ALSO SEE: Elections completely online for first time

Put on your campaign pins, break out your red, white and blue signs and start canvassing: Student Government Association (SGA) elections at the University of Massachusetts are upon us.

This year, 47 students will compete for 42 spots in the SGA senate. According to Chancellor of Elections Jitesh Khushalani, 18 seats are allocated for commuters, six will go to Southwest South, four to Southwest North, three to Northeast, four to Central, two to the North Apartments, three to Orchard Hill and two to Sylvan.

The Collegian attempted to contact every Senate candidate. Following are profiles of the senate races by residence area. To see interviews conducted on a later date, please go here.

Sylvan

Sylvan has three candidates vying for two spots on the SGA senate. The candidates are Kris Kilpi, a sophomore, junior Rich Tsai, and sophomore Nicholas DeChristopher. Of the three, DeChristopher was the only to respond to requests for comment about why he is seeking office.

DeChristopher said that he has little experience with legislative duties, but that he wants to make UMass a better place.

“I really have no idea what I’m getting myself into, but I really want to get involved with my school and make a difference,” he said.

DeChristopher added that he would like to advocate for Sylvan, as he feels it gets an unfair reputation across campus.

“I know the rep Sylvan gets,” he said, “and so far living here for me has been great.”

Northeast

There is just one candidate running for senate from Northeast, Paola Ozuna. Ozuna did not respond to requests for comment.

Southwest North

The race in Southwest North features five candidates; Blaine Stillerman, Adam Baldarelli, Daniela Sanchez, Sarah Schultz and Juan Moreira will fight for the region’s four spots.

Stillerman said he is seeking office primarily to advocate for his constituents in SWN, but also to bring more funding to registered student organizations (RSOs).

He said he hopes to “join the financial committee and work to allocate emergency funding for all RSOs and student groups on campus.”

Stillerman was one of the many candidates from Southwest who said the area’s lack of wireless connectivity is among his top priorities.

“I hope to ensure the installation of WiFi in the dorms for all Southwest residents,” he said.

Freshman Juan Moreira said he hopes to address “the issues that are pressing the campus community.”

Moreira said he would work to give students who may feel powerless a voice.

“People want to be heard, people don’t want to be used as cash cows,” he stated.

Moreira said he would also like to focus on smoothing relations between the University and the town of Amherst.

“I know the town of Amherst has recently raised the fines for noise violations,” he said, referring to the town’s nuisance house bylaw. “I understand that nobody wants to have a bad neighbor, but we’re not cash cows either.”

Moreira also said he would like to address construction in Southwest, stating that “it needs to be wrapped up as soon as possible,” and added that getting wireless to residents of Southwest is a top priority.

Baldarelli, also a freshman, said he is seeking a senate seat because he wants to be a lawyer and feels he can advocate for his fellow students.

“I want to advocate for students in Southwest and just work to be a leader in my community,” he said.

Baldarelli said he feels the biggest issue facing Southwest is also wireless accessibility.

“The biggest issue in my district seems to be wireless Internet,” he said, “that would be the very first thing I would do would be to create a reasonable goal to get wireless Internet introduced to the general session at least by next semester.”

Baldarelli also said he would like to inform fellow students about their legal rights.

“I’m already working with attorneys from the ACLU and the western Mass. area to create a pamphlet about student rights that I’m going to try to distribute to everyone here in the Southwest North district, I want to create a level playing field between campus police authority and students,” he said.

Sanchez and Schultz did not respond to comment requests.

Central

Central’s senate race also features five students after four slots. Candidates include Andrew Eaton, Evan Pleasant, Zachary Broughton, Benjamin Lees and Sean Connor.

Eaton, a sophomore, said he is running because he feels the SGA has not served its full purpose in years past, and he feels he could bring better representation to the student body.

“In the past [the SGA] has not been working to its full potential for students, and I hope to increase its activity to better serve the students.”

Eaton said he did not have particular goals for issues he would hope to tackle, but said his primary objective for Central would be “to improve overall life in the area.”

Pleasant, a freshman, echoed Fox News’ slogan in identifying his reasons for running: “I believe I am a fair and balanced voice that represents the students of Central,” he said.

Though he did not specify, Pleasant said he plans to voice “many concerns Central students have about housing and dining issues.”

He said he feels SGA’s primary role is to “provide all that is necessary for students, not just to learn, but to have fun and live comfortably.”

O’Connor said he would work to combat financial hits to the University.

“The University has seen major budget cuts since the start of the recession, and for the foreseeable future this trend is going to continue,” he said. “I want a seat in the SGA senate in order to fight more effectively for our school’s future; it is the flagship school, I’d like to keep it that way.”

O’Connor said he would focus on bringing cohesion and unity to Central.

“I hope to bring the cohesiveness that is seen in other areas to Central,” he said.

Lees and Broughton did not return comment requests.

Orchard Hill

 O-Hill has what will likely be by far the most competitive electoral picture. Twelve candidates are seeking just three seats. The Collegian was able to reach just three of these candidates, Matthew Bonaccorsi, Jessica Jankowski and Nick Barton.

Bonaccorsi said he is running because he feels students’ representation is diminishing, and that amidst financial concerns and funding cuts, he feels students need better advocates.

“I think that with rising tuition and increasingly scarce funding, it’s more important than ever to have someone advocating for us at the University,” said the sophomore.

Jankowski said one of her main objectives is to ameliorate students’ parking situation.

“I hope to make parking less worrisome for those students on campus with cars by talking to Parking Services about how they decide who to tow and or ticket,” she said.

