The first round of Student Union elections will take place this Thursday, for the positions of Student Union president, vice president, treasurer and secretary.

The candidates for vice president are Daniel Marks '14, Charlotte Franco '15 and Shukai Zhang '15.

Marks, Ziv Quad Senator, is running because he is "everywhere."

"I'm just trying to meet people, hear what they have to say about what they think can be improved on campus, because I don't think our Student Union should be a bunch of kids sitting in a room just plotting out things without hearing what everyone actually wants," Marks told the Justice in an interview.

"One thing I would be doing as vice president is making sure that every senator is accountable for the initiatives that they promise," Marks said. "I would really get on every single senator to not only make sure that they're accomplishing their initiatives, but helping them, pushing them, making sure they do it, and helping to do it with them, and that way we would have way more things done on this campus," he said.

Franco has been on the Senate for two years. "One of the most important things I want to implement is more training for the Student Union officers, especially Senators," Franco told the Justice. "This training would cover the basics of the position on top of how to contact administration, who to ask about different things on campus, how to answer questions in the office, diversity training and ally training."

She also wants "to open the lines of communication between [Finance] Board, the clubs and other members of the Union so that we can find the balance between efficient spending, club effectiveness and University goals." Her proposed initiatives include "the club restructuring that I have been working on for the past two semesters" and "continuing the small-scale dining changes through the Senate Dining Committee ...getting additional study spaces and study days for the future (a test run for two days is already planned for next year); and work[ing] on improving residence halls and other buildings on campus."

Zhang has served as the Castle Senator, and as a member of the Dining and Service Committees and the Campus Operations Working Group. He wants to improve student life, particularly in the areas of housing and dining. "Working on the Dining Committee makes me understand that both the food quality and price are beyond student control, the Student Union can only address issues like extending hours to convenience the students," said Zhang in an interview with the Justice. "Therefore, the only way to significantly improve food quality is to push for another food provider. If this fails, we will change the meal plan system so that it is fair, transparent and convenient," Zhang said. "For housing, I will work with the school to renovate the oldest buildings. The school should be able to provide more on campus housing to upperclassmen and offer help for students finding houses in Waltham," he continued.

Miicah Lehmann '15, Harry Greenberg '15 and Sunny Aidasani '14 are running for Student Union treasurer.

Lehmann has served as assistant treasurer for two semesters. "If elected, I plan on making the treasury process as smooth as possible. Together with my assistant treasurers, I want to ensure that all forms are processed in a diligent fashion and make sure that the money gets to where it belongs in the quickest way possible," Lehmann told the Justice. "I plan on being here for you, the student body, and to always be available to answering any treasury questions, concerns and the like," Lehmann said.

Greenberg has also served as assistant treasurer for two semesters. "The treasury can do a better job at educating club treasurers and at connecting with them throughout the year.  Many times someone will submit a form and then find out weeks later that there was a mistake on it and that they need to fix it," Greenberg told the Justice. "I think that there should be a weekly email sent out to people whose forms are in the incomplete forms bin, so these things do not happen," he said.

Aidasani could not be reached for comment by press time.
The candidates for secretary are Ethan Levy '15 and Sneha Walia '15.

Levy served on the Senate this year. "I've seen the great things that the Union can do, and I want to take a step up to the [Executive] Board [and] help my constituency even more," Levy told the Justice. He said he wants to improve communication and transparency in the Union. "I want people to know what's going on and be more out there and personable," Levy said. He also said that he wants "to get people more involved with sporting events."

Walia has been a Senator for both of her years at Brandeis, and she has served as outreach committee chair for two semesters. "I do have a lot of experience with the way that the Student Union reaches out to the student body, and in fact worked closely with the Office of Communications," she said in an interview with the Justice. She said that as secretary, she would like to work on connecting different groups within the University, including clubs, staff and the Union, and also wants to bring groups together to develop the culture of social justice within the University.

-Marissa Ditkowsky, Tate Herbert and Sam Mintz contributed reporting