Get to know the candidates: PRESIDENT
JONATHAN HEMINGWAY
Jonathan Hemingway is a finalist for Utah State University’s student body president.
* Why should students care about ASUSU?
ASUSU is a method for students to send accurate information to the administration or other top university officials, Hemingway said.
“The ASUSU is kind of the group in the school that really has contact with the people running the school, the upper administration,” he said.
Hemingway said ASUSU acts as a middleman between students and officials to deal with problems and issues.
* What research have you done for your platform?
Hemingway said he has talked to students about what they want.
“I figure if it’s any sort of democracy at all, and people are going to vote for you because you’re going to give them what they want, you have to ask them what they want,” he said.
Hemingway said he considers the prices at the USU Bookstore an example of a monopoly on campus. He has contacted eBay and Amazon.com about outsourcing the USU Book Exchange, to manage a place online for students to buy and sell textbooks.
* How do your platform and qualifications relate to the position you are running for?
Hemingway said a semester in Kenya and being raised to learn from his experiences qualifies him for the position.
His platform goes a “little past quilted toilet paper” he said, adding that he thinks it is funny how no one has asked about his other platform issues until now.
* What kind of feedback have you received about your platform thus far?
“A lot of what I do is give it a shot,” Hemingway said. “I’m a big believer of learning from experience.”
Most people have laughed and had a good time with Hemingway’s platform, he said, but some people have questioned whether he is a legitimate candidate.
Hemingway said most people are happy with his campaign and tell him he is “right on target” with the issues that matter to them.
* If you make president, are these the only goals you’ll shoot for?
Hemingway said these are obviously not the only goals he will shoot for if elected ASUSU President.
“The thing I’m best at is learning through experience,” he said. “I would start with those goals and as I learned more about what ASUSU is capable of and what the other people are willing to do, and what the campus wants, the changes would deal with that.”
* What is the role of ASUSU president?
“I guess the role of the ASUSU president is no different than a normal student, and that is to make this school better,” Hemingway said.
When he inquired about the election, Hemingway said, he requested a list of duties which are required of the president, but he is still not 100 percent sure of what the president does.
“I guess on a really obvious note, you’re a diplomat for this school,” he said.
–str@cc.usu.edu
DUKE DI STEFANO
Duke Di Stefano is one of the finalists for president of ASUSU.
* Why should students care about ASUSU?
Di Stefano said students should care about ASUSU, because it is the governing body of the students and is what provides most of the programming for the students on campus. Activities like the Howl, Mardi Gras and movies on campus are all planned by ASUSU.
“We provide an outlet for the students to the administration,” Di Stefano said.
* What research have you done for your platform?
The experience of serving with ASUSU as the administrative assistant has given Di Stefano a great deal of knowledge for what the president’s position would entail, he said.
He said he has spoken with various students to see what the problems have been this year and what potential problems might be faced next year.
“The council hasn’t done a good job of getting ideas out, getting resolutions and bills, and getting student input out, and that’s something that I would like to change,” Di Stefano said.
Student relation tables and working with other officers’ ideas would help to keep students informed of everything related to ASUSU, he said.
* How do your platform and qualifications relate to the position you are running for?
“An important thing is to develop a working relationship with the faculty and staff on campus,” Di Stefano said.
He said he is currently working on building relationships with the faculty and administration by serving on committees with President Hall and other faculty members.
* Some people say you are the candidate groomed by ASUSU to win. What do you say?
Di Stefano said he thinks people are saying that because he has served on ASUSU this year as the “president’s right-hand man.”
* How specifically do you plan to increase awareness of ASUSU?
By filling the president’s cabinet with a more diverse range of students and keeping the school Web page updated, Di Stefano said, awareness of ASUSU would increase significantly.
* If you plan to concentrate more on home issues than on state issues, who will represent students to the Legislature, the Board of Regents and other universities?
“That is still the president’s duties, and I am fully committed to still upholding those,” Di Stefano said.
He said the past few presidents have spent a lot of time at the Legislature, and he isn’t sure if all of the time was necessary.
He said he needs to determine when the president’s presence is required at the Legislature and which days would be better spent in his office or on campus researching student issues.
“I want to make sure that when I’m [in Salt Lake City], we’re lobbying for educational issues and we’re working on educational things that will affect Utah State as a school,” he said.
–str@cc.usu.edu