Jankowski said she would also like to see more bike racks placed around campus.

Barton, who served as an Orchard Hill senator last year, said he believes it is important to have returning leadership in the senate.

“Only eight returning senators are running for reelection out of 42 seats, and I think it’s very important to have some returning senators who can help the new senators learn the ropes,” he said.

Barton said he feels the biggest issue facing campus at the moment is the school’s budgetary situation.

“The biggest issues are obviously the budget cuts that we’ve been getting from the state and, therefore, the budget issues we’re having on campus,” he said. “The senate has the function of an advocate for student, I see us as a major player for communication between the stunts and the school and the state, and that goes back to our own budget, which could be cut significantly this year, which would affect RSOs.”

Other candidates in Orchard Hill include Nate Richardson, Stuart Farber, Mark Borenstein, Mark Riddle, Stephen Darcy, Edward Tedesco, Balaj Rai, Nick Barton, Sheryl Klein and Chandler Hall.

Southwest South

Southwest South’s race is also a contested one. Eight candidates are battling for five spots in the senate. Among them are freshman Lindsay Vitale, Nicholas Julian, senior Bonnie Woods, freshman Tyler Read, freshman Hayley Mandeville, junior Ben Johnson, junior Jarred Rose and Claire Reid Kis.

Reid Kis said she is seeking office to “have as much positive influence as I possibly can,” noting her future interest in becoming involved in politics.

Reid Kis said she would work on “whatever my residents want,” pertaining to her legislative goals, and that she hopes Southwest South residents would “be able to come to me with [what they want to see accomplished].”

Woods said she would like to foster in students a better understanding of the machinations of the SGA and would like to work to equip younger students with the ability to productively run the SGA in years to come.

“I’m a senior this year and have lived on campus all four years and I think it’s very easy to not understand the impact the SGA can have on your student experience,” she said, “so I’d like to learn to let students, especially younger students, understand what the SGA does.”

Woods said two issues she would like to see addressed are bringing a greater number of PVTA buses to the areas around campus and getting later buses for students, as well as devising a campus-focused market for purchasing textbooks.

“A lot of my friends live off campus, so from a student’s perspective, a lot of students have expressed frustration over this, the infrequency and early termination of the buses, not knowing if you’re going to have a ride, UMass needs to address this,” she said.

“I think it would be very beneficial to have some kind of online market for textbooks specific to UMass, so students could exchange books right here on campus,” she added.

Julian said he would like to see the SGA improve “infrastructure and the student quality of life at UMass.”

He also said he would like to improve the aesthetics of Southwest.

“I hope to achieve…an improved Southwest Beach, in fixing the dirt path/ditch and restoring it to the beach that was used and enjoyed by students of both regions of Southwest.”

Julian said he would also like to help green Southwest by adding more recycling posts.

“I’d like to work with the University and Senate to make another category of recycling in proper disposal of plastics, as in containers and food trays,” he said.

Commuter

The race for commuter senate seats is something of a no-contest, as 13 students are campaigning for 18 spots, meaning all 13 will likely serve on the senate.

These candidates include Alex Cidado, Allison Sacks, Michelle Sudan, Justin A. Thompson, Elle Rahilly, Dan Stratford, William Cody, Josh Davidson, Ellen Moorhouse, Gregory MacDonough, Matthew Medney, Thor Tillberg and Matthew Reilly.

Thompson, who is seeking another term as a senator, said he would like to continue the work he started last year.

“I believe I served the students well in the SGA last spring when I was appointed to fill a vacancy, and want to continue to do especially in the face of some disingenuous proposals coming up,” he said.

Thompson also said he feels he is well-qualified to retain his seat based on the diversity of activities in which he participates and based on his extensive connections to the campus and the community.

Davidson said he would like to see more money allocated for clubs, as opposed to what he called “agencies.”

“I’d like to see us take a look at how we spend money on agencies,” he said, “and I’d like to take a look and see how that is prioritized compared to giving that to clubs; agencies like Student Bridges, the radio station, just to take a look and see if we’re giving enough to clubs.”

Davidson also said he would like to address some issues regarding the Code of Student Conduct.

“I’d like to make [the CSC] a little more amenable to students,” he said. “We don’t want the whole campus going crazy, but specifically the alcohol violation policy and the record keeping policies,” he mentioned, “if you get a drinking violation on your record your freshman year, it’s on your record for seven years, so there’s a lot of examples like that in the CSC.”

Moorhouse, a senior, said she would like to represent commuter students, though she was unspecific as to how.

“My biggest issues would be to represent [commuters] if something comes up; maybe with the Constitution, with wording being unclear, or with people trying to enact legislation that would not be in the interest of the commuter,” she said.

MacDonough said he was inspired to run by an article which ran this month in the Boston Globe calling into question UMass’ reputation statewide and nationally.

“[The Globe] talked about UMass Amherst and its reputation and I was a little bit disappointed about the things they said,” he said. “[The SGA] helps the school raise money and does projects on campus, so I want to help turn around the reputation of UMass,” he said.

Medney, a senior, said he would like to “influence some positive changes” by creating more camps events for off-campus students.

“For the off-campus students, life can be kind of mundane,” he said, “I’d like to improve commuter life for UMass students; create more activities or events that would get off-campus students to want to be on campus on a Friday or Saturday night instead of going to the bars, because we pay such a high tuition rate that would should get more activities.”

Elections will be going on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week with results announced early next week, according to Khushalani.

Sam Butterfield can be reached at [email protected].