The KhaBhuya! Party won last year’s Student Association (SA) executive board elections in a resounding victory, putting Samin Bhuya as its president, Killian Hannigan as its vice president and Louis Poon as its treasurer.
Bhuya, Hannigan and Poon ran on a platform of open communication and internal stability. The three headed SA’s initial advocacy efforts, calling on UB Foundation to invest ethically, and expanded SA’s e-board to include two additional vice president roles.
The trio are all graduating this year, leaving the positions open for an entirely new e-board for the 2025-26 term.
The race started with 18 candidates from seven parties — plus one unaffiliated contender — last Friday. One party — the “Baddie Bulls” with Gabby Nowak vying for vice president for clubs and Mya Glynn for vice president for events — dropped out Thursday night, leaving 16 candidates from six parties, along with the unaffiliated contender.
The Spectrum spoke with all candidates about their experiences, platforms and plans for SA’s future.
Undergraduate students can vote on UBLinked, starting 9 a.m. on Monday, March 10, to 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 13.
The Stampede
President: Gavin Krauciunas
Vice President for Advocacy: Mason Bayer
Vice President for Clubs: William Dong
Vice President for Events: Benjamin Lau
Treasurer: Jack Koscinski
Transparency, opportunity and integrity are the driving forces behind the Stampede party.
Krauciunas, Koscinski and Lau — all members of the SA Senate — say that even though they work within SA’s legislative body, they still aren’t allowed to fully see SA’s inner workings — an issue they intend to fix through having monthly newsletters and town hall meetings.
“There’s going to be no secrets. Every student here pays activity fees. Every student deserves to know where their money is going to. Every student deserves to know what we’re doing behind the scenes,” Krauciunas said. “Everyone’s going to know what’s going on with the SA office, with funds, with bylaw changes, with anything. Policies have no reason to be hidden.”
Dong, who previously served as treasurer of UB’s Circle K chapter and a member of several multicultural clubs, pointed out the lack of financial guidance with SA procedures that regulate access to club funds.
Koscinski agreed with Dong, stating that one of his main priorities is to add more money to supplemental funds available to student clubs.
“Very possible for clubs to get allocated more towards supplemental funding, where more people directly see the impact of those dollars versus a slush fundy kind of budget into this office line or whatever,” Koscinski said. “We want money to go to places where people who are gonna see the direct impact of what they’re funding.”
Lau said that he is considering diverting funds from smaller SA-scaled events that cater to 30-40 students to larger ones — including SA’s Fest concerts and Comedy Series — to add more talent and variety.
The party says that if elected, they will follow through with their campaign promises.
“We’re scrappy, we show that we want something, we’re showing that we’re standing up, we have our core principles, we want to be present, we want to be transparent, we want to be there for the students,” Bayer said.
Lau agreed, pointing towards his — along with Koscinski’s and Krauciunas’s — time in the SA Senate.
“As senators, we’re unpaid,” Lau said. “You can guarantee that we have the best student interest because you can see that we’re willing to put up hours to work, advocating for students, knowing that we’re not getting a reward for it.”
Victory
President: Laron Fomby
Vice President for Advocacy: Jack Walsh
Vice President for Clubs: Veronica Faltisco
Vice President for Events: Gavin Malec
Treasurer: Aidan Sumrall
The Victory party hopes to emerge victorious through its promises of advocacy, communication and support.
With the exception of Malec, all candidates currently work in SA.
Fomby and Walsh are staff members of SA’s Student Affairs department, with Fomby as its assistant environmental director and Walsh its assistant director of advocacy. Faltisco and Sumrall both serve in SA’s Senate and act as club coordinators for the academic and special interest councils respectively.
Fomby highlighted the group’s time in SA, saying that their experiences in SA prepared them to keep their campaign promises.
“I think this will be the first time the students will have an opportunity to vote for a ticket there and actually going to get 100% done,” Fomby said. “I truly believe that this will be the first election in a very long time when people — who are all working on SA — are making promises that they are going to keep because we know what we’re talking about.”
Malec — a project manager for Hive, UB’s startup social media platform — says that there’s a serious lack of pride and unity on-campus, which could be remedied through hosting events to put people together.
“We do a great job of diversity at the school and we like to tout it a lot, but what is that worth when those perspectives aren’t coming together to push towards one common goal?” Malec said.
To further support students, Faltisco proposed adding at least one club coordinator assistant to several councils, to give the coordinators leeway to be more engaged.
“We really want to increase the communication there and let the clubs know what we’re there for because a lot of people genuinely don’t know what we’re there for,” Faltisco said.
The group promises to also expand SA’s Student Affairs department and begin initiatives to strengthen student voices on-campus, including establishing a relationship with UB’s University Police department, organizing a public arts initiative and addressing food safety concerns.
“We can have a dedicated team of people be on the UB administrators and say, ‘Look, we can’t keep doing this. Things have to change and we want to work with you to change this,’” Walsh said. “We need to make sure that we’re having more people to hold the administration accountable.”
REAL
President: Aisha Bechir
Vice President for Advocacy: Na’Dia Carter
Vice President for Clubs: Aisha Makama
Vice President for Events: Pranavan Balachandran
The REAL party campaigns on bringing real solutions to SA.
Bechir and Makama’s second run bears some resemblances to their first, with increased communication and trust being at the forefront.
Bechir wants to implement an accessible transparency dashboard that is updated weekly to keep clubs informed, especially on policy changes and agenda updates.
“SA is quick to punish students who aren’t aware of the policies, but it’s difficult to get to know the policies,” Bechir said. “The [dashboard] is for students to not have to go out of their way to find out what’s going on. It’s our job to update them.”
Additionally, Bechir said that she would make SA more involved in student advocacy, recalling last year’s pro-Palestine protest where 15 protesters were arrested. She says SA’s lack of support resulted in a “fractured trust.”
“I used to see a lot more of complaining and a lot more of irritation voiced at SA from students, but I’m convinced now that there’s a silence that isn’t agreement,” Bechir said. “It’s just quiet resentment from clubs who have just totally given up.”
All candidates said that they would bring their perspectives as student leaders to SA. Bechir is currently vice president of UB’s Muslim Students Association and president of UB’s Debate club. Bechir also previously served as president of UB’s chapter of Turning Point last year.
As a SUNY doctoral granting institutional representative and an event coordinator for UB’s Islamic Relief organization, Makama says that she is familiar with representing students. She proposed improving training for club officers and having a priority scheduling system to limit the amount of conflicts whenever clubs need to book spaces.
“I think a lot of the clubs aren’t fully aware of what they can do or what their rights are,” Makama said.
Balachandran, an events coordinator for the Tamil Student Association, wants to implement a feedback system on SA-held events.
“I'm always on campus and go to all the events, I just think they need to be streamlined a little better,” Balachandran said.
Carter, who serves as treasurer for UB’s Brothers and Sisters in Christ, highlighted the party’s experience in student leadership.
“We want to let people know that we’re student leaders too,” Carter said. “We know what you’re going through.”
Forward
Vice President for Advocacy: Joshua Brodsky
Brodsky brings three policy initiatives to the table: more nutritious options to campus dining areas, better transportation and increased funding to student clubs.
When asked on how he would bring these initiatives to fruition, Brodsky said that he would elicit the help of “professionals” and whoever he needed to talk to for them to happen.
While Brodsky doesn’t cite any prior leadership positions at UB, he says he is excited to take on a role that can give a voice to undergraduate students. One of Brodsky’s items on the agenda is to host biweekly press conferences where students and staff are invited to ask questions.
“I feel like they’re not listening to the students. They need the students to be heard more,” Brodsky said. “I’ve talked to many, and they don’t feel like they’re being heard by the student government.”
Brodsky says he wants to be the negotiator for any issues students may bring to him.
“Let’s say there’s protests going on, I want to try and mediate before it becomes a risk to everyone in the school,” Brodsky said. “I don’t want there to be too much chaos between the upper staff and the students protesting, I want a good balance.”
Running solo, Brodsky calls himself a “dark horse candidate,” saying that although his chances of winning aren’t high, he still wants to give it his all.
“If I could change the world without anyone knowing I did it, I’d prefer it to be that way,” Brodsky said.
The Best Bull
Vice President for Clubs: Aidan Kaleta
The heart of Kaleta’s platform is equal opportunity, where the size of the club doesn’t determine the amount of support it receives.
“Just being able to advocate for the needs that everyone needs, not biasing the bigger clubs or clubs that a lot of people are more interested in, but just an equal approach to everyone,” Kaleta said.
Kaleta plans to direct more resources towards SA’s newly-recognized clubs to promote the club’s outreach and recruitment.
“If they [students] want to start a new club, I could bring it to the people in charge and support them with the stuff they need to actually get running, get their feet off the ground to start something new,” Kaleta said.
As a transfer student completing his first year at UB and a member of multiple UB recreational clubs such as UB’s tennis club, Kaleta wants SA to be more active in promoting all clubs, saying that he wouldn’t know certain clubs existed if he didn’t spend time trying to find them.
He also says he doesn’t see SA officers working to make them more visible. If elected, Kaleta says that he would attend as many club meetings as possible to be a “friendly face” for students.
“The clubs they’ve provided through SA have been amazing, but I just think you have to put yourself out there,” Kaleta says, “There’s not a lot of support. You can’t just walk around and assume to get collectively involved in a club and have a great time.”
Unaffiliated
Treasurer: Benjamin Finch
Finch says that he understands the frustration students have with SA’s financial procedures, and if elected treasurer, he will increase transparency, communication and club leader representation.
One of Finch’s goals is to conduct audits more frequently — at least once a month — and to send out the results in a mass email, which would detail the amount of money each club receives and spends on events.
“Students have a lot going on and they have busy lives and stuff like that. Maybe they don’t really stop and think, ‘Oh, I’m going to go look into this,’” Finch said. “Maybe it would be a nice piece of mind if they were able to click on that email a month.”
Finch is used to student engagement, serving as co-chairperson of Beta Alpha Psi’s community service committee.
Finch believes that his stance as an independent candidate will help him. Because he isn’t beholden to other people’s ideas, he says he can make sure more student perspectives are seen and heard.
“I feel like I will take advice and students could come to me and tell me what they want to have changed and I would take that in consideration. I will vouch for them. If they feel like their club’s being funded unfairly, stuff like that, I will look into it,” Finch said.
Guinevere Dublino contributed to the reporting of this article.
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor and can be reached at mylien.lai@ubspectrum.com.
Ricardo Castillo is the editor-in-chief and can be reached at ricardo.castillo@ubspectrum.com.
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor at The Spectrum. Outside of getting lost in Buffalo, she enjoys practicing the piano and being a bean plant mom. She can be found at @my_my_my_myliennnn on Instagram.
Ricardo Castillo is the editor-in-chief of The Spectrum.
