Disclaimer: SGA executive vice presidential candidate Lynelle Essilfie and presidential candidate Dhruvak Mirani are former Diamondback opinion columnists.
University of Maryland SGA executive candidates debated student engagement and financial transparency Tuesday night in Stamp Student Union ahead of April’s election.
The debate included candidates from the StriveUMD, Our College Park and JusticeUMD parties for the upcoming Student Government Association election, which will take place April 1 to April 3. It featured candidates running for SGA president, vice president and vice president of financial affairs.
President
Two candidates are running for SGA president. Candidates are listed alphabetically by last name.
- Graham Firosz, StriveUMD
- Dhruvak Mirani, Our College Park
Firosz, the SGA’s current engineering representative, hopes to increase student engagement by improving the SGA’s communication efforts with student groups. The sophomore computer engineering and public policy major added that he would include student groups in SGA initiatives and projects.
His plan, which includes advertising vacant SGA positions to students, aims to increase SGA involvement and elevate more diverse and inclusive student voices, Firosz said during the debate.
Firosz said he would expand gender-neutral bathroom options across campus and increase kosher and halal food options on campus.
[UMD SGA will no longer hold referendum on Metro discount program after presidential veto]
Mirani, who serves on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents and previously served as the College Park City Council student liaison, highlighted the importance of student engagement and being transparent about communicating budget decisions that affect student groups.
“A lot of student groups do not feel like the financial process is very transparent,” the junior computer science and government and politics major said.
Mirani also emphasized his commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Mirani said he would ensure that cultural student groups receive funding for meetings that include food, which he said is “part of their culture.”
Executive vice president
Three candidates are running for SGA executive vice president. Candidates are listed alphabetically by last name
- Lynelle Essilfie, StriveUMD
- Shuli Frenkel, Our College Park
- Riona Sheikh, JusticeUMD
Essilfie, StriveUMD’s executive vice presidential candidate and the SGA’s current public policy representative, aims to improve connections with students through enhancing collaboration with student groups, she said.
The sophomore economics and public policy major said she supports the SGA hosting monthly town hall events where students can ask the legislature questions and hold it accountable.
“We can’t speak for people and their problems if we’re not actually experiencing them, and we’re never going to truly understand what they’re going through unless we’re sitting down in a room with them, reaching out to these various groups,” she said.
Frenkel, a junior criminology and criminal justice major, said the Our College Park ticket is committed to financial transparency for student fees. Many of these fees are “unfair to students,” who are already managing several other expenses, she said.
Frenkel also said she hopes to tackle affordability issues by working to eliminate additional fees attached to lab courses to ensure that no students pay more than others just because of their interests.
Sheikh said her JusticeUMD party is “a movement” for change. The party supports divestment from companies committing “human rights violations globally” and relaxing free speech restrictions, according to an Instagram post on Monday.
[UMD students will vote on divestment from defense companies in April’s SGA election]
During the debate, the sophomore government and politics major said she would demand financial transparency for where this university invests its funds.
Next week’s SGA election also features a nonbinding campuswide vote on whether students support to call for the University System of Maryland Foundation and the University of Maryland College Park Foundation to divest from certain security, military and defense companies.
“We won’t let our college profit off of human rights abuses and destruction of our planet,” Sheikh said.
Sheikh also said she wants to bridge the gap between the student body and SGA by improving methods to directly hear student concerns, such as conducting large surveys, she said.
Vice president of financial affairs
Two candidates are running for SGA financial affairs vice president. Candidates are listed alphabetically by last name.
- Navya Bansal, StriveUMD
- Andrew Sha, Our College Park
Bansal, who serves as treasurer of the SGA’s financial affairs committee, emphasized the importance of accountability, acknowledging that the SGA cannot claim to solve issues within the student body if the student body itself is not engaged.
“One way we can do that for the financial affairs committee is by bringing student groups back into the process,” the sophomore bioengineering major said.
Bansal proposed to increase funding for student groups through pressuring university administration to “take pride in” student groups. Bansal also suggested having individual departments fund student groups, which they have already advocated for within the engineering school.
Sha, who serves on the SGA’s financial affairs committee, said he is passionate about making funding more equitable for all clubs. The sophomore accounting and finance major said he aims to make improvements to the governing body’s budget application process.
Sha suggested improving transparency with the student body by publishing funding reports, so students can see “where our money is going,” he said.
“I’m ready to make your student experience very accessible and efficient for everyone,” Sha said.
