pony transparency, improve faculty/Greek relations and get a crosswalk installed near Sorority Row.

“I truly feel that strengthening the Student Liaison Program, along with fortifying the Student Organization Outreach Initiative, would be a tremendous help in aiding organizations to have a voice as well as someone to vouch for them in the Senate chamber,” he said on his Facebook group. “I want to make it one of my goals next year to help students become more aware of the parking rules so they can avoid tickets. I hope to work with both the faculty as well as the Greek system in order to find common ground in ways to make fraternities and sororities seen in a more positive way by the school administration.”