Int’l elections open Friday
The International Student Council (ISC) elections will be held Friday at 4 p.m. in the Taggart Student Center Auditorium.
The nominations for each of the seven council positions were closed on March 28, with a total of 18 students running, said Andrew Hong, program coordinator for International Students and Scholars.
In the election process each of the 84 countries represented at Utah State University have an opportunity to be represented in one of the council positions and have one vote per country.
“We’re making sure every country has a voice,” Hong said.
The ISC is the representative body of the international students at USU with the goal of getting more students involved on campus, connecting them to their community and providing a warmer, more inclusive environment, said Negar Davis, director of International Students and Scholars.
“We are striving to mix all of the cultures and countries into one council,” Davis said. “We are striving for diversity.”
In regards to the candidate qualifications, Davis said each candidate must be registered as a full-time student in good academic standing with an undergraduate GPA of 2.0 or above, or a graduate GPA of 3.0 or above. For the presidential position, the candidates must be international with a visa in legal status, but the other council candidates are not required to be international students.
Rafael Herrera, an undergraduate candidate for president, is a student from the Dominican Republic who wants to work for “an integrated community of working hands.”
Muhammad Farhan Bin Hussain, from Pakistan, is also an undergraduate student running for president.
“I would do anything to help the international students here at Utah State University if in my reach as president,” Hussain said.
The other candidates include Melissa Kamis of Singapore, Said Ghabayen of Palestine, Ryo Kawakami of Japan, and Vani Gaddam of India for the executive vice president position, and as the candidates for executive secretary Ida Nkonge of Kenya and Wei Wei of China.
The student life vice president candidates are Chaitanya Mutyala of India and Daphne Hartzheim of Germany, with Imran-Bin Rana of Pakistan and Olga Kamenchuk of Russia for running public relations vice president.
Naser Salehi of Iran and Hara Prasad Sahani of India are the candidates for the sports and recreation vice president candidates, with Jianyong Zhang of China, Musstafa Al-Shemali of Kuwait, and Ravindra Gandhe of India running for the position of cultural vice president.