Each year, Pipe Dream’s Executive Board interviews every candidate running for positions on the Student Association’s E-Board and the University Council. Each candidate had the opportunity to share their backgrounds, platforms and why they felt deserving of students’ votes.

To keep endorsements objective, E-Board members with personal connections to the candidates had no role in their interview or endorsement process.

After discussion and deliberation, we decided to endorse the following candidates, and we hope our endorsements will guide readers in making a decision on March 27. To learn more about each candidate, visit our election page.

President: McKenzie Skrastins 

With a year of experience under her belt, Pipe Dream confidently endorses incumbent McKenzie Skrastins for president of the SA. While Joseph Kornblum, a junior majoring in business administration, has compelling ideas and relevant experience responding to student concerns as Off Campus College Council president, we feel that Skrastins’ drive, passion and ideas for specific, concrete initiatives clearly demonstrate her ability and competence.

Skrastins, a junior double-majoring in mathematics and an individualized major in data science, has the advantage of incumbency and has led initiatives like the Multicultural Professional Development Summit and connecting underrepresented high school students to the University through a student leaders panel.

She also said she has delivered progress on pillars of her previous platform, like helping students request cultural days off by working with the faculty to create a blurb in syllabuses encouraging professors to recognize holidays.

Her plan to shift her focus to fewer, more complex initiatives is admirable. While some components of this proposal have less specific logistics, like creating a full-bus notification for Off Campus College Transport, other aspects of her platform are strong and detailed, like her plan to expand the SA’s presence downtown by moving events to a more accessible location for off-campus students.

Kornblum’s platform also has strong pillars, including mental health and safety, and we respect his commitment to professional development. However, we find that his platform lacked specificity in ideas to implement these plans and help students. We also believe his focus on supporting student groups centered too heavily on professional development clubs, and we wished that his platform more clearly acknowledged and advocated for multicultural organizations.

While Kornblum’s emphasis on student safety is commendable, we are concerned that his proposed safety advisory board may be ineffective, as its proposed actions — like providing student alerts and connecting with OCCT and Harpur’s Ferry — are too similar to preexisting resources.

Both candidates offer strong ideas for programs supporting our student body. However, Skrastins’ experience, detailed plans and dedication to the position solidify her as our E-Board’s choice for SA president.

Executive Vice President: Nick Ginsberg

With a platform sharply focused on addressing concerns raised by student organizations, Nick Ginsberg, a junior double-majoring in political science and sociology, is our choice for next year’s EVP.

While Ginsberg has not directly worked in the EVP office, he has an impressive record serving as chair of the SA Congress’ Financial Committee, which handles funding allocations to chartered clubs and other groups. As committee chair, Ginsberg has personally met with hundreds of student organizations during the annual budget season, giving him insight into the challenges faced by a diverse range of clubs.

We believe his prior experience as assistant to the vice president for finance and current leadership in Mock Trial makes him uniquely suited to tackle these issues while bringing a fresh perspective to the office.

Ginsberg has clearly defined policies he wants to implement as EVP. One of his aims is to provide storage for provisionally chartered organizations — new student groups that do not receive allocated space in the University. He plans on creating a rotational storage cage to give these clubs space to store equipment. Furthermore, he wants to simplify the fall and spring leadership conferences to cover only essential information — something we feel will benefit all campus organization leaders.

A desire to center organizations at the heart of student governance is reflected in his plan to expand SA Rentables and create a website for clubs and organizations to track the availability of rentable equipment. We are particularly responsive to Ginsberg’s idea of allowing clubs to select their preferred tabling section at events like UFEST, giving student organizations a greater voice in defining themselves.

Batia Rabin, the current EVP and a junior double-majoring in philosophy, politics and law and women, gender and sexuality studies, certainly has the necessary experience needed to continue in their position. Pipe Dream, however, felt their campaign platform was somewhat lackluster.

While Rabin described steps they have taken to increase organizational space on campus — like working with Peter Nardone, the senior director of the University Union — we wish that they proposed more creative solutions to solve this challenge. Rabin moved Club Carnival to accommodate Jewish students and created a storage grant for student clubs to organize their space, which are important successes.

