The Indiana University Student Government (IUSG) presidential election is fast approaching. Voting on BeInvolved begins on March 3 and closes March 5.
There are two tickets running for the IUSG Executive Board – Action and Empower. Both tickets are run by sophomores at Indiana University Bloomington coming from a wide range of majors and interests.
A quote from Action
“Throughout my time at IU, I’ve been passionate about creating opportunities for students… previously serving as Secretary of Federal Relations [for the IUSG] has shown me the need for a student government that is more transparent and truly focused on student needs,” said Zach Goldberg, a sophomore majoring in Finance, LEAD, and Business Analytics as well as Action’s candidate for IUSG president, in an email to The Indiana Commons. “I’m committed to taking ACTION to build a stronger community, improve campus safety, and ensure every student feels heard and supported, the first step towards collective success at IU.”
Ava Smith, a sophomore majoring in Healthcare Management and Policy, is running for vice-president under the Action ticket.
The Indiana Commons has reported on several controversial events that occurred within the IUSG last year, including the winning ticket being disqualified from the presidential election, executive board members potentially violating bylaws and a voter registration initiative that may have violated state law.
A quote from Empower
“In a time of unprecedented challenges and uncertainty, it is of the utmost importance that we protect each other,” said Omeed Mehrzad, a sophomore majoring in Political Science and Economics as well as Empower’s candidate for IUSG president. “Whether it means fighting for freedom of speech, academic freedom, increased financial accessibility or the preservation of DEI initiatives, we are stronger together.”
Sarah Alhaddad, a sophomore majoring in international law, is also running for vice-president under the Empower ticket.
Both platforms call to protect DEI initiatives
The policy documents of both Empower and Action call for the expansion and protection of DEI initiatives at the same time as the Trump Administration federally and the Braun Administration at a state level have sought to limit DEI initiatives in public institutions.
Additionally:
- Adrian Fisher, Karthi S. S., Kaylee Kramer, Leo Cavinder, Malak Samara, Mike Obioma, Sam Ayetomowo and Shermin Abbaspour are running for five open congressional seats for the College of Arts and Sciences
- Caden Walden and Louison Savarese are also running for one open congressional seat for the Luddy School of Informatics, Engineering, & Computing.
- Louis Gallegos and Shane Sanders are running for one open congressional seat for the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
- Cagan Meteris, Luke Carman and Pradyot Bathuri are running for two open congressional seats for the University Division.
Several other elections are uncontested or have no candidates running. To view the official candidate list, click here.
The Indiana Commons reached out to both tickets about why they are running and only received a response from Action as of publication.