With the first round of spring 2017 Student Union elections on Thursday, 15 candidates will vie for six open Senate and Allocations Board seats.

Dana Brown ’20 and Josh Cohen ’20 will both compete for the open Midyear Senate seat. In an interview with the Justice, Brown said that she is most interested in helping midyear students integrate with the rest of the first-year class. In order to achieve this, she suggested the creation of a Google app with a calendar of University-sponsored social events that users could subscribe to. The app would differ from the existing Campus Events page because it would be easier to access and utilize, she said.

“Technically, we’re in [the first-year] class, but we’re still very much in our own bubble, living in the Village. There’s not many opportunities to meet them outside of clubs and such,” she said. “The most important thing is to bring our community together.”

Cohen could not be reached for comment as of press time.

Matt Smetana ’17 is running unopposed for Senator-at-Large. Smetana previously served as a Class of 2017 senator and chaired the Senate Sustainability Committee before going abroad in the fall semester. In an email to the Justice, Smetana wrote that he is running for re-election because of his background working with the Senate and administration on initiatives like the creation and submission of an Environmental Literacy requirement and the President’s Task Force on Campus Sustainability Climate Action Plan.

He added that his first move as Senator-at-Large will be to tackle wasteful energy management practices on campus. “There are certain areas in buildings that are being heated too much or not enough, sucking heat from other areas,” he wrote, citing an example of a media lab so hot that an open door and air conditioning were needed to cool it down.

“Brandeis has been consistently more energy-intensive (and wasteful) than all comparable universities with similar infrastructure, size and climate. There is a lot that Brandeis has started doing to reduce its carbon footprint, but there is a lot that still needs to be done,” Smetana wrote. “It is important to have a student advocate meeting with these administrators so they know this is something students demand, and I can be that representative.”

Brandon Stanaway ’19 is up for the Ziv Quad Senate seat, running unopposed. Stanaway did not return requests for comment as of press time. The Ridgewood Quad, Foster Mods and Charles River/567 Senate seats do not have anyone running for them as of press time.

There are also no candidates for the open three-semester seat on the Allocations Board, though there are seven candidates running for the two open two-semester seats.

In an interview with the Justice, Alanna Levy ’19 said that she is running for A-Board because she enjoys reaching out to the community. “I’m looking forward to bringing events to campus that you wouldn’t think would be on campus, … like an omelet bar in the SCC, or something like that,” she said.

Alex Feldman ’19, who previously served as the A-Board chairperson, told the Justice in an interview that he is running for re-election to the board because A-Board recently began an initiative to fund larger, campus-wide events through the Brandeis Experimental Event Programming Grant, which he wants to see through to the finish. He also said that he wants to review how funding goes to secured clubs, as it represents “a lot of money that goes away with not much scrutiny.”

Winnie Zhao ’20 told the Justice in an interview that she is interested in studying business and seeing how the A-Board interacts with clubs on campus. “I just want to help every club get the money they need,” she said.

In an interview with the Justice, Yaoyao Gao ’20 cited her experience working as an intern at Bank of America and accounting firm KPMG as qualifications for her serving on A-Board. Gao also said that, if elected, she wants to “listen to others’ suggestions … [to] improve the school environment” for all.

Angela Li ’19 said in an interview with the Justice that she decided to run because she wants to get involved in campus culture and see the finance side of event planning. Aseem Kumar ’20 and Vidit Dhawan ’19 could not be reached for comment as of press time.

For the open two-semester racial minority seat, four candidates will face off on Thursday. In an interview with the Justice, Alex Xu ’19 said that he is looking forward to working with clubs to allocate funding across the board. La’Dericka Hall ’19, Richard Kisack, Jr. ’19 and Xiangyu Mao did not return requests for comment as of press time.