By Emily Riley
The 2020 presidential election may be months away, but UMD’s own student government elections have already wrapped up from home. After the SGA election commission delayed releasing the results to investigate campaign violations by both parties, neither Forward Maryland nor ImpactUMD was disqualified and the former, featuring SGA President Dan Alpert and Vice President Nabila Prasetiawan, was declared the winner.
From April 22 to the 24 students had the opportunity to cast their votes online to take part in the decision on who will lead campus for the upcoming school year. Two groups of passionate students made up the major parties — Forward and Impact.
Forward Maryland, which received 57% of the final vote, comprises both student government experience and lack thereof. Forward has four core values: being student-centered, action-oriented, data-driven and empathetic.
The need for data-driven action is a central part of their campaign. According to Alpert, gathering more data on student concerns will create the opportunity to influence administrators and lead to more policy changes.
“We don’t want to just send out another form for people to fill out,” said Alpert. “We want to go to the students- we want to ensure that we’re getting the right information and then we want to help them,” he said.
Alpert also said that Forward Maryland’s ticket is a true statistical representation of UMD’s demographics on campus.
“We’re just in a unique position where we do represent all of the students and administration and local leaders … listen to us,” said Alpert.
As the current student liaison to the College Park City Council, Alpert has spent the past year representing student body concerns within the College Park government, a position that he credited with giving him the experience needed to be a successful president.
“I’ve been representing 30,000 students this year, and I’m excited to continue to do it again next year,” said Alpert.
Prasetiawan, a sophomore, hadn’t truly been a part of student government until now. Her background in MaryPIRG’s juvenile justice campaign and event planning with Student Entertainment Events prepared her to take on a leadership role.
“It’s really about knowing what the students want. It’s about partnering with organizations like different arts organizations, different multicultural organizations,” said Prasetiawan.
She said her interest in social justice and research ignited her passion, eventually allowing her to become the vice presidential candidate position for Forward.
“I wanted to start really being the lead in policy reform, especially in these very troubling times. I can do that with advocacy. I can do that with event planning, raising awareness for these events, but I wanted to be the one looking into charge on this,” said Prasetiawan.
Forward’s platform also focuses on academic, student and financial affairs, diversity and inclusion, health and wellness, civic engagement and student groups, among many others.
“If we’re shifting the needle, even just a little bit, those small wins are so important. And if students can feel more empowered, more safe on campus, that’s my main goal,” Prasetiawan said.
Forward’s platform, said Prasetiawan, isn’t stagnant but active, changing to students’ concerns as they evolve.
“Forward Maryland doesn’t have all the answers and so we need to support our students and we need the voices of different communities and different organizations,” said Prasetiawan.
“We’re not on some high [horse] acting like we know the right answer to everything. We really want to be working with communities to make sure that we’re doing the right thing,” Alpert said. “What’s really exciting to me is that this ticket cares a lot, and they like each other a lot.”
As of April 26, Forward had a 75-point deduction due to omission(s) from a financial report and a campaign post that lacked election dates, according to the SGA’s Elections Information page. Parties must reach point deductions of 100 or higher to face disqualification.
You can follow Forward on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Tik Tok and Spotify.
ImpactUMD received 36% of the final vote. The party’s presidential candidate Kelly Sherman and vice presidential candidate David Rekhtman led Impact, striving towards a platform that, according to their website, “heals wounds while honoring those who came before us through uplifting students and making a positive IMPACT on the student experience.”
Although she said she didn’t enjoy student government when she first joined freshman year, Sherman’s experience as the SGA’s Director of Health and Wellness has allowed her to advocate for her passion on the search committees for the new Health Center and Counseling Center directors, as well as advocate for health as a whole on campus.
“Kelly is a STEM major. Not the typical gov. and politics person who’s like, ‘yeah, I want to add this to my resume.’ But she decided this is something [she] wants to do for the student body,” said Julia Novick, a senior who works for Impact’s internal organization. “She wants to hear from students and wants students to be involved. So I think prioritizing students is really what she’s about. And you know, not just listening to them, but standing up for them and making demands- not just giving into administration but saying this is what we want done,” Novick said.
With an abundance of change within administrative roles at the university, “there’s just a window of opportunity, where we should set the stage to make sure that student-centered ideas come first, and that the health and well-being overall on the campus comes first and is always a priority,” said Sherman.
Impact’s four pillars are meeting all needs of students- especially concerning sexual and mental health, lack of transparency between students and administration, diversity on campus and a focus on connecting with student groups.
“It won’t just be a checklist to get votes or whatever. It’s people who are passionate about these things. That’s why they’re bringing it to the platform and they will do it next year,” said Sherman.
Within student outreach, Impact also plans on implementing a “buddy system” with campus groups. Under this system, every campus group would be assigned a student government representative who they can go to with any questions or concerns. For students not in a group or organization, utilizing What to Fix ‘WTF’ UMD, an online program led by vice presidential candidate Rekhtman, is a way to submit complaints for the student government to review and address.
“If a student group wants that extra representation and extra support, then they’ll have it. We want to make sure that we’re engaging student groups so that they are a part of the conversation,” said Sherman. “Students are like the centerpiece, not just whatever our perception is.”
As of April 26, Impact had a 48-point deduction for department campaigning on behalf of the ticket, early campaigning and campaigning with falsehoods.
“I mean, it’s not ideal,” said Novick. “Things happen, you know?”
Sherman and Impact strove to be positive throughout the campaign.
“We’re just really focusing on promoting our mission and making sure that everything we’re doing is in a positive manner,” Sherman said before the final results came in. “We need to make sure that at the end of the day, we are there for our students first, making sure that their mental, physical, nutritional every single need is met.”
You can follow Impact on Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter and Facebook.
Both platforms expressed their excitement for the coming changes at UMD.