Students still have the power to decide who will represent them in the Student Association (SA) and approve or deny an increase in a major student fee until 6 p.m. on Wednesday night when the polling booths in the Student Union close.
A dozen new representatives will be elected to the SA Senate, the branch of SA legislature that decides how funding provided by the Student Mandatory Activity Fee is spent. On-campus students will elect six of the members and commuters elect the other six.
Originally, there were seven candidates running for the six positions for off-campus senate seats, but a candidate from UB Access was determined to be ineligible.
For the off-campus positions, the UB Access Party and the Birthday Party are vying for spots, as well as an independent candidate named Yael Goldman.
The Birthday Party wants to cut unpopular events and allocate more money to the ones that more students support.
"[We] are running to get involved with SA and to make more fun events happen by adjusting sponsorship to cover events that would have a bigger turnout and by cutting events that don't have big turnouts," said Patrick Stahl, a senior business major in the Birthday Party.
Stahl's experience includes working on the Schussmeisters Board of Directors for three years.
The UB Access Party hopes to improve conditions for commuters by making a commuters-only parking lot, providing free Metro passes and reducing parking ticket fees. They also want to designate commuter-specific lockers and allocate gym hours for off-campus students. Building a new commuter lounge is also a goal.
"Commuter students have suffered great losses in the past years due to lack of accessible representatives who will fight for their rights," said UB Access Party in a posted Facebook message. "As commuter students, we pay as much as everyone else but our at-most needs are never taken seriously. We share your disappointments and that is why we are running."
Yael Goldman is a current SA Senate member and a commuter who supports the Mandatory Student Activity Fee.
The Bull-Moose Party, one of the groups vying for the on-campus seats, wants to manage the budget and cut unnecessary spending.
Dan Hains, a freshman undecided major and member of the Bull-Moose Party, said he gained student government experience in high school. He believes that budget re-allocation would help alleviate the financial crunch that many clubs face.
"What I'm going to do is give more money to clubs that need more money," Hains said. "I'm sure there are clubs that only have a few members and aren't doing much with the money. I plan on getting money from them and giving it to the more active clubs."
Jordan Fried, a junior business major in the Bull-Moose Party, also plans to re-allocate money, particularly to the Anti-Rape Task Force and other areas of campus safety.
"They cut back their hours and that's something you can't have with the current situation on campus," Fried said.
Fried was a member of last year's senate.
Campaigning against the Bull-Moose Party is the New Perspective Party, composed solely of Shanita Mitchell, a senior psychology and social sciences interdisciplinary major.
"I want to make sure that the clubs who are smaller get the funding they need for programs," Mitchell said.
The main purpose of the senate is to control the SA budget by allocating money to clubs and providing budgetary oversight. The senate also helps to pick music groups for Fall Fest and Spring Fest.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
