Meet the MVP Party

On Monday, The Spectrum introduced you to all of the candidates from the Reason and United parties in the Student Association elections, after we got a chance to meet them on Sunday.

There was one problem, though. The only person from the MVP Party who could make Sunday's meeting was presidential candidate Ted DiRienzo, who you can read about in Monday's issue.

We caught up with the rest of the MVP Party on Tuesday. Here they are:

VICE PRESIDENT

Name: Kaitlin Leden

Year: Junior

Major: Finance and political science

Current SA Position: None

Extracurricular Activities/Relevant Experience: Vice President of Alpha Kappa Psi, a co-ed professional business fraternity

Kaitlin Leden has no previous experience with the Student Association, but she said she wants to make a significant impact on the large student body at UB. Leden said she has an unbiased view on student politics.

Leden believes SA procedures are things she could learn quickly, and she thinks the MVP party has the kind of ideas that can't be taught.

"I have no experience in SA, and that means I don't have connections, and I don't owe any favors," Leden said. "I haven't worked with [SA, so I don't] feel like I owe them something. It's a new mind, a new face full of ideas."

Leden's knowledge about SA comes from research she did. Leden thinks the MVP party could change the politics of SA to make a difference in students' lives.

In her research, Leden said she found that only about 40 percent of the student body was in touch with SA through participation in clubs. She feels the other 60 percent doesn't really know what SA is about.

"[The other 60 percent] is a huge part of our student body, and I don't think [SA] reaches out enough."

TREASURER

Name:Chang Zeng

Year:Sophomore

Major:Finance

Current SA Position:None

Extracurricular Activities/Relevant Experience:Chief Auditor for Alpha Kappa Psi

Chang Zeng has one thing in mind as he runs for SA treasurer: he's in it for the students.

Zeng, a finance major, believes his skills and understanding of finance can bring major improvements to the current SA system, one being a decreased waiting time for getting clubs the money they've raised.

Zeng said the Singapore club exemplifies this problem, particularly in its bowling events, which are successful but hold the club from hosting more events until the fundraising money comes back to it, which in the past has taken as long as a month.

"I can have a way for them to have a separate budget for them to run while the money's being processed for the Senate...So they can actually run events while the money's being processed by the Senate," Zeng said.

Zeng decided to run for treasurer after hearing that DiRienzo wanted to change Fall Fest and Spring Fest to day-long festivals.

"I definitely think it's something we should push for," Zeng said. "[I am] running for the position because I have the ability to accomplish the goal; it's like a reward for the students. That's why I want to do it, for the students."

SUNY DELEGATES

Name: Crystal Chen

Year: Junior

Major:Finance

Current SA Position: None

Extracurricular Activities/Relevant Experience: Western Division Lieutenant Governor for Circle K, a collegiate community service organization

Name:David Lee

Year:Junior

Major:Accounting

Current SA Position:None

Extracurricular Activities/Relevant Experience: Chief Auditor for Alpha Kappa Psi

Name:Siddharth Singh

Year:Junior

Major:Business and psychology

Current SA Position:None

Extracurricular Activities/Relevant Experience: Founder of Buffalo chapter of Be the Match, a UB club that helps leukemia patients

The MVP Party lost one of its candidates for SUNY Delegate when David Longhini dropped out of the race earlier this week, but those remaining - junior finance major Crystal Chen, junior accounting major David Lee, and junior business and psychology major Siddharth Singh - are determined to press on, despite their acknowledgement of their "underdog" label.

"They have friends; we have friends, too," Lee said of the other parties' connections to large clubs that historically have swung election results.

Among the three candidates is a host of accomplishments. Lee is a chief auditor for the Alpha Kappa Psi professional business fraternity; Singh founded a UB chapter of "Be the Match," a club that helps leukemia patients find bone marrow matches; and Chen is a lieutenant governor with Circle K, a national collegiate service organization.

"Circle K is actually an international club, and I represented Western New York on a statewide level...I've met with lieutenant governors from New York City, Albany, and all different areas in New York," Chen said, relating that experience to the job she'd do as a SUNY delegate.

Lee emphasized that the MVP Party's lack of SA experience, while possibly viewed from the outside as negative, is a positive.

"In order to do the job properly, it's not only about experience," Lee said. "It's about what you can do as a person."

He added that he successfully lobbied New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg while in high school to not cut "OST" programs, which had helped first-generation college hopefuls like him get into universities, from his budget, which he had originally planned to do. He said he'd take a similar attitude to Albany.

Singh echoed Lee's outlook.

"I believe that not having a high connection up in [SA], coming from people, I can connect to the students more," Singh said.

Email: news@ubspectrum.com