For the first time in 20 years, candidates for the tri-executive and representative-at-large positions in UCSU are running unopposed for their selected positions.
Daniel Ramos, a senior sociology major and the current UCSU chief of staff, Christine Thai, a senior accounting major and Tom Higginbotham, a senior economics major, are running for the UCSU tri-executive positions.
“I think our biggest challenge will be getting people to still vote for us,” Ramos said. “Because, just because we’re running unopposed doesn’t mean we still don’t want to garner student support through the voting process.”
Kathryn Stockwell, a senior MCD biology major, said she thinks the lack of opposition is a negative thing for this election.
“No opposition, that doesn’t make it very exciting,” Stockwell said. “It also doesn’t give them much incentive to campaign which is why more people don’t know what it is.”
Next year, Ramos said he hopes UCSU will meet the goal of improving safety on campus and developing multicultural leadership at CU.
“We see the demand being there, and as we notice through lack of respect for some differences, we want to use that as a framework to talk to students and use a peer mentor program,” Ramos said.
Tri-executive candidate Higginbotham said he had similar goals for UCSU, adding financial concerns as well.
“We’re going to do a lot of work to fight to maintain our funding from the state, and keep our student fees low,” he said. “I think the big things that I’m going to work on are bringing people together and making more awareness for UCSU.”
Ramos said he hoped to make contact with more students.
“We want to use this as an opportunity to reach out to students,” Ramos said.
Sophomores JoAnna Baca, a Spanish major, Dominic Di Marco, a mechanical engineering major, Nate Burns and Stephanie Yoon, both psychology majors, are running for the representative-at-large positions.
“It is not necessarily a ‘bad’ thing going unopposed,” Burns said. “Having viable candidates with strong leadership qualities leaves no room for doubt and without doubt how can one raise opposition pertaining to their overall effectiveness within the construct of leadership? Therefore, going unopposed would not one understand that maybe it is the fact these candidates are already primed for undertaking a UCSU position?”
Regardless of being unopposed, Ramos said there is work to be done.
“I think one of the most important things is to remember that just because our ticket is running unopposed doesn’t mean there aren’t other important initiatives on the ballot that are affecting students this year, like the bus pass,” Ramos said.
Stockwell said she is planning on voting in this election because of the RTD bus pass referendum that appears on the ballot.
“I am (voting), because there’s like a bus pass amendment, and I take the Stampede,” she said.
RTD is requesting a $14 student fee increase through advisory referenda to help maintain operations, according to the UCSU ballot.
“The things that we would lose are the SkyRide from Boulder to the airport, it would be more expensive, the late night Hop and the Stampede bus,” Ramos said. “And of course it would cost students by having them pay for the bus pass on their own or paying cash every time they get on the bus.”
David L. Hommedieu, a master’s candidate in music, said he was aware of the lack of opposition in this year’s election, but that he is planning on voting because of the buses.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sara Kassabian at Sara.kassabian@colorado.edu.
