Friday is the final day to cast your ballot for Rose Hill’s United Student Government elections. Sometimes, it’s hard to know what impact, if any, USG has on the quality of academic and student life here at Fordham. That stigma, however, doesn’t stop Stephen Erdman, FCRH ’13, and Aileen Reynolds, FCRH ’14, from wanting to make USG — and Fordham — even better. And that’s why Her Campus Fordham is pleased to endorse Erdman-Reynolds for Executive President and Vice-President of USGRH for 2012-2013.
For starters, Stephen’s running his campaign from the Dominican Republic while he studies abroad. If anything, this shows his passion and committment to the Fordham community. Stephen has been involved in USG since his freshman year, and is also involved with the Dorothy Day Center for Service & Justice, Urban Plunge, and Rose Hill Society. Aileen has also served on USG since her freshman year, and is also part of FUEMS, RHS, and NSO. (You can learn more about the candidates’ backgrounds here.)
Stephen and Aileen have an extensive list of goals for USG (you can read their platform here), and they certainly have their fair share of points that would make the Fordham experience better for collegiettes. The highlights:
- Remain committed to: eliminating all types of discrimination; cultivating a University community that values and respects all of its members; and combating official and unofficial systems and actions that silence students
- Continue efforts to extend weekend library hours and increase the number of areas open after 12:00 am
- Create an online study-abroad mentor directory
- Collaborate with IT to evaluate the internet bandwidth upgrade (yes please!)
- Encourage Fordham College to implement an earlier distribution of first-semester freshmen schedules
- Support CSA and USG’s joint efforts to enact a same-day commuter guest pass system
- Brainstorm new approaches to revising the sign-in policy while still honoring Fordham’s Catholic and Jesuit traditions
- Appoint the USG VP of Student Life as a liaison to the Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice and Campus Ministry
- Increase USG’s involvement with the paper and local news sources
- Cooperate with USG Lincoln Center regarding University-wide initiatives
- Support cooperation between students groups and facilities to establish areas on campus for hands-on sustainability projects
- Urge OSLCD to allocate a greater portion of its budget to the student activities fund by basing the size of the fund on the number of undergraduates enrolled at Rose Hill
- Dialogue with OSLCD and student organizations about the censorship of club performances, artistic expression, and club advertising materials
- Continue to review current on-campus demonstration policies
- Revisit the “Maroon Square” initiative
Basically, we support Stephen and Aileen’s commitment to social justice, freedom of expression and creating room for everyone to be welcomed into our Fordham community. Please don’t forget to vote via OrgSync. Good luck to all of the candidates!