Impact releases platform, Progress talks to students

Tyler James normally avoids Turlington Plaza, but on Monday he stopped to talk to a Student Government party he’s never heard of.

James, 22, was one of more than 100 students who received a small orange flier that had information about Progress Party. He talked to one of its seven members. It was the party’s first day asking students for ideas for its platform.

“I’ve seen everything from Student and Swamp Party to now,” the UF doctoral health education and behavior student said.

Progress Party President Casey Witte said the response from students to his newly created party has been positive.

“Everyone we talked to has resonated with our message of transparency but didn’t know the elections were coming up,” he said. “Not a single person.”

Impact Party also released its official platform Monday, Impact spokesperson Janae Moodie said.

After talking with students and determining what other large public universities have done, Impact wanted to push for a large building that would include amenities like a

new recreation center, counseling and wellness center and infirmary, she said.

Also on Impact’s platform is a proposed online marketplace, which would be similar to Facebook pages UF students create to advertise and sell items. But it would be more secure and require students to login with their Gator 1 Card, she said.

Moodie said all of the platform ideas came from student suggestions and party leadership discussing which suggestions were achievable.

“We are not limited to the platform we have,” Moodie said. “We’ll always be talking to the Student Body to see what else they want done.”

Contact Paige Fry at pfry@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @paigexfry