When Sam Zwerling walked into Stamp Student Union on Monday evening, the SGA presidential hopeful was exhausted.
After a long day of standing on McKeldin Mall in almost 90-degree weather, her cheeks and nose were sunburned, and she was sweating in a black T-shirt that read “Go Party” in bright green letters. Clutching a clipboard with a list of signatures from supporters, Zwerling explained she had been out campaigning. The sophomore environmental science and policy major said she was inspired to run not by membership in the Student Government Association, but by that kind of grassroots university politics.
“We’re really focused on talking to students and getting them to understand the issues,” Zwerling said. “We’re asking them, ‘How much do you know about SGA?’ and ‘How much would you like to know in the future?'”
“I picked my thing freshman year, and I stuck with it,” said Zwerling, who first got involved in activism as a high school student.
In her first semester on the campus, she worked on the TerpsVote campaign, an SGA-sponsored coalition, but said it was disheartening when they finished 30 students short of their goal. Zwerling said in the final stretches of the campaign, she noticed a lack of participation from previously engaged SGA officials.
“I asked where the rest of the coalition was, and I was told that they’re in a meeting,” Zwerling said. “It baffled me why they were just talking about it instead of doing – I realized it doesn’t have to be like this.”
Motivated to create change on the campus, Zwerling sat on the SGA’s Financial Reform Commission and helped measure public opinion on how student fees should be allocated. Last year, she joined MaryPIRG and ran the Sustainable University campaign.
By the end of her freshman year, the advocacy organization’s members elected her president and she led members in lobbying legislators in Annapolis to support wind energy, which ultimately failed in the state legislature this year. Now, Zwerling said wants to try to make university-wide changes.
“I’m coming in with a comprehensive plan,” she said. “The idea is not going through talking points, but, ‘This is a blueprint for how we will lead.'”
MaryPIRG chapter President David Bransfield wrote in an email that Zwerling has a history of tackling important issues.
“Sam, from day one, was never afraid to address tough problems,” Bransfield wrote. “She can be a fighter when she needs to be and she is loyal to the people around her.”
Although she only served half of her term as president of MaryPIRG – Zwerling declined to say why she left and has not received an endorsement from the organization – she said she is confident her accomplishments will outweigh any criticism.
“I think there’s going to be talk that I’m young,” she said. “But I’ve had lots of experience and an extremely active role last spring and semester.”
Zwerling said she plans to take MaryPIRG’s traditionally grassroots approach to SGA to make communicating within the body and accessing the organization easier for students.
“A year from now, I see SGA a lot more engaged with the student body and being visible, with tables in front of Stamp and having more connections with students and feeling more like a community,” Zwerling said. “I don’t think students are given enough opportunities to be engaged and make a difference now.”
In the 50-page Go Party platform, Zwerling detailed a structural overhaul of the SGA system, including creating specialized internal positions.
Ryan Heisinger, a Go Party candidate for vice president of academic affairs, said Zwerling’s enthusiasm convinced him to join the race.
“I initially went to the first Go Party meetings to humor her and perhaps give her advice on what I would do if I was running,” said the junior English and history major. “I was just genuinely impressed by the knowledge and experience, the vision she had – they’re the reason I’m running, because of what she and what this ticket stands for.”
Zwerling said her platform’s initiatives focus on improving representation, such as sending out weekly polls to gauge student opinions on particular issues.
“There aren’t really any presidential initiatives in there and that’s on purpose,” she said. “We should be working as a team on everything; one person to do things themselves is not helpful.”
For Zwerling, the opportunity to become SGA president is something personal. She said it would give her a chance to push issues she’s passionate about, including women’s rights and encouraging students to make their voices heard at the polls.
“If I win or don’t win, either way I’m going to work on getting students registered to vote because that’s personally something I’m committed to,” she said.
blasey@umdbk.com
