On Wednesday, Feb. 9 ballots will be available at “vote.bw.edu” to place student body presidential candidate Emily Muench in a competitive race against student body presidential candidate Elizabeth Cole. Emily Muench chose Zaire-Hall Hamilton to be her running mate whereas Elizabeth Cole chose Mathew Perry to be her running mate. Prior to the election, both candidates needed to receive 75 digital signatures, a feat achieved by both parties.  

Both candidates plan to cause change on campus. Muench and Hamilton plan to better connect the student organizations. Muench and Hamilton plan to pursue diversity. Hamilton said she is a board member for the Allies to help LGBTQ+ students on campus and made herself clear in saying, “I don’t want the tokenism.”  

Changing mental health policy is also a major issue for the Muench and Hamilton ticket. Muench said that she has prior experience leading mental health as she reactivated the mental health student organization Active Minds. Muench and Hamilton said they hope to establish more centralized communication among all the student organizations. 

Cole and Perry plan to focus on inclusion for people with disabilities and for those with different religious backgrounds. Perry and Cole said that they have both already helped people with disabilities on campus through their connections within student government. Cole also said that she is on the executive board of Hillel, the Jewish student organization on campus. Cole and Perry said that they wish to utilize their existing connections with various student organizations and faculty to improve communication on campus. Cole said that these plans will allow the campus to live up to the goal of Mr. Baldwin in “making a university for anyone.” 

The major difference between the candidates is that Cole and Perry are both current members of student government whereas Muench and Hamilton have no prior experience within the organization. Muench and Hamilton said that winning the election will be harder for them since they will not have easy votes from student government members. However, Muench said that she decided to run after the current student body president Ezra Ohly recommended her for the position believing that their inexperience in student government would not matter.  

Muench and Hamilton plan to fix administrative issues within student government. Muench said that one of these issues is that “some clubs still have money being given to them, but they don’t exist.” Jaime Yager, the current advisor for the student government has responded to these claims and said that they are false. Muench has responded to the information from the advisor and said that she believed this since before she re-activated Active Minds, the group still received funding while not having any members. 

The candidates both plan to campaign. Cole and Perry said that they are campaigning via social media, tabling in the student union, buttons, and word of mouth. Muench and Hamilton said that they plan to encourage others to vote to match their stance that, “change can occur from both candidates.”