The SGA presidential candidates agree it’s important to lobby on behalf of the 26,475 undergraduates at the university. They just differ on who to lobby, how to do it and how often.

Advocating for student interests is the Student Government Association’s principal task, as the organization cannot directly enact policy changes. STARE Party candidate Natalia Cuadra-Saez, Your Party candidate Steve Glickman and SKY Party candidate Andrew Steinberg said they plan to take advantage of that opportunity through methods in sync with their individual goals and platforms.

Glickman, the incumbent, said he would build on his existing relationships with lawmakers, reach out to the governor after November’s election and continue his work from his past year in office.

While Steinberg said he would focus on lobbying city, state and federal government officials, Cuadra-Saez said she would focus her efforts on administrators because “everything starts locally.”

Although all candidates’ platforms mention lobbying state legislators, the SKY Party and Your Party tickets give Annapolis substantially more attention. Cuadra-Saez said that’s because “the administration is, in a sense, what most affects you, so the administration has to be the main focus in terms of lobbying efforts.”

She said she hopes to channel the diversity of student opinion — the foundation of her platform — into a unified lobbying effort administrators cannot ignore. Mobilizing students to speak up and vote in local elections is also at the forefront of her strength-in-numbers mentality.

Cuadra-Saez’s party would emphasize student participation in protests and demonstrations — tangible events that she said speak louder than “just talking.”

“Direct action can effect change,” she said. “It’s a fundamental thing about who we are. It’s not just about lobbying, shaking hands and sucking up, but direct action has historically been what gives students power.”

Students have often had difficulty relating to their state representatives, an obstacle that makes getting involved just too much trouble, Cuadra-Saez said. To bridge the gap, the STARE Party would create a system to rank state legislators on how student-friendly they are.

“It would be keeping with our theme of empowering students,” she said. “It would very clearly show you, objectively, how legislators voted on issues that affect higher education. Students would have that information and power when they go to the polls, and maybe feel inspired to vote.”

Steinberg is aiming for even more interaction with legislators, whom he said often listen to students more attentively than university administrators do. His top priorities in Annapolis include redirecting legislative scholarship money to students applying for need-based aid and asking for a state-run audit of the university’s Department of Transportation Services.

SGA presidents have traditionally made regular visits to Annapolis — Glickman has said he went about 40 times this year, and former SGA President Jonathan Sachs said he went about three times a week.

Steinberg said three trips per week “seems like a good number” to testify at hearings and meet with representatives and legislative aides. He stressed, however, that his lobbying efforts won’t end there.

“Lobbying isn’t only face-to-face, it’s over the phone, it’s through letter drives, but most importantly it’s about presence,” he said.

Unlike the other candidates, Cuadra-Saez was hesitant to pledge a specific number of visits to the General Assembly. Instead, she said she would base her lobbying efforts in College Park and branch out to external governments when an issue of particular importance to students arises.

Perhaps in response to opponents’ criticism of his work in Annapolis this past year, Glickman said Your Party would expand its efforts by working on more issues, with more legislators, more often.

Though the legislative session ended last week, Glickman said he would maintain contact with legislators during the summer and amp up lobbying efforts in the fall, such as by regularly bringing students outside the SGA to Annapolis.

All candidates said they would enlist help from student group leaders to lobby administrators and government officials. Brian Burrell, president of the university’s chapter of MaryPIRG — an on-campus student lobbying organization — said unifying the student voice is key to securing legislative victories.

“The SGA is supposed to be a representation of the campus body,” said Burrell, a junior English major. “They should take advantage of the resources that they have. … I know MaryPIRG isn’t the only student group that takes an interest in what goes on in Annapolis. [The president] should be contacting other groups to get their focus and opinion on what issues to focus on, and vice versa. It’s a two-way street.”

gulin@umdbk.com