Out of the 86 students who decided to run for a Student Government seat this Fall, only two are not running with a party.
Trevison Clark, who’s running to represent Murphree Area, and Adrian O’Sullivan, who’s running to represent Yulee Area, are the only two independent candidates for the Fall SG elections, which will allow students to elect 50 new senators based on residential location. The elections will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.
O’Sullivan said he wants to add more benches and tables with solar panel umbrellas around the Yulee Area.
He also wants to start a UF Music Festival that would last five days — having UF students showcase their musical talents during the first four and hiring a professional on the fifth day, he said.
“It would sort of be a fun and bonding experience,” he said.
O’Sullivan said he wants SG to start sending a monthly “satisfaction survey” to all students to see how they’re feeling.
“It’s important to get people’s opinions validated,” he said. “That way we’ll at least have clear cut general opinions of what people are thinking.”
“Bring balance back to campus” is O’Sullivan’s slogan, he said, because SG needs to have candidates from different backgrounds, instead of only one party.
Benjamin Cohen, a UF computer science freshman who lives in Yulee, said he doesn’t know anything about SG and isn’t planning to vote on the elections.
“Yulee is really nice, and it’s well-kept,” he said. “I wouldn’t change anything.”
The 19-year-old said he likes the idea of adding benches and tables outside, but he doesn’t like bugs so he wouldn’t use them. He wouldn’t attend a music festival, he said, but he thinks students with musical abilities would.
For Murphree Area resident Katherine Scogin, her Fletcher Hall dorm room is uncomfortably hot. The two fans she bought for a total of $35 don’t work very well, she said.
“It feels like I have no control over my own room,” the UF marketing junior said.
Not controlling her air conditioner in the Murphree Area is only one of her problems — her shower leaks, the tile floor hurts her feet when she wakes up, and she can’t find parking for her scooter near her dorm.
“As a resident who doesn’t have any other option, it’s annoying having to squish my scooter in by Library West, risking getting a ticket if it’s on top of a line,” the 20-year-old said.
Improving the living conditions in the Murphree Area is Clark’s top priority, he said, adding he’ll try to pass a resolution if he’s elected to raise awareness of the issues.
“You kind of get the feeling you’ve been left in the outskirts and nobody cares about the pristine of your building,” Clark said.
Other projects Clark has include adding more bike racks around campus and advocating to assign priority parking to UF Housing residents, he said. He also wants to re-evaluate how funding is given to organizations by establishing specific criteria, such as the clubs’ size.
Clark said he believes in accountability and accessibility, so he is in favor of anything that brings those two values to SG.
He said he’s lived in Murphree Area for two years and wanted to run last year but felt he didn’t know the area very well.
“But after the last election when I saw Impact sweep all of the seats I felt that I didn’t only want to, I had to,” Clark said.
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