Elections to determine who will hold the top spots in Binghamton University’s student government next year will be held Tuesday, March 15 and Wednesday, March 16.

A total of 18 candidates are on the ballot vying for the six positions on the Student Association Executive Board: president, executive vice president, vice president for finance, vice president for academic affairs, vice president for programming and vice president for multicultural affairs.

Because seniors hold all of these positions currently, no incumbents are running in the election and an entirely new Executive Board will take office in the fall.

College-in-the-Woods, Dickinson, Hinman and Mountainview residents will be able to vote in their communities’ respective dining halls. Voting for Newing College residents will take place in the Old University Union, and voting for Susquehanna, Hillside and off-campus residents will take place in the New University Union. The polls will be open from 1 to 7 p.m. both days at these locations.

Nick Valiando, chair of the SA Elections Committee, called this year’s elections “a new chance for the Student Association,” referring to the fact that every position is contested.

The following is a snapshot of the candidates and the issues they are running on.

President — the chief representative of the student body and advocate for student needs

David Frey

Frey, a junior majoring in computer science, is the vice president of SUNY VINES, a co-founder of Binghamton Environmental and a board member of New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD), a Southern Tier civic organization. His campaign has focused on opposition to budget cuts and what he sees as the privatization of SUNY, the local and campus environment, and increasing transparency of and communication with the BU administration.

Kathryn Howard

Howard is a junior majoring in political science who has worked as the SA chief of staff, the student member of the BU Council’s Presidential Search Committee and an Assembly representative. If elected, she said she wants to make all textbooks available on reserve at libraries and work with the Career Development Center to get more major company recruiters at the biannual Job & Internship Fairs. She also described her larger goals for the office as making sure that students’ voices are heard and increasing student-lead activities. Howard was recently one of two co-sponsors currently before the Assembly to replace the SA’s constitution and reorganize its structure.

Victor Munoz

Munoz is a freshman majoring in philosophy, politics, and law and a SA representative for Dickinson Community. He completed the Dickinson Community Leadership Certificate and is currently in the process of finishing the Dickinson Community Advanced Leadership Certificate. Munoz’s platform proposals include creating forums where students can voice concerns they have about issues on campus, adding more duplex printers in the Glenn G. Bartle Library and increasing activities and participation at Late Nite, among others.

Executive Vice President — oversees and assists student groups

Ann Kossachev

Kossachev is a junior double-majoring in political science and economics and a representative on the SA Assembly for Off Campus Community College. She also served on the Assembly last year as a representative for Hinman College. Kossachev said that if elected she will make improving accessibility and communication with the SA a priority and will use her experience on the Assembly to help groups through the chartering process.

Elizabeth Robins

Robins is a junior majoring in political science. She has worked as an assistant to the current EVP and was formerly president of Hinman College and, in her freshman year, was vice president for public affairs in Smith Hall. Robins’ platform centered on increasing collaboration among student groups along with communication between the SA and groups to ease frustration over finances.

Vice President for Finance — supervises groups’ finances and the allocation of an almost $2.4 million budget collected through the Student Activity Fee

Karl Bernhardsen

Bernhardsen is a junior majoring in English who has been an Assembly representative for three years. He is also currently the vice chair of the Rules Committee, the vice president of Off Campus College Council (OC3) and an assistant in the present VPF’s office. Bernhardsen’s platform includes creating “student initiative grants” — money awarded out to students not associated with a group to pursue their individual ideas. He also said he wants to assign every group a liaison in the VPF’s office as a single point of contact for all financial needs and issues and establish an independent financial oversight committee to ensure transparency in his office.

Leanne Pinard

Pinard is a sophomore majoring in actuarial science. She cited prior financial experience working as a claims administrator at a private insurance company as well as working with non-profits to plan charity events when she held the title of “Miss Teen Long Island 2010.” Pinard described her goals for the office as fostering positive relationships with and availability to SA-chartered organizations and streamlining processing of loan requests and approvals. She also proposed holding bimonthly forums for group treasurers and bimonthly forums for non-student group members.

Madeline Stolow

Stolow is a junior majoring in biology who has served on the Financial Council for the past two years and the Assembly for one year. She is also currently serving her second term as director of student group outreach for Hillel and is the operations support manager for Binghamton’s Connect by Hertz car-sharing program. Stolow’s platform focuses on helping student groups to understand the SA’s financial processes in order to ensure they receive the money they need. She said that as VPF she would offer student groups the opportunity to meet with her prior to going before the Financial Council to better prepare their presentations.

Vice President for Academic Affairs — advocates for student needs in the classroom, serves as the student representative to the Harpur College Council and Faculty Senate and advises and assists students appearing before the Student Conduct Board

Kate Flatley

Flatley is a junior double-majoring in history and philosophy, politics and law and an Assembly representative for Office Campus College. She has also served on the Harpur College Academic Honesty Committee, as programming director for OC3 and as an assistant to the current VPAA. Flatley has ran on a platform for increasing the number of classes that fulfill GenEd requirements, allowing paid internships to receive academic credit and raising the burden of proof when students are accused of academic or other wrongdoing. Flatley was recently one of two co-sponsors currently before the Assembly to replace the SA’s constitution and reorganize its structure.

Tinamarie McDermott

McDermott is a junior majoring in environmental and social justice. She said she hoped to bring more transparency to the VPF’s office by making it a policy that all program and funding cuts be publicly announced. Additionally, McDermott proposed holding forums to permit more dialogue between students and the SA. McDermott was also a co-founder of Binghamton Environmental.

Adam Slomko

Slomko is a junior majoring in molecular integrative neuroscience who has served as an Assembly representative, an assistant in the current VPAA’s office and as a student member of the University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and Harpur College Academic Integrity Advisory Committee. If he wins, Slomko said he would push for the “Pluralism in the United States” GenEd requirement to be redefined to include a wider diversity of ethnic groups and for the process for changing class sections on the BU Brain electronic system to be simplified.

Michael Wong

Wong is a junior earning a dual degree from Harpur College and the School of Management in accounting, financial engineering, political science and English. His proposals include moving the PODS printing quota system to BUC$ and increasing distance learning class offerings for every semester.

Vice President for Programming — responsible for planning social and entertainment events and booking musicians for concerts and other acts appearing on campus

Catherine Cornell

Cornell is a junior double-majoring in history and philosophy, politics and law who says that her past work on events like Communiversity Fest and Spring Soiree has given her “the unique opportunity to form working relationships with officials on and off campus.” Cornell said she hoped to expand the size of Frost Fest and Spring Fling if elected as VPP. Other issues highlighted in her campaign include electronic ticketing and continued use of surveys e-mailed to students for picking concert acts.

Melissa D’Angelo

D’Angelo is an undeclared freshman whose platform is focused on getting more students involved on campus. She has served in hall government in Mountainview College’s Cascade Hall and has also had some experience with Mountainview College Council. D’Angelo has associated her campaign with the “Save our SUNY” ticket, which seeks to open up the floor of the SA and embraces greater dialogue between students and the administration.

Tim Miller

Miller is a freshman majoring in computer science, who cites prior experience with bringing concerts together as an organizer of “battle of the bands” competitions for his high school. Miller claimed to have a diverse knowledge about music, performing arts and concerts, and said that as VPP he would include a larger selection of bands on SA surveys.

Johanna Sanders

Sanders is a junior majoring in political science. Last year, she moved up from being secretary of Rafuse Hall to president of Dickinson Community. Her platform revolves around obtaining more information from students about desired concerts and acts outside of the SA’s surveys, increasing the number of concerts on campus and a potential plan to hold open Skype sessions with celebrities in the Anderson Center. Sanders called herself “the only candidate who has been the leader of a major organization on campus and managed a major budget of $20,000.”

Jessica Wu

Wu is a junior double-majoring in environmental studies and financial economics. Her previous experience includes serving as a member of the SA Programming Board for two years and as programming assistant for Late Nite. Wu said that she wants to improve cooperation between the SAPB and Late Nite, and described her overall goal in office as continuing to increase the size of campus events while maintaining their quality.

Vice President for Multicultural Affairs — represents cultural groups to the SA and heads the Intercultural Awareness Council

Carlton Ramsay

Ramsay is a junior double-majoring in biochemistry and economics. A current member of the Assembly’s Rules Committee, Ramsay said that the job of the VPMA is to bring issues facing different cultural groups on campus to the SA and to fight for the groups. Additionally, Ramsay said a VPMA should create events that will allow the cultural groups to bond and form a more unified front in advocating for their needs.

Stephanie Suriel

Suriel founded the group Powerful United Ladies Striving to Elevate (PULSE) and served as its event planner, and has also been active in Concerned Binghamton Students, a group that protests budget cuts to SUNY and what members see as the privatization of the University. Her plans for the office include organizing a “Cultural Awareness Week” in the fall and a “Unity Week” in the spring to increase the number of opportunities for cultural groups to interact with one another.