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In response to the recent Maine Campus articles written about the Student Government election this December, I want to comment on the reports of my platform focusing on “parties” and parking. The truth of the matter is that none of those issues are part of my platform. As a matter of fact, I haven’t released any official document about my platform. I think many of my words and the issues that I prioritize were lost in translation; parts of my platform and campaign were not understood.
The focus of my official platform will be quality of service. However, I want to make a point to the whole student body about the issue of parking. Parking is, and will always be, a big problem on this campus and a never-ending battle between the students and the University of Maine. Student Government or any student that is running for office cannot fix the parking issue on campus; they can only make recommendations. It is up to the university to solve that problem. The Zipcar program is a great program and I encourage everyone to sign up. It is the closest thing to a solution that we have at the University of Maine regarding the parking issue.
Student Government has been doing well this semester and I think the only thing it is missing is strong leadership in the presidency. I believe that I bring strong leadership to the table. I am looking to use this leadership to continue where former President Chandraseker left off – with dining, dealing with continual improvements of meal quality, service and menu variety. I am also looking forward to working with the university to increase outdoor lighting on campus to improve the level of safety at night, as well as making recommendations to the Dean of libraries to increase library access hours. Further, I will work closely with administrators from the Cutler Health Center to operate the facility on the weekends, as Cutler currently does not operate on weekends. I believe this is a huge problem that needs to be addressed.
Additionally, there are many individuals at this institution who will say that students of the University of Maine are apathetic to the occurrences on campus. However, I think the issue is not only with students; the responsibility lies with their Representative Boards. If all Representative Boards can emulate what the Residents on Campus does, then student apathy will not be an issue. A main goal of mine is to help all Representative Boards to effectively work for their constituents.
This coming December, I would like people to vote not as a popularity contest, but for an individual who will represent their views and their needs as students, an individual who they believe will go above and beyond to make sure that those needs are met.
Gimbala Sankare is a candidate for student body president and is president of the class of 2010.
Bangor Daily News