Students will have several parties with differing viewpoints to choose from during the Student Association Senate elections, which are set for next week.
The elections, which will be held Monday Sept. 27 through Wednesday Sept. 29, will coincide with the mandatory fee referendum vote, in which students will vote yes or no to three questions posed about SA expenditures.
The necessity and degree of proposed increases in the Mandatory Student Activity Fee are a hot topic among candidates, with some parties opposing the increase entirely.
A branch of SA, the Senate is made up of representatives from UB parties, in addition to the SA president, vice president, treasurer, and Assembly speaker. The body will decide how SA will spend the activity fee increase, should it indeed pass.
According to the SA website, "(A senator's) duties include allocating the budget, recognizing new clubs, and passing legislation. It is the Senate that ultimately decides where SA's funding goes by way of approval or amendment."
An even mix of 12 on-campus and off-campus representatives will be elected to the Senate from three parties: Free UB, Your UB Voice, and UB Biz. Three candidates are running as independents.
Carl Woelfel, a junior economics and history major and Free UB party member, said his party is most concerned with making UB student-oriented.
"Our motto is to bring UB back to the students," Woelfel said. "We want to create events that would target the whole campus."
Woelfel added that Free UB is against the $10 increase in the Mandatory Student Activity Fee.
"We don't want to increase the student activity fee," Woelfel said. "I think the money will go to waste."
Eliot Sherman, a freshman biotechnology major and Your UB Voice member, said his party exists to represent the students.
"We're trying to represent the people," Sherman said. "We're a diverse group, and we all have our own experience with leadership. "We're here to help out the students and to look out for the UB community."
Ilia Nossov, a freshman business administration major and UB Biz party member, said his group supports the fee increase.
"We definitely support the fee increase, and we definitely think it should stay mandatory," Nossov said. "It's sort of a large increase, but it's necessary to keep everything running smoothly."
None of the independent candidates were available for comment.