However, we believe that their commitment to finding new space lacked detail. Pipe Dream additionally does not feel Rabin’s response to concerns about staffing levels in the office was adequate, especially contrasted with Ginsberg’s desire to have more help available for students during the week. As the incumbent, we appreciate everything that Rabin’s accomplished, but we feel that Ginsberg is the candidate for the future.

Vice President for Finance: Gabriela Meza

Pipe Dream confidently endorses Gabriela Meza, a junior majoring in economics, for vice president for finance. While she is running unopposed, her platform and experiences show she is extremely qualified and enthusiastic about taking on this role.

As a general assistant in the current VPF’s office, a current club treasurer, an off-campus representative for OCCT and the secretary of the Economics Club, Meza has the experience to step into this leadership role. One important aspect of the job is to train assistants to understand the strict rules and regulations around a multimillion-dollar budget, and her time in the office already prepares her well for this task. Working under Caitlin McMahon, the current VPF and a senior double-majoring in accounting and business administration, will allow her to acclimate well to the stress and time commitment of these responsibilities.

We feel with this plethora of experiences, Meza will hit the ground running.

With four main points in her platform — communication, innovation, reliability and efficiency — Meza tackles some specific goals, including increasing bus lines and making financial training online. She describes how she might purchase a cheap online platform to design the training on. For the bus lines, she is considering raising drivers’ wages. While we are not confident that this is a feasible plan, we appreciate her willingness to focus her energies on a resource so many students rely on.

Moreover, her plans to create anonymous feedback forms and foster a welcoming environment are commendable and important if she is to serve the student body well. Separating the responsibilities of assistants and having designated people to turn to for different questions should also help make the office more efficient.

The biggest challenge for the VPF is managing the budget well so that the SA stays financially stable while also providing the necessary funding to all clubs. Meza feels she has learned how to not overspend in her time as an assistant and has plans to work closely with the Financial Committee to allocate as many funds as possible. With budget season in the works, we hope Meza takes advantage of her time in the office to learn the ropes so that next year, she can follow through on these promises.

Meza has a clear platform and directive forward with the skills and experience to follow through. Pipe Dream trusts she will lead the office with confidence and commitment to the student body. We look forward to seeing her take on the role.

Vice President for Multicultural Affairs: Rome Maliha 

Pipe Dream confidently endorses Rome Maliha to be elected vice president for multicultural affairs. Maliha, a junior majoring in economics, has a strong background in club involvement having served as treasurer of the Juvenile Urban Multicultural Program and events coordinator for Pretty Girls Sweat. Their leadership qualities, set plans and goals would benefit Maliha in her role as VPMA. Apart from school, Maliha has enjoyed growing up in two different cultures and hemispheres.

Maliha’s platform is focused on increasing engagement and membership within the multicultural community. Through collaborative events with other multicultural organizations, she believes this is possible. Maliha stressed the importance of helping organizations begin this process because many of them do not know where to start, but enjoy these collaborations once they are in process. According to them, giving clubs incentives to collaborate is a good start to making this happen.

Increased use of services like B-Friendly and Discord is also part of Maliha’s platform and will push collaboration even further. Furthermore, she would like to put plans into motion to get international students more involved on campus. In their own words, the first step is the hardest, but once groups are connected, they will continue to work together.

When facing more serious issues, such as diversity, equity and inclusion protection, Maliha plans to help make students aware of their rights and resources when it comes to these types of situations. Maliha said this is one of the reasons why she decided to run for VPMA. One of their ideas, monthly fireside chats with the Multicultural Resource Center and Q Center, will create a safe space for students to build bonds and voice their concerns, especially regarding DEI. She will ensure that students feel safe and know their resources, including lawyers on campus that they can use.

Atop these plans that Maliha has in mind, she also has a goal of expanding the Women of Color Summit and continuing the new Alumni of Color Networking Dinner event.

Her opponent, Jestina Tam, a junior majoring in biology, has a platform focusing on “acting now.” This platform consists of a focus on advocacy and collaboration, creating initiatives to empower the multicultural community and support organizations. While Tam has good ideas with a strong baseline, she does not have specific plans set in place to go about these ideas. Although Tam is a passionate candidate, Maliha proves to be the stronger of the two. With their impressive experience in multiple clubs around campus, their clear passion for the job, and specific plans set in place, Maliha is the best candidate for the position.

Vice President for Student Success: Kristina Donders 

We believe that Kristina Donders, a junior double-majoring in mathematics and political science, is the better choice for vice president for student success. While this was a difficult decision with two great candidates on the ballot — as we believe that Lauren Wilner, a junior double-majoring in environmental studies and philosophy, politics and law, is a strong candidate — we ultimately feel that Donders’ plans are more feasible and realistic to implement.

However, certain aspects of Wilner’s platform could and should be considered, and we would love to see certain elements of her plans come to fruition as well.

Donders’ platform encompasses three main pillars: mental health, civic engagement and increased student outreach. She summarizes her platform with the slogan, “I want to help students help each other,” demonstrating her desire to strengthen the campus community with student-centered ideas.

This includes creating an anonymous resource with students who are well-versed about campus resources to support struggling students, more opioid overdose and mental health training, and creating a “complain to us” initiative, a way for students to vent and complain to the office.

Wilner’s platform included a proposed plan to lower off-campus student electricity bills by 30 percent, working with local nonprofits and the Binghamton Tenants Unions to implement solar programs. As audacious as the proposal is, we still believe it could prove a great benefit to off-campus students. Donders expressed to us a comfortability in continuing existing projects undertaken by the VPSS, and we would like to see this plan attempted regardless of who holds office.

Donders also wants to help connect students with the SA and further increase transparency. One way she plans on doing this is by helping club E-Board members be good leaders so that they can convey important information to their club members, building relationships at the same time. Donders also plans to help students learn more about what the SA is doing behind the scenes, asserting she wants to be a familiar face to those around campus that other students are comfortable speaking — and complaining — to.

Although both candidates have strong backgrounds with diverse bodies of experience that we believe provide unique advantages as VPSS candidates, we felt Donders’ body of work within the SA gave her the leg up in this race. As a three-year member of the SA Congress and its current speaker, she has worked to increase transparency in the day-to-day operations of the SA, creating an Instagram account to communicate with students.

Additionally, Donders also contributed to the writing and implementation of “Resolution Calling on Elected Officials to Support Federal Protections for Children of Long-Term Visa Holders,” demonstrating her commitment to real change. Also, her previous role as the secretary to the VPSS provided her with sufficient experience and knowledge regarding the VPSS office and its operations.

All in all, with Donders’ vast experience in the SA for the past three years, we are confident that through her plans, she will put the success in VPSS and continue to work in building a stronger, more tight-knit campus community that prioritizes support, engagement and students.

Vice President for Programming: Atticus Fauci

While the race for this position is unopposed, we believe that Atticus Fauci, the incumbent vice president for programming and a junior majoring in economics, is qualified for another year in the role.

Notable achievements from Fauci’s tenure thus far include NLE Choppa headlining this year’s fall concert — the SA Programming Board’s most profitable concert since the start of COVID-19 that simultaneously had lower ticket prices for students — “An Evening with Ross Lynch” and a Tiny Desk concert with last year’s Spring Fling opener, which was a previous campaign promise.

Fauci expressed that he wants to not only build off of his achievements from this year but also work toward important goals for SAPB’s future, such as increasing transparency with act allocation, student engagement and lowering costs for events.

Looking forward into the next academic year, Fauci proposes creating more unique and notable marketing campaigns such as putting up large posters of the Spring Fling headliner before the official SAPB announcement and sending out polls for Spring Fling and Fall Fest themes.

Fauci also noted that expanding SAPB’s digital media platform with more events like Tiny Desk concerts and Binghamton Bluffs, a video series inspired by Jubilee’s “Odd One Out” videos, would increase student involvement. We believe that these ideas could lead to more funding for better events, student attendance and voices represented in the planning process.

Additionally, Fauci suggested moving more of SAPB’s events to more accessible locations to help students living downtown. In addressing financial concerns, Fauci voiced how moving events to Friday would not only foster student engagement but also increase sales without raising prices.

While Fauci has accomplished a lot this year, there were a few setbacks, including his proposal to improve sports-related programming by organizing tailgates and creating specialized posters for Battle of the Bands. On the former, Fauci explained how after looking at the proposed bill from Sodexo, it was not feasible for SAPB to see the event through, as it was more than their entire collaborative and fundraising budget combined. On the latter, Fauci attempted to work with his graphic designer on the process, but ultimately, it proved to be too much work. Both issues are still on the drawing board, and we hope to see them come to fruition in a second year as VPP.

This semester, there was also a lack of BUMP shows due to the unavailability of the chair and vice chair. While BUMP shows are an event many students look forward to, we understand issues can arise, and Fauci explained that SAPB plans on taking half of BUMP’s budget and putting it into the headliner for Spring Fling — ensuring this year’s headliner to be a bigger artist, a silver lining that will make up for the absence of BUMP shows.

Fauci is the only candidate running for VPP, but we are confident that his prior experience and achievements in SAPB have shown that he is more than capable in the position. While there are improvements we would like to see, his dedication to the student body and emphasis on increasing student engagement is what makes us sure of his ability to continue to lead as VPP.

BU Council Representative: Mackenzie Cooper 

We endorse incumbent Mackenzie Cooper, a junior majoring in politics, philosophy and law, who has built working relationships with administration and an understanding of procedures to realistically improve campus life.

This year’s race has been confusing, with her opponent, Irene Cui, a sophomore majoring in economics, being disqualified and then temporarily restored to the ballot pending a grievance hearing. At the time of writing, we are uncertain if Cui will be on the ballot on Election Day, and Cui has lost critical time to develop her campaign, but, while both candidates are passionate and determined, we ultimately believe Cooper’s more thorough campaign and head start is an advantage.

Having served as a Financial Committee chair, SA Congress representative and member on several committees, Cooper co-authored a resolution to abolish the dress code at East Gym. Another accomplishment was promoting TAPS’ existing carpooling initiative. It is clear Cooper has successfully implemented small changes that contribute to a more robust campus, though major impacts as council representative are still to be determined.

A large concern for Cooper has been parking and transportation. Her last campaign sought to build a new garage, open lots to campus residents on weekends and create a direct bus line from the University Downtown Center to the Innovative Technologies Complex. Though these goals were lofty and ultimately did not come to fruition, we appreciate Cooper’s pivot to smaller, more realistic initiatives, like implementing a texting service for available parking spots and clearing up vague language for parking eligibility. While focusing on these new initiatives, we hope Cooper will be transparent about previous campaign promises if reelected.

It is refreshing to see Cooper reflect on her year as council representative and acknowledge the importance of student feedback where her single perspective may fail. With the proposed monthly “Civic Engagement Roundtable,” students can openly discuss polarizing issues; it is commendable to create a space for students from different backgrounds to engage in conversation outside rigid and, at times, tense Congress meetings.

As events last semester exposed mistrust in the SA and concern for representative diversity, Cooper said she personally reached out to vocal students to join the BU Council Committee, currently consisting of athletes, multicultural community leaders, members of Greek life and more. We hope Cooper not only continues to actively reach out to students who may be hesitant toward student government or participation in roundtables but also be transparent about her intentions in representing different beliefs and backgrounds.

Still, Cui’s campaign targeted material change on campus that should be of importance to Cooper. Cui’s advocacy in speaking to students directly and in highlighting dining and accessibility suggests a commitment to structural diversity and inclusion and listening to consistently voiced feedback. With the Sodexo contract coming to an end, it is now more crucial than ever that dining at Binghamton is inclusive and equitable, especially for workers, and with limitations to transportation initiatives and campus infrastructure, it is crucial that what we already have is accessible to everyone. These goals require planning and time, and we believe Cooper’s connections would allow for the most progress on these fronts.

Both Cooper and Cui’s campaigns noticeably lack mention of graduate students. While the role represents both undergraduate and graduate students, the relationship between the Graduate Student Organization and BU Council is unclear. Amid concerns of financial and cultural underappreciation of SUNY graduate students, a clear message from Cooper explaining how the BU Council will improve graduate student life can help create a culture of trust and representation outside official channels. However, Cooper’s relationship with a new advisor is a great start.

As BU sees new faces in administration and as representation on campus is increasingly a concern, we hope Cooper will continue to let her experiences and relationships inform her platform, adapt to new and old needs and be transparent about her impacts if reelected.

Editor’s Note (3/24): An earlier version of this article was published mistakenly. It has been updated to reflect the final edited version.