By: Rami Mansi & Jaida Dent
With Brooklyn College’s (BC) Undergraduate Student Government (USG) elections upon us, the candidates for President and Vice President sat with The Vanguard to share more about who they are and what they are fighting for.
Robert Echevarria, who is running for President, is a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Becoming a part of USG from his freshman year, Echevarria became a senator in that same year. Over the next few semesters, Echevarria served on multiple USG committees and wrote legislation for the campus. Echevarria would expand his efforts at the Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities as a Member of the Board of Advisors to shape programming, funding, and speakers. He also serves as Vice President of the American Central Asian Association.
Illan Saji, who is running for Vice President, is a sophomore in the Macaulay Honors College program, studying Biology with a minor in Psychology. During his first semester, Saji became involved with USG and was elected a senator by the end of his freshman year. Outside of USG, he is the vice president of the American Medical Students Association (AMSA), a Macaulay Peer Coach, and a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity. Saji is also affiliated with the Newman Catholic Center, Global Medical Brigades, Desi Club, multiple cultural and identity-based student clubs/organizations, and participates in the Tow Fellowship Program and is a researcher at the BC Cancer Center.
What are your top priorities for your campaign?
Together: Lower food prices in the Cafeteria or find a new vendor, restore the Topfer Library Café in Whitehead Hall to be open for 24 hours again, and advocate to build affordable dorms on the Brooklyn College campus.
What is your motivation/reason for running for President/Vice President?
Echevarria: As the senior-most member of the USG Senate (and longest serving Member of USG aside from our current President) and serving for the last 3 years, my motivation for running for President is so that USG does not repeat the cycle of mistakes from the past, which are caused by decisions that are made at the top. […] By running, Illan and I are giving every student on campus an opportunity to have a President and Vice President who will bring a USG to the Brooklyn College community made
up of fresh faces who will bring fresh ideas to the decisions that are made at the top, with great
work ethics, and have demonstrated that they have the talents, skills, strengths, and organizational experience outside of USG that would benefit USG and make things in the interest of what the majority of students, not only need, but also want! And we pledge to do that.
Saji: As a student living away from his family, I’ve found Brooklyn College to be a source of community to fill this missing gap in my everyday life. […] I see the students at Brooklyn College as my family, and I want to do my part in supporting this family.
What is your vision for running USG, and how do you plan to achieve that?
Together: Our vision for running USG is reflected in our campaign agenda: We envision running a USG that is going to help save money for Brooklyn College without reducing budgets or funding. That will be achieved by simple and better reallocation of budgets and budgets of units of Brooklyn College, so more money can be better spent in the right places […]. We envision running a USG that will restore recent federal funding cuts to Brooklyn College by replacing it with funding from city and state governments by advocating and working directly with New York City Council Members, State Assemblymembers, and Senators.