As SGA presidential hopefuls kicked off their one week of campaigning today at midnight, only one thing is set in stone: For the first time in six years, a female candidate will take the organization’s helm.

There has not been a Student Government Association presidential race featuring only female candidates since at least 1999 and a woman president since 2006, according to SGA Director of Communications Staci Armezzani. But this year, SGA Vice President of Academic Affairs Jamil Scott will head the For Party against Samantha Zwerling, former president of MaryPIRG and leader of the Go Party.

The two parties feature starkly different platforms and will promote these ideas until students vote from April 23 to April 25.

Scott, a junior government and politics and psychology major, listed college affordability, financial literacy education and expanded internship and externship opportunities for students as the For Party’s main initiatives. All four executive candidates are in this year’s SGA, while the rest of the 33-member ticket features a mix of veterans and newcomers.

However, the majority of the Go Party’s 31-member ticket – including the four executive candidates – features student leaders from outside organizations. Zwerling said the party’s chief goal rests on drastic plans to internally reform the organization and to expand its size to lighten each member’s burden.

Both presidential candidates said their main goals will focus on making the SGA more accessible to students.

Zwerling, a sophomore environmental science and policy major, said she plans to add about 30 new non-elected positions to the organization so more students can participate.

“The reason I’m running is a lot because I heard people who see the SGA as administration’s representatives to the students rather than students representing to the admin,” Zwerling said. “The SGA should really be working with students and working with student groups around issues and organizing students. That’s why I brought in a lot of student group presidents because I think the SGA should allow more students into the process.”

Both said they hope to expand student lobbying efforts next year in Annapolis to garner more participants and create a stronger advocacy front for issues before state lawmakers.

“The Student Government Association tends to have a very in-group, out-group vibe, and I want to end that,” Scott said. “What is the Student Government Association if it is not responsive to the student body? That’s what we should be – to respond and fulfill the needs of the student body.”

In the For Party, SGA letters and sciences legislator and junior economics major Brandon Zarco is running for vice president of student affairs; freshman legislator and finance and government and politics major Justin Dent is running for vice president of financial affairs; computer, mathematical and natural sciences legislator and junior biology major Elizabeth Antman is running for vice president of academic affairs.

The For Party executive candidates said their goals are based on addressing internal and campus issues they encountered during their terms on the SGA. Antman said she plans to focus on advocating for textbook affordability and bridging the perceived disconnect between the SGA and the University Senate. Dent said he plans to continue the work that began this year to reform the student group funding process and give students a greater say in how fees are allocated.

Zarco said he plans to use his connections with university officials and alumni to create new externship opportunities for students, forge stronger relationships between students and University Police and address public safety concerns.

“These aren’t empty plans. Everything on my agenda is based on the experiences and resources I have on this campus,” Zarco said, noting he has connections with many university administrators because he worked in the provost’s office his sophomore year.

In the Go Party, Liz Pandya – former coordinator for MaryPIRG’s hunger and homelessness campaign and sophomore government and politics and history major – is running for vice president of student affairs. Junior English and history major Ryan Heisinger is running for vice president of academic affairs, and Tali Alter – the president of the pro-Israel campus group TerPAC and a sophomore psychology major – is running for vice president of financial affairs.

Heisinger said he plans to disperse more student polls and collect more feedback from every SGA-sponsored event.

“My goal is to change the culture, change the functionality of the organization and also the academics at the university,” he said. “I think the organization needs to be more data-driven and outcome-oriented.”

With many members of the party actively involved in other groups, several said they are suited to represent all students.

“There seems to be a disconnect between the SGA and the rest of the student body,” Pandya said. “We need to connect on a more personal level, and I’m ready to deliver that for them.”

villanueva@umdbk.com