The Student Union is holding elections this Thursday in order to fill the 16 available positions. As of press time, a total of 46 students are running.

The open seats include senators for the Classes of 2012, 2013 and 2015; the Castle; East Quad; Massell Quad; the Village; Rosenthal Quad; Ridgewood; Transitional Year Program; Racial Minority Financial Board Senator; Brandeis Sustainability Fund Representative; Student Judiciary, Alumni Board Senior Representative and Senator at Large.

There are a total of six students running for North Quad senator. One of the candidates, Rachel Hughes '15, said that she would work to promote more interaction between students living in North Quad. Charlotte Franco '15, also running for North Quad senator, said that her goals would be keeping the quad as a healthy living space and creating unity among quad residents.

Benjamin Beutel '12, who is one of two students running for the Village senator position, said that his goals include "better provisioning for the [P.O.D. Market], towels and free weights for the Village gym, better funding and support for social justice groups from the Student Union council, more quad-specific events and more campuswide events."

The other candidate for Village senator, Andre Tran '14 said that, if elected, he would want to voice opinions of the Village residents and host events to unite residents.

One of two candidates for the Castle position Kelsey Dean '14, said that she would like to "transform" the Castle into a "lively hub of campus" and that, as senator, she would want to meet her constituents and organize events for residents.

The position of senator for the Class of 2013 also has two students running for the seat.

Sarah G. Kim '13, one of the candidates, said that she would work with testing associations, such as Kaplan, to provide more assistance to juniors taking exams for graduate schools, including more free practice exams.

The other candidate, Theodore Choi, said that he would want to promote green initiatives on campus and implement a program for off-campus students to feel more included within the Brandeis community.

There are a total of nine students running for senator for the Class of 2015.

Many of the candidates expressed interest in uniting members of the first-year class through activities and on-campus events.

One of the candidates, Alexander Thompson, said that he would encourage class bonding and promote collaboration between similar clubs to achieve common goals.

Glen Chesir, another candidate, said that he would want to hold events and activities for the first-year class, to make their first year "not just school, but an atmosphere."

Sneha Walia, also running, said that her goals would be to unite both her class, including midyear students, and the University students as a whole.

Ally Eller, running for the same position, said that she would want to bring healthier food options to campus, connect first-year students living in the Massell and North Quads and create academic workshops and events to interact with faculty.

Another candidate, Haotien Chen, said that if elected, he would want to organize opportunities for students to meet with faculty and engage in workshops.

Chama Mechtaly, also running for the same position, said that she would want to improve phone service on campus, organize a party for students during the spring semester and connect Brandeis students with students at other local colleges and universities.

Another candidate, Daniel Novak, said that if elected, he would want to extend the hours of the Waltham shuttle and dining halls.

Shota Adamia, also running for the same position, said that he would like to help increase participation and contributions to the Brandeis community from first-year students.

In an email to the Justice, Sandra Luo, also running for the same position, wrote, "I like to think I'm here to help the students of the class of 2015 grow their pet projects into full-fledged Student Union ones. ... In addition, I want to plan more events like the ones we had at Orientation."

There are two students running for Student Judiciary.

One of the candidates, Jessica Huynh '15 said that she would gauge public opinion while examining the constitution in order to interpret Senate laws.

Gali Gordon '15, also running for the SJ, said that he would want to become an "integral part of the judiciary."

The Racial Minority Financial Board seat also has two candidates running for the position. Moshi Shi '15 said that he would work with club treasurers to save money for their clubs in order for them to hold more events and organize more social events on campus over the weekends.

Paul Lee '13, who is running for the same position, said that he would use both his experience as a club treasurer and his passion for promoting cultural diversity in order to encourage clubs to request funding.

Jhanezia Stevens (TYP), one of three candidates for the Transitional Year Program senator, said that she would want to represent members of TYP and encourage networking with other University students.

All prospective candidates were contacted for comments, but not all responded by press time. 

Editor's note: The article has updated from its original version.