Meet the candidates for Student Government

Max Mayleben
Media Editor

While the MNSU campus is currently closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, student leaders at the University are still preparing for the upcoming academic year. 

The Student Government elections are coming up on April 14-16, so here is your source for information how the election works and who is running. 

There are two political parties in the running for Student Government positions, both parties putting forward their picks for both President and Vice President. The two parties this year are the Empowering Mavericks party and The Maverick Movement party. 

The Empowering Mavericks party’s presidential nomination is current Student Government Vice President Andrew Trenne and his running mate is Arnavee Maltare. 

Trenne ran as Anisa Omar’s running mate in the Student Government election in 2019, and subsequently was elected as Vice President. In his tenure has Vice President, Trenne has worked to reform the Cultural Contribution Scholarship for international students, expanding the affordable textbook program to general education classes, and pushed international student healthcare at the state level. 

Going into the next year, Trenne hopes to continue his work with state legislature, continuing to lobby at the state level for issues pertaining to MNSU students. 

Another main goal for the Empowering Mavericks Party is college affordability. Trenne aims to combat rising cost by continuing to advocate for tuition freezes as well as removing/reducing online differentials. 

In reference to the rise of cost for students, Trenne said, “Tuition is going up, grad student tuition is going up. We just need capable leadership to guide us through and uplift our voices and empower us to advocate for ourselves.”

The Maverick Movement is led by presidential candidate Dhaval Bhakta and his running mate Marilyn Allen. 

Currently, Bhakta is a Residential Life Senator in the Student Government. During his time as Senator, he worked on three major projects. The first, making the dorms more creative with a residence hall mural project, create more student government inclusivity by increasing outreach, and working on mental health issues that students face. 

Going into the next year, The Maverick Movement aims to increase student involvement with Student Government by hosting meetings in various locations around campus. Another focus for the party is supporting the rising need for mental health care for students. 

In reference to the increase in student need for mental health support, Bhakta hopes to create a “Mental Health Day” for students. Bhakta says that a mental health day would work similar to a sick day where “Students can take off any day of the semester because of mental health issues, they just have to notify their professor, and then the professor takes proactive steps to help them cope with their mental health by connecting them to the counseling center.” 

Voting for the Student Government will begin April 14, and last through April 16 at mnsu.edu/voting.