It’s that time of year again.
You see them standing in light blue or orange shirts outside the Reitz Union or on Turlington Plaza. They have fliers in their hands and are ready to ask if you want to get involved on campus.
UF Student Government elections begin next Tuesday, and Inspire Party and Gator Party released their fall campaign platforms.
Inspire Party released its 15-point platform Friday afternoon on Facebook.
The platform asks student voters three questions: “Shouldn’t SG actually help students?”; “Shouldn’t SG care about every student?”; and “Shouldn't SG promote an inclusive campus?”
Inspire President Zachary Amrose said some of the party’s longstanding goals include ensuring sexual assault survivors’ access to on-campus resources, students’ access to mental health resources across campus and access to blue light telephones on Fraternity Row.
“Largely, we have been incorporating students’ voices through the first half of the campaign into our platform,” Amrose said. “Over the past 10 days, we’ve been in Turlington and in the Reitz asking students for ideas.”
Amrose said it’s important that students vote in these elections in order to see their priorities enacted.
SG’s $22 million budget comes out of students’ activity and service fees from tuition, but less than 20 percent of UF students vote in SG elections.
“Our challenge is to get out there and tell students that Student Government has the ability to make a change in their life,” Amrose said.
Inspire included its goals on mental health resources and reporting and prevention resources for sexual assault survivors on their campaign platform this semester as well as in the spring.
Other platform points that remained include expanding free printing locations and live streaming senate meetings.
Three points of Gator’s campaign platform were released Monday at about noon on Facebook and three more points were announced Tuesday at about 1 p.m.
These points state that Gator’s goals include collaborating with the UF Career Connections Center to to publish editable resumes, publishing a map with locations for alternative study spaces and designing and installing a ramp between Marston Breezeway and Reitz North Lawn to increase accessibility.
Gator hasn’t released their official platform and couldn’t be reached for comment by The Alligator’s deadline on aspects of their campaign and released platform points.
Students sit at voting stations at the Marston Science Library computer lab polling location and cast their votes for last Fall's Student Government elections on Sept. 25. Marston is one of several locations students can vote at on Wednesday.